40 Nummis Of The Plague Of Justinian - 541/542 Ad

I was planning on taking a small break from buying coins, and of course nothing ever goes as planned. When I was browsing the net, I saw some interesting coins that I would consider "must have." I have a very weak Byzantine Collection consisting of a large Anonymous Christ Follis and a neat silver milleriseion of John I.

I have been wanting a coin of Justinian, and for me any nice example would do, but then I saw (2) coins that really stuck out from the rest. I would have bought one but I couldn't decide which one I wanted more. These coins are 39 mm x 22 gram large 40 numis. Constantinople mint dated r.y. 14. Having taken the throne in 527 AD, yr, 14 would date the coins to 541/2 AD the onset of the plague of Justinian.

Justinian's dream of a restored empire and a Roman Lake, would all have come true had it not been for an invisible enemy carried upon the backs of rats. The Bubonic plague, Killing over half of European population, leaving the European continent in the darkness from which it nearly had emerged. Europe would not recover for nearly a thousand years.

Some argue that Justinian was the last Roman Emperor, and the true dark ages would begin between year 14 and 15 of his reign. In 542 Justinian himself would fall ill to the disease, but would survive, but like most survivors of the day, the disease would damage his body as well as his mind. Historians of the time would record that at the height of the plage 10,000 a day would die in the streets of Constantinople.It was believed that the disease arrived in Europe from wheat traders from Eygpt who carried rats from the east in their cargo. It would also be recorded that Justinian would become a cruel and paranoid ruler, who would extort money from the poor, and have the survivors of the plague pay taxes in the amount due as well as the amount that was due from peasants who had died.

Upon Justinian's death, the Roman legions that had been entrusted to return the whole of Europe to Rome were recalled. The treasury surely could not prop up the west as it had in Antiquity. Justinian's wars with the various Gothic Kingdoms, had crippled production in the Italian peninsula, and it would take centuries to recover. The light of the empire would finally go out...for the last time.

Note seller's Photos.