Catalog
Nummus - Godas Without legend
| Issuer | Vandal Sardinia |
|---|---|
| Year | 533 |
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| Currency | Nummus (484-534) |
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| Obverse description | Diademed and draped bust of a male figure facing right, rendered in a simplified late antique style with schematic drapery indicated by vertical lines at the truncation. The portrait, likely representing Godas or an idealized ruler type, occupies the full field of the flan with no surrounding legend. The hair is depicted with flowing strands extending behind the head, and the overall execution reflects the crude but characteristic style of Vandal-period Sardinian coinage. |
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| Reverse description | A plain Greek cross with splayed, flared terminals centered in the field, surrounded by a border of triangular or arrow-head pellets arranged around the full circumference of the flan. The cross is boldly rendered and occupies the majority of the reverse field. No legend is present. The decorative pellet border is characteristic of Vandal nummus coinage from Sardinia and reflects Byzantine artistic influence during this transitional period. |
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| Additional information |
Godas was a Vandal general appointed to govern Sardinia who, in 533 AD, declared independence from the Vandal kingdom and simultaneously requested military aid from Justinian — a calculated gamble that briefly made him an ally of Constantinople. His revolt forced the Vandal king Gelimer to split his forces, diverting a fleet and army to Sardinia under his brother Tzazo precisely when Belisarius was about to land in North Africa. Tzazo retook the island and killed Godas before news arrived that Carthage had already fallen. This nummus is among the few material traces of that seventy-odd-day independent rule.