The Byzantine Empire
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Traditionally, numismatists categorize the "Byzantine Empire" from the reign of Anastasias I in 491 to Constantine XI Palaeologus, ending in 1453.  There is still much debate as to whether or not this is correct or if perhaps it should be moved back to the point when Constantine I moved the capital of the Roman Empire to Constantinople or perhaps when the Roman Empire split between the East and West.  Even the term "Byzantine" itself is debated by some numismatists and historians, who prefer to use the term "Romaion".  The coins listed on the sub-pages will be attributed to the number, and preceded by SB, in David Sear's "Byzantine Coins and Their Values", published by Seaby, an imprint of Spink & Son Ltd, London.

The obverses on Byzantine bronzes are similar to reading Roman coins.  The legend follows the edge of the coin and often employs a facing bust type.  What may be confusing at first is the usage of upper and lower case characters within names.

Maurice Tiberius, Æ Follis, Year 11 (592/593), Theoupolis (Antioch) Mint, Officina 3. d N MAurI C N P AuT  Facing bust, crowned, in consular robes, with mappa and eagle-tipped scepter.  Large M, + above, ANNO and X | I at sides, G below, THEUP' in exergue.  Sear Byzantine 533.

As for the reverse marks, there are often three different sets to observe.  The large letter(s) in the middle represents the denomination.

Other Byzantine denominations, unmarked

Below the denomination mark is one letter representing the officina in Greek, in this case gamma, or three.  To the right of the denomination mark is a group of Roman numerals representing the year of issue.  I is 1; V, U and u is 5; X is 10; etc.  However, this unusual character:

is actually a symbol for 6.  Therefore, a coin with that character (archaic digamma or vau) with say, two I's, is year 8, not year 7.  Since I don't have an exact character for vau, I'm going to use the symbol for the Roman digamma ( V ) throughout the Byzantine pages. Also, Year 5 is sometimes written as a C with an I connected below.

Maurice Tiberius, Æ Follis, Year 8 (589/590), Theupolis (Antioch) Mint, Officina 3. d N MAurI C N P AuT  Facing bust, crowned, in consular robes, with mappa and eagle-tipped scepter.  Large M, + above, ANNO and u | III at sides, G below, THEUP' in exergue.  Sear Byzantine 533.  

Sometimes, actually fairly often, you can find all sorts of oddities within Byzantine coins.  The culture is rife with overstrikes, double-strikes, gross mis-strikes and other errors.  For example, the above coin may be an example where two flans were stuck together, since there is no obverse strike at all.  It is an AE Decanummium from Carthage, struck in the year 14 for Justinian I.  It measures 16mm and weighs 4.31g. and would normally be SB 269.

Last modified: May 08, 2008