By Mike Markowitz for CoinWeek ….. No lonelier man ever occupied the Byzantine throne – or any other, for that matter. Basil was ugly, dirty, coarse, boorish, totally philistine and almost pathologically mean. He was, in short, profoundly un-Byzantine. And all these things, one suspects, he would have readily admitted. He was not concerned with […]
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By Michael T. Shutterly for CoinWeek ….. Imperial Byzantine coinage served both economic and propaganda purposes. The coins routinely identified the reigning emperor or empress by name and title, and usually portrayed the ruler in some vigorous pose that demonstrated power and authority. One great exception was the copper coinage that began to appear circa […]
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By Mike Markowitz for CoinWeek ….. IN THE ANCIENT WORLD, gold and silver were the coinage of the elite, but humble copper was the coinage of the common folk. For over 120 years, the single denomination of copper coinage issued by the Eastern Roman (“Byzantine”) Empire was “Anonymous”. The Anonymous follis did not bear […]
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CoinWeek Ancient Coin Series by Mike Markowitz ….. SINCE ANCIENT TIMES, RUSSIA’S great rivers have served as trade routes, sending Baltic amber, luxury furs, beeswax, honey, and slaves southward in exchange for the wine, silver, silks and fine metalware of the Mediterranean and Islamic civilizations. About the year 860, Riurik[1], a legendary Scandinavian adventurer, was invited by […]
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