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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Only a Poor Old Man, post: 4636318, member: 111037&quot;]Last time I posted a coin here, I claimed that I was buying coins far too often especially considering the current economic climate and job insecurity. And I did well. Initially at least... I was almost a month without a new coin and I felt really proud about myself and my determination to keep away from temptation. Not that there was much of it going around, I noticed that in the last couple of months the number of good higher grade coins hitting the market reduced drastically. Naturally I lowered my guard thinking I did well and saved some money by not spending on coins... So when a coin that I really liked grabbed my attention, I managed to persuade myself that I &#039;earned&#039; the right to buy this little gem. It is a Byzantine gold solidus though... What is the point on trying to hold back on coins when I end up buying a gold one only a month on? Back to square one, I guess...</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1146188[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>Having said all that, there are plenty of reasons not to feel guilty here. This was a very good deal, even for a retail coin. The way things are going in auction nowdays, I would probably spend even more if I had to compete with other bidders. I thought that there might be something wrong with it, but in hand I cannot find any issue apart from a couple of tiny scratches. By the way, this was a notoriously difficult coin to photograph. It looks way better in hand. Another reason to get this one, is that Byzantine gold is the last remaining somewhat affordable gold when it comes to ancients. It is a good idea to grab some while we still can, as I think they are starting to get more popular. Lastly, it is gold. Gold will always be attractive, ancient or not, and the prices are currently very strong due to the economic instability. Not that I bought it for the base value, but at least it has one!</p><p><br /></p><p>Historically wise, this is a mid-period solidus. The empire was more Greek than Roman by that point, and it was still strong in both military and economical terms. The emperor depicted in the coin is Heraclius, the man credited for bringing the imperial beards in fashion. Apparently of Armenian heritage, he replaced the unpopular Phokas. He led many military campaigns with the most important one the war with the Sasanian (Persian) Empire. Things looked rather gloomy at one point as the Persian reached the walls of Constantinople, however in the end he managed to drive them completely out of Asia Minor. He eventually lost big chunks of territory in the levant to the emerging forces of Islam. He is regarded as a succesful emperor. He learned from his mistakes and he matured as an emperor as the years went by. He changed the official language of the empire from Latin to Greek and he managed to recover the True Cross from the Persians. He is also credited for fighting the corruption&nbsp; from the previous administration, and for building good realtions with the newcomer Slavs in the Balcans and introducing the Christian faith to them. There was some controversy about him marrying his niece, but overall he left a great legacy. He was actually popular with the Western Europeans due to him recovering the Cross, and he was regarded as the first crusader. He was even popular and respected in the Islamic world, even though he was an enemy. He is actually mentioned in the hadith, and apparently he wrote once to the prophet Muhammad but this is unlikely to be true. There is another face on the coin, and this is of Heraclius Constantine, his son from Eudokia. He only ruled for 4 months after his father&#039;s death (641 AD), so he is a very minor historical figure. He died of tuberculosis.</p><p><br /></p><p>Show me your golds Byzantine or ancient Greek/Roman. Or anything Byzantine, Arab or Persian from that turbulent period of history.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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