1 Solidus In the name of Phocas

The Lombard kingdom had no mint tradition of its own when it swept into Italy in 568, and for generations its kings issued gold in the name of reigning Byzantine emperors — not out of deference, but because Byzantine solidi were the only currency merchants and tax collectors trusted. Phocas, who seized the throne in Constantinople in 602 by murdering Maurice and his sons, was an unlikely figure to lend his name to a barbarian coinage. The Lombard pseudo-imperial solidi of this period are progressively more schematic with each decade, the coin evolving away from its Byzantine model as Lombard moneyers worked increasingly from copies of copies rather than originals.