Sat down and sorted through my nummus lot last night to take some images... Lots of fun stuff!
Italy, Ostrogoths Athalaric, 526-534 AE Nummus Roman-style bust right, garbled titles of Justinian IVCT-NIA- (note the retrograde N) Monogram of Athalaric within wreath
VisigothKing has already beaten me to the punch on posting these, but Athalaric was the 10 year old king of the Ostrogoths, succeeding his grandfather Theoderic. Theoderic was an educated and wise ruler, and ushered in peace and stability for war-ravaged Italy in the early 6th century. Athalaric's mother wanted the same for her son, but the Ostrogothic nobility interceded and gave him a good Barbarian upbringing of heavy underage drinking and philandering, leading the king to die at the ripe old age of 18.
Great coin Congrats! I love the history behind the coin. A great podcast on iTunes is "The Fall of Rome Podcast" by. Patrick Wyman. He hits on the empire and how it looked after the fall of the west. Good stuff if you're into it.
Cool ! I need to find me a few of these ....... I have been paying more attention to the bronze monogram coinage lately but they almost always seem to translate as MARCIAN !
In truth, I had this one in a pile with all the Marcians until I realized that the style of the bust wasn't right. The shape, slight corrosion, and the S threw me off at first!
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