Introduction to Byzantine coins (491-1453)

Fantastic new site, Warren! Hopefully it helps create some new Byzantine enthusiasts.

Here's my most spectacular recent acquisition, a 1/2 (or, I think, possibly 1/3) miliaresion of Leo III (0.73g and 16mm):



As far as I can tell it is only the third known example. I'm not certain I'll keep it as it's a rather expensive way to fill the Leo III silver reform slot...

 

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Educational web page!

Here's one, but I'm not sure about the attribution.


Heraclius, with Martina and Heraclius Constantine. 610-641.
Byzantine Æ Follis, 5.23 g, 24.3 mm, 7 h.
Nicomedia mint.
Obv: Heraclius center, Heraclius Constantine r., Empress Martina l., all standing facing.
Rev: Large M; to left, monogram; above, ANNO & cross; to right, regnal year XS (16); beneath, officina no. B; in ex., NIKO.
Refs: Berk 560; Dumbarton Oaks 165v (unlisted officina); Sear 836.

 

1972 is a long time hopefully I will be able to collect that long.

Anastasius
491 to 498 AD
Mint: Constantinople
AE Nummus
Obvs: Diademed bust right.
Revs: Monogram of Anastasius.
8mm, 0.92g
Sear 13

As far as I know the last emperor did not mint coinage, but I do have the 2nd to last emperor.

John IV
Mint: Trebizond
1446 to 1458 AD
AR Asper
Obvs: Λ in circle. St. Eugene on horseback right nimbate, holding cross-scepter. In upper field right ИH.
Revs: John on horseback right wearing stemma with pendilia and loros, holding trefoil scepter. beneath horse. B to right of horse.
13x14mm, 0.54g
Sear 2642; Retowski 2

Like Doug I won't be able to obtain a XI, but am happy with this one.

 

I spent my career in teaching history and was always dismayed by the lack of information, documentation and artifacts, compared to the Classical World, for teaching much of anything on the Byzantines. Later as a department head it was part of my job description to purchase texts for the students. I once went to a publishers trade show with a fellow teacher. I was looking for a good text for our World History students. I would open each text and head for the chapter that dealt with the Byzantine Empire, assuming the text had such a chapter. It was on the basis of this that I purchased the text. My companion asked what I was doing. What are you looking for? I told him that any text that offered a fair coverage of the Byzantine Empire was likely to a good text for us to take to review for purchase by the district. I have felt sorry for the Byzantines. They got a bad press back then and still do. Any empire that can stay together, even if a shrinking one, for some thousand years or so deserves better in both our history books and numismatic collecting. We collect what we value, so we can give them "the honor of remembrance" by devoting ourselves to the study of their history, (Procopius, Anna Comnena), art, (icons) architecture (Hagia Sophia) and religion (Eastern Orthodox) and we can do all of that through their coinage.

 

Bravo @kevin McGonigal ! I was fortunate to take a Byzantine upper division history course at UC Berkeley. Similar to your point, the course in the catalog was only offered about every third year and in my case was taught by Professor Warren Treadgold who is one of the leading experts on Byzantium. We had 12 students in the class.

His works:

• The Early Byzantine Historians (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007);
• A Concise History of Byzantium (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2001);
• Treadgold, Warren T. (1997). A History of the Byzantine State and Society. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
• Byzantium and Its Army, 284-1081 (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1995);
• The Byzantine Revival, 780-842 (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1988);
• The Byzantine State Finances in the Eighth and Ninth Centuries (New York: East European Monographs, 1982); and
• The Nature of the Bibliotheca of Photius (Washington, D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks, 1980).

Fortunately I learned quite a lot and that fueled lots of later reading on the topic. As you know, the western European historical tradition has been unkind to Byzantium in the primary sources. The Journey of Louis VII to the East portrays Manuel Comnenus as a villain who ruined a crusade. Similarly there is an unflattering portrait of Nicephorus Phocas in the Bishop Liutprand's Relatio de legatione Constantinopolitana.

It seems that the general lack of knowledge on Byzantium has continued to the present. Hopefully this will change in the future.

 

I notice that many of the texts you cited came from Stanford where one of my daughters teaches. If you attended Berkeley (where another daughter got her PhD. a few years back, perhaps when you were there). did you ever go from Berkeley down to Palo Alto, just walk around Stanford's campus? Doing so is like getting in a time machine and going back to Mare Nostrum.

 

Nice coins all!

Personally I collect Byzantine as an extension of Roman, currently ending with Justinian, but hopefully one day extending at least through Heraclius. Maybe further; time will tell. I do keep the coins I pick from bargain bins that I know I'd miss if I sold them.

Unfortunately I haven't migrated all my old photos to my new phone, so only one to share, a Phocas half follis overstruck on a Maurice Tiberius half follis.

 

I got an undergrad degree from Berkeley in Egyptian Archaeology and Languages/minor in Classics and an MBA from Stanford, eventually getting a Ph.D. in Business. I used to live in Atherton just north of Palo Alto and spent a lot of time both on campus and hanging out on University Avenue. That's pretty cool that your daughter teaches at Stanford.

 

I am confused. I think you are wrong.¨

There is only ONE denomination in miliaresion, but they tend to be clipped.

The miliaresions were first debased in 1060's or so.

And why are you saying it is the third known example? - Miliaresion of Leo III are somehow common. (??)

 

I wasn't aware of this denomination either until I saw it for auction. It's listed in Dumbarton Oaks as #23 and Sear as 1512A. The die diameter is way too small to be a full miliaresion, and the weight is too small as well, even for a clipped one; in addition note the presence of a globe at the bottom of the cross, absent from the full miliaresion. Here's a clipped full miliaresion, with a diameter of 22mm and weighing 1.8g (vs. 16mm and 0.76g for my coin):



Here's the only other half listed on acsearch (0.88g, no diameter given):


Here are the relevant DO pages (see fn 204 on the first):



The Goldberg example above is one of the coins in the note (private collection in Buffalo), the other is in a Swiss collection. Since the 2016 Goldberg example was the second known, I infer that mine is the third... though I'm all ears if anyone knows of any others!

The three weights (0.76g, 0.85g, and 0.88g) make me wonder if it's actually a third miliaresion, which was the fraction introduced much later.

 

Ditto. Let's not drive up the prices. we're good where we are now!

 

Bought this coin from ebay, can you tell which picture was from ebay.
Constantine X

 

Here is my Constantine VIII & Romanus I, AV Solidus

 

Congratulations indeed for your new educational site. I chose this Byzantine weight which was made of colored green glass. It was designed to weigh only gold coins. The Greek letters around the cross spell the name of the workshop prefect.

 

How much does it weigh?

 

I've just found this item from my old boxes. It weighs 2.12 g. BTW..I already posted a thread on this item. It was found together with a bronze small stag.

 

@Valentinian - THANK YOU for this outstanding reference site. As I am expanding my Byzantine coin collection, your site will be an incredibly valuable resource for me.