Walking Back In Time From 1600 To Antiquity By Decades. Looking For 440s

Excellent!

Good point @j1m. we are looking for coins which if not dated, then were first minted in the decade of the 470s but were not minted for more than 10 years (i.e. 476-486 AD would count).

I know your struggle @VK--the 5th century is pretty much a giant hole in my collection. The three coins that I currently have in my collection which definitively date to this time period are only more than the number of coins date-able to the 5th and 6th Centuries BC for me.

I think that we may be in for a long slog with this effort.

@tzetz13, that is a great coin! By the rules of this thread, it will count for the decade of the 460s. Please post it as soon someone posts a coin minted in the 470s. Thx!

Apologies everyone, I rarely read this thread as it has always been too recent for my collection, but it seems I should have been keeping an eye on it! I did keep my Zenonis, as it happens, but I no longer own a camera capable of taking a good picture of it, so this smudgy photo will have to do.

The coins of Zenonis are much more common than those of Basiliscus - I suspect it is because they are so similar to the coins of Zeno. Basiliscus usurped the throne from Zeno and kicked him out of Constantinople. He was able to do this due to support he held as a member of the imperial dynasty of Leo, while Zeno was seen as a barbarian (and was broadly unpopular anyway). However, Basiliscus proved a poor leader and he only held Constantinople for 20 months before Zeno was able to retake it. He was sent, along with his wife Zenonis and his son Marcus, to Cappadocia where they were all walled into a cistern to die.

While this was all happening, Odovacar was able to depose Romulus Augustus, emperor in the west. With the Eastern empire in turmoil, Zeno was unable to respond in force and so, after more than 1000 years, the Roman empire fell. Rome would be held by the 'Roman Empire' again, briefly, in the 6th century, but from this point on, I consider the east to be Byzantine.

Zenonis, 475-476AD:


I would also like to submit, though late, a coin that may or may not be securely dated to the 480s. I don't think the attribution is solid enough to count for the purposes of this thread, but a scarce few 'Leo' monograms turn up with a clear T built in and some attribute this to Leontius, a usurper against Zeno (second reign). This is supported by very minimal hoard evidence, but there are no examples I know of with a clear obverse legend.

Leontius, 488AD (maybe):

Great coin Ben! Worth some fruit.....And a nice little write up I learnt something today...

@ Spence....Nice coin too! Looks to be in nicer condition than mine but the photo is a bit glary

I happened to look it up recently; between the 2016 CNG specimen and a matching specimen discussed in the July 2009 Celator, the legend appears to end [xx]NASMAI (with retrograde S on both specimens), where the [xx] has vertical letter bottoms (so is not any of LEO).

I assumed [VERI]NA something, the Celator assumed Anastasius; both are consistent with the (still) scant evidence.
It's definitely not saying "Leo", but it doesn't seem to be saying "Leontius" either.

The 2017 markw specimen, with a similar but slightly different legend, would probably point at Anastasius.
The photos (not linking, big no-no site) make me doubt that it's even a Leontius monogram at all, though (I can't see the horizontal lines, and the diagonal line is going to the wrong place).


...Incidentally, the title of this thread should probably be updated. We hadn't been looking for the 480s since June.

(I sincerely apologize for the bump - was reminded by the 2nd edition updating recently.)