Zeno's second reign coincided almost exactly with the deposition of Romulus Augustulus in 476 — the event Western historiography has long treated as Rome's fall. Zeno himself was deeply preoccupied with the Ostrogothic problem, ultimately resolving it by dispatching Theoderic to Italy in 488, effectively trading one crisis for a nominally cooperative kingdom. These tiny nummi were the lowest denomination in circulation, struck in such quantities and at such reduced weight that they functioned more as tokens than coinage in any traditional sense.
Zeno's second reign coincided almost exactly with the deposition of Romulus Augustulus in 476 — the event Western historiography has long treated as Rome's fall. Zeno himself was deeply preoccupied with the Ostrogothic problem, ultimately resolving it by dispatching Theoderic to Italy in 488, effectively trading one crisis for a nominally cooperative kingdom. These tiny nummi were the lowest denomination in circulation, struck in such quantities and at such reduced weight that they functioned more as tokens than coinage in any traditional sense.