Ancient Coins: A Byzantine Gold Solidus

The Solidus was one of the most important coins of late antiquity and the early middle ages. Today, lets take a look at one example up close, look at its symbology, and analyse the evolution of roman gold coinage imagery.

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Licensed under Creative Commons BY Attribution 4.0 License

[ClassicalNumismatics]

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Consider buying some channel Merch! You get a cool T-Shirt or Mug and you help me make more Ancient Numismatic content. Thank you!

[Numischannel]

Very beautiful example, Leo, hard to get in fully struck quality in this period! Congratulations on your first solidus, I hope you’ll get many more! 😆

[Fenniks-]

I have gold Solidus of Emperor Maurice. It's such a stunning looking coin, one that I am very glad to have in my collection.

[JhonDiamond]

ancient coin, very beautiful design friend. really cool coins.

[michaelmccoy]

Great video! I really enjoy your channel. I learn more each time I watch something you’ve made. Ancient coins are absolutely fascinating. I love the history and the culture. It’s fun to consider the many people who have handled each coin over the centuries. Your new solidus is beautiful! Best wishes to all!

[colbystearns]

The one gold coin I have in my entire collection (I used to have a 1/10th ounce Gold Eagle but I sold it) is a gold solidus from the reign of Heraclius during the 7th century. It shows full-body depictions of the emperor and his two sons holding globus crucigers on the obverse which foreshadows later emperors like those of the Komnenos and Angelos dynasties who would do the same on the later hyperpyron gold coins only this time on the reverse. The reverse of my coin has a staircase with a cross on top though the reverse on my coin is a bit off-center. I got it for $450 though this was back in 2014 so it'd probably be worth more now I'd imagine. Even back then $450 was beyond what I would normally pay for a coin but I finished doing a favor for a family friend editing a book of hers and she paid very generously so I used a chunk of that paycheck to get this coin and I'm very happy I did. It's pretty much one of the crown jewels of my collection.

[keithagn]

Beautiful coin, and very well presented story. Thank you! Regards from Canada 🇨🇦

[skuul]

I have a pentanummium of the joined reign of Justin I and Justinian I (527 AD) showing on the reverse the Tyche of Antioch. This was a personification of Antioch, a pagan goddess with the characteristic city walls as her crown. At the time of the minting of the coin she had been venerated for around 800 years, but after the reign of Justinian she would not reappear on coins.

[caracallaavg]

Tremisses are three times smaller but equally charming

[niccolocolonnelli]

I don't have a bizantine one but I have recently purchased a late roman coin. It's a nice Arcadius' solidus with the youthful bust looking right on the obverse and the standing personification of Constantinople holding globe on reverse. I really like the style because even if it's late 4th century (383) with the emperor wearing the pearl-diademed crown, still has a classical appeal on it. One day i would like to have a solidus of Justinian the great or Justin II aswell.

[LukaVulic]

Now if you ever get sucked into a time portal, you should be okay to get the necessities anywhere.
Not only is this a beautiful piece of history, but its a fascinating monetary instrument valuable through time and space.

[thaitom]

What always has... well... "struck" me is how badly the art of die engraving had devolved by the time the late 500s AD rolled around. When compared to the exquisitely detailed and lifelike obverse busts and reverse designs of classical Greek and late West Roman coinage, the Byzantine designs appear very crude and simplified; almost reminiscent of what a small child would draw on a scrap of paper. Was the die engraving art simply forgotten over time?

[AardvarkDream]

I have a number of coins from the third and fourth centuries, and I sometimes marvel at the artistry by some of the engravers of those dies. Amazing levels of detail from the crudest of tools. OTOH, I am never impressed by the artistry in the coins of the later empire. Once they started with the front facing busts, it just went downhill from there, from almost photorealistic busts to little better than medieval stick figures. Those front facing busts don't wear well, either - after they pass through enough hands they start to take on a really strange look as the nose disappears and then the mouth, and then you've just got those gaunt eyeholes staring at you... I don't know. I think the western guys had the better designs.

Now if I could just find a solidus or two in amongst my uncleaned cheapie coins. But there never seem to be any in there. :-(

[romanancientcoins]

Interesting that despite the Christianisation of the empire by this point, that many coins are still covered with Roman gods/personifications like victory and Concordia etc

[Jesse_Dawg]

I love your videos and I love that you give history lessons during the video. Please more like this and please more with gold coins. thank you and take care

[danschipor]

What do the two more "G"s after the "AVG" represent? It looks like VICTORI AAVGGG. Thank you.

[robertadam]

Got a gold solidus of Leo I, gem of my collection, gold is such a remarkable metal, thank you for sharing

[thAIB]

So far, having collected the Justinians and the Usurper, Phocas, I have gone no farther than Heraclius as he seems to be the break point between the ancient Roman Empire and the medieval Byzantine Empire. A debatable point, I know.

[kayharker]

I own a part share in three virtual aurei from the reign of Probus Maximus which I purchased from FTX. Apparently they were issued by his freedman Bankmanius of Samos in 280 from the legendary Insulae Hesperides mint.

[nicolamead]

Hey how about you do a whole collection video I'd really appreciate it as a new ancient coin collector to mimic some of your collection