Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
Aureus - Anastasius I Dicorus VICTORIA AVGVSTORVM, Constantinopolis
| Issuer | Byzantine Empire |
|---|---|
| Year | 491-498 |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Helmeted and diademed bust of Emperor Anastasius I facing three-quarters right, clad in cuirass and imperial paludamentum fastened at the right shoulder. The emperor holds a spear upright over his right shoulder, with a shield decorated with a horseman motif visible at the lower left. The effigy exhibits the characteristic early Byzantine frontal stylization, with detailed rendering of the crested helmet adorned with pendilia. The Latin imperial legend encircles the bust, reading from left to right around the coin's periphery. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | D N ANASTASIVS P P AVG (Translation: D(-ominus) N(-oster) ANASTASIVS P(-er-)P(-etuus) AVG(-vstvs) `Our Lord Anastasius, Perpetual Emperor`) |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
Anastasius I inherited a treasury drained by decades of military expenditure under Zeno, then systematically rebuilt imperial finances through a series of reforms — most critically the abolition of the chrysargyron, a despised tax on merchants and tradespeople collected every four years, in 498. The gold coinage struck in the first years of his reign predates that reform and belongs to the moment of transition, before his fiscal program had fully taken hold.
This is the opening entry in Bellinger, DOC, and MIB simultaneously — the type that anchors the entire Byzantine gold sequence by scholarly convention.