Thrasamund ruled the Vandal Kingdom for nearly three decades, navigating a careful diplomatic balance between Ostrogothic Italy — he married Theodoric's sister Amalafrida in 500 — and a Byzantine empire growing increasingly hostile to Arian Germanic rulers. These tiny nummi were the lowest denomination in a bronze coinage system the Vandals inherited and adapted from late Roman provincial practice at Carthage, a mint the kingdom had controlled since Gaiseric's capture of the city in 439.
The fabric is characteristically irregular; flans this small were prone to uneven casting, and few survive without some degree of surface porosity.
Thrasamund ruled the Vandal Kingdom for nearly three decades, navigating a careful diplomatic balance between Ostrogothic Italy — he married Theodoric's sister Amalafrida in 500 — and a Byzantine empire growing increasingly hostile to Arian Germanic rulers. These tiny nummi were the lowest denomination in a bronze coinage system the Vandals inherited and adapted from late Roman provincial practice at Carthage, a mint the kingdom had controlled since Gaiseric's capture of the city in 439.
The fabric is characteristically irregular; flans this small were prone to uneven casting, and few survive without some degree of surface porosity.