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Solidus - Zeno VICTORIA AVGGG, Constantinopolis
| Issuer | Eastern Roman Empire |
|---|---|
| Year | 476-491 |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Latin |
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| Reverse description | Winged Victory personified, standing facing left, holding an elongated jewelled cross upright in the right hand; a star appears in the right field. The exergue contains the mint and purity mark CONOB, denoting gold of the Constantinople mint refined to the highest standard, while the officina letter appears within the reverse legend as a mark of the workshop responsible for striking. The composition follows the standard Late Roman and early Byzantine reverse type established for the solidus denomination. |
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| Additional information |
Zeno's reign bracketed one of history's more consequential non-events: the deposition of Romulus Augustulus in 476, after which no Western emperor was appointed. Zeno received the imperial regalia from Odoacer rather than nominating a successor, a calculated passivity that effectively ended the divided imperial fiction. This solidus was struck across precisely that moment, yet the mint at Constantinople carried on without interruption — same dies, same weight standard, same officina marks — as if nothing had changed in the West.
Zeno was actually deposed himself in 475 by the usurper Basiliscus, returning to power in 476 before the Western collapse had fully registered politically.