After Theoderic's Ostrogoths defeated and killed the Gepid king Thrasaric at the Battle of Sirmium in 504, the city passed under Ostrogothic control — yet Gepid moneyers continued striking fractional silver in the names of both the Gothic king and the Eastern emperor, a formulaic deference that kept the coinage politically palatable to Constantinople. The horizontal S on this issue is a mint mark specific to Sirmium, distinguishing it from otherwise similar fractions produced elsewhere in the Gothic sphere.
After Theoderic's Ostrogoths defeated and killed the Gepid king Thrasaric at the Battle of Sirmium in 504, the city passed under Ostrogothic control — yet Gepid moneyers continued striking fractional silver in the names of both the Gothic king and the Eastern emperor, a formulaic deference that kept the coinage politically palatable to Constantinople. The horizontal S on this issue is a mint mark specific to Sirmium, distinguishing it from otherwise similar fractions produced elsewhere in the Gothic sphere.