Semissis - Heraclius VICTORIA AVG

Heraclius seized power in 610 by sailing from Carthage to Constantinople with a fleet reportedly bearing icons on the prow — a deliberate piece of theater aimed at the population and garrison alike. These early gold semisses, struck before his catastrophic wars with Sassanid Persia consumed the empire's treasury and forced repeated debasements, represent the last window of fiscal stability before gold coinage became a resource too precious to mint in fractional denominations with any regularity.