Æ Nummus - Leo I Constantinopolis

Leo I came to power in 457 as the first emperor elevated by a German commander — the Alan generalissimo Aspar, who expected his puppet to remain compliant. He did not. By the late 460s Leo was systematically dismantling Aspar's influence, culminating in Aspar's murder in 471. These tiny nummi, struck throughout that tension-filled reign, were the lowest denomination in active circulation, handling the small transactions of a Constantinople economy increasingly strained by the failed 468 expedition against the Vandals in North Africa — the most expensive military operation in late Roman history.