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Semissis - Leo III, Constantine V
| Issuer | Byzantine Empire (Byzantine states) |
|---|---|
| Year | 720-741 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | 1.22 g |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Frontal facing bust of the co-emperor Constantine V, crowned and wearing imperial loros with elaborate drapery. The emperor holds a cross potent on steps in his left hand and a globus cruciger in his right, rendered in the solemn, frontal Byzantine imperial style. A partial legend naming Constantine runs along the field periphery, partially lost to the irregular hammered flan. |
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| Mintage | ND (720-741) |
| Additional information |
The semissis — half a solidus — was already a denomination in slow decline by the time Leo III consolidated power after the chaos of the Twenty Years' Anarchy, a period that saw no fewer than six emperors deposed between 695 and 717. Leo's decision to co-elevate Constantine V in 720 was a direct response to that instability, and the joint coinage that followed was as much a political instrument as a monetary one. This particular issue spans the years before Leo's Iconoclast Edict of 730, which would rupture relations with Rome and reshape Byzantine religious policy for over a century.