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Gatalogues
2020-09-06 Other articles >

Byzantine follis of the X-XI century ad.

This coin could be held in the hands of the Baptist of Russia


Follis - so in Ancient Rome called a bag of copper coins, which was sealed for ease of circulation-so as not to count the change.
Byzantium is an Eastern Roman Empire that was founded by the Romans and grew out of the culture of Ancient Rome. It is not surprising that the copper coin introduced into circulation in 498 ad during the reign of the Byzantine Emperor Anastasius I was named follis.
In 970 ad, during the reign of Emperor John I Cemischius, the name and image of the reigning Emperor were removed – they became anonymous and completely religious in image and legend.
The face of Jesus Christ on the obverse and the inscription 'Jesus Christ king of kings' on the reverse - this is how the main exchange coin of the Byzantine Empire began to look, leaving the numismatists of the next generation the task of identifying the ruler under whom this collectible coin was minted.
Proposed in 1954 by the American numismatist Margaret Thompson, the classification of anonymous follies is still used today and has 12 main varieties of them, which relate the coin to the reign of a particular Emperor.
According to this classification, the anonymous follis from my collection belongs to class A2 and was minted in Constantinople presumably in 976 - 1025 during the reign of Emperor Basil II of Bulgaria.
Basil II the Bulgar-Slayer became Emperor immediately after the death of John I Tamishia. Vasily received his nickname for the brutal treatment of 15,000 Bulgarians captured by him in 1014: out of every hundred, 99 were blinded and led by one sighted person were sent home to the Bulgarian king Samuel, who died from the sight of the remnants of his army.
And this man is also known for the fact that he gave the go-ahead for the introduction of Orthodoxy in our country. In dire need of troops to fight the Bulgarians, Basil received from Prince Vladimir of Kiev 6,000 fully equipped soldiers in exchange for agreeing to promote the introduction of Orthodoxy – the official religion of the Byzantine Empire - in Kievan Rus.
Moreover, Basil decided on an unprecedented act in Byzantine history-he became related to a pagan, giving his own sister, porphyrogenital Anna, in marriage to a Prince who at that time had 4 wives and many concubines. By the way, a little-known fact: at the baptism of Prince Vladimir received the Christian name Basil-is it not in honor of his Byzantine brother-in-law?
My follis is 26 mm in diameter and weighs 11.6 g. When purchased, the coin was covered with green rust, and many numismatists would have preferred to leave it in this form.
I removed the greens with chemicals: I really wanted to see what this piece of copper looked like at the time when I could have taken it in my own hands – after all, I could, and this particular coin! - the Baptist of Russia, Prince Vladimir Krasno Solnyshko.

Византийский фоллис X - XI века н.э

Византийский фоллис X - XI века н.э.

Country : Византия
Denomination : фоллис
Year : 976 г. - 1025 г.
Mint :
Circulation :
Material :
Weight : 11.6
Diameter : 26
Alexander R.

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