Posted 02/19/2024 06:14 am
Coins of Constantine the Great are normally classified as "Late Roman" rather than "Byzantine", though there is certainly some point of debate about where, if anywhere the boundary between "Roman" and "Byzantine" is.
In any event, what we have here is an "anonymous city commemorative", which does indeed date from the time of Constantine the Great, although it doesn't actually name him or show his portrait (hence "anonymous").
In AD 330, the Romans (under Constantine) officially moved their capital city from Rome to the newly refurbished city of Constantinople. To commemorate this event, every mint in the Empire issued two types of "civic commemoratives": those commemorating the new capital of Constantinople, and those remembering the ancient capital of Rome.
This coin is the "Constantinople" commemorative, with the obverse legend CONSTANTINOPOLIS. I believe the mintmark is SLG (second officina of the Lugdunum/Lyons mint).
Edit: Ninjas!
In any event, what we have here is an "anonymous city commemorative", which does indeed date from the time of Constantine the Great, although it doesn't actually name him or show his portrait (hence "anonymous").
In AD 330, the Romans (under Constantine) officially moved their capital city from Rome to the newly refurbished city of Constantinople. To commemorate this event, every mint in the Empire issued two types of "civic commemoratives": those commemorating the new capital of Constantinople, and those remembering the ancient capital of Rome.
This coin is the "Constantinople" commemorative, with the obverse legend CONSTANTINOPOLIS. I believe the mintmark is SLG (second officina of the Lugdunum/Lyons mint).
Edit: Ninjas!
Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis
