Heraclius came to power by sailing from Carthage to Constantinople and overthrowing Phocas in 610 — a reign that opened in military catastrophe, with the Persians seizing Egypt, Syria, and Palestine within the first decade. The eastern mints fell one by one, concentrating production back toward Constantinople under increasingly desperate conditions. Fabric and module shrank noticeably across the reign as bronze supplies tightened.
Sear 815 places this issue firmly at the Constantinople mint during a period when the follis system was already in structural decline, the 20 nummi fraction a shadow of its Justinianic predecessor.
Heraclius came to power by sailing from Carthage to Constantinople and overthrowing Phocas in 610 — a reign that opened in military catastrophe, with the Persians seizing Egypt, Syria, and Palestine within the first decade. The eastern mints fell one by one, concentrating production back toward Constantinople under increasingly desperate conditions. Fabric and module shrank noticeably across the reign as bronze supplies tightened.
Sear 815 places this issue firmly at the Constantinople mint during a period when the follis system was already in structural decline, the 20 nummi fraction a shadow of its Justinianic predecessor.