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Gold Tetarteron - Romanus IV with Eudocia
| Issuer | Imperial Mint of Constantinople |
|---|---|
| Year | 1068-1071 |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
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| Reverse description | Facing busts of Romanus IV and Empress Eudocia, both crowned and wearing jewelled loros, standing side by side. Between them rises a long patriarchal cross on a globus, its shaft separating the two imperial figures. The emperor appears on the left with a bearded effigy, the empress on the right. The abbreviated legend +ΡωΜ S EVΔKΙ is distributed around the figures in the field, within a beaded border. The design reflects the dynastic joint-reign iconography standard on middle Byzantine gold coinage. |
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| Mint | Constantinople |
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| Additional information |
Romanus IV Diogenes came to power not through dynastic right but by marrying the widowed empress Eudocia Makrembolitissa in 1068 — a political arrangement that gave him the throne and gave her a general capable of confronting the Seljuk advance into Anatolia. That campaign ended at Manzikert in 1071, where Romanus was captured by Alp Arslan in the only instance of a reigning Byzantine emperor being taken prisoner by a Muslim ruler. The defeat effectively shattered Byzantine control over the Anatolian plateau.
His coinage spans at most three and a half years, making any issue from this reign scarce by structural necessity.