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Message:: [QUOTE="ancient coin hunter, post: 3247936, member: 87200"]Constantine VII (913-959 A.D.) was one of the longest reigning Byzantine rulers. The Purple-Born, he was a scholar and author of four popular books: De Administrado Imperio, De Ceremoniis, De Thematibus, and Vita Basilii. In 949 Constantine launched a new fleet of 100 ships (20 dromons, 64 chelandia, and 10 galleys) against the Arab corsairs hiding in Crete, but like his father's attempt to retake the island in 911, this attempt also failed. On the Eastern frontier things went better, even if with alternate success. In 949 the Byzantines conquered Germanicea, repeatedly defeated the enemy armies, and in 952 they crossed the upper Euphrates. But in 953 the Hamdanid amir Sayf al-Daula retook Germanicea and entered the imperial territory. The land in the east was eventually recovered by Nikephoros Phokas, who conquered Hadath, in northern Syria, in 958, and by the general John Tzimiskes, who one year later captured Samosata, in northern Mesopotamia. An Arab fleet was also destroyed by Greek fire in 957. Constantine's efforts to retake themes lost to the Arabs were the first such efforts to have any real success. Type: AR Miliaresion, 24mm 3.7 grams Obverse: Cross on Steps, IhSUS XRISTUS nICA Reverse: CONST'T'/PORFVROG'/CE RWMANO/EN X•W EVSEb'/b' RWMEON in 5 Lines within triple border Reference: Doc 21, Sear 1757 [ATTACH=full]851556[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]