Tremissis - Mauricius Tiberius VICTORIA AVSTRVM, Rome

Maurice Tiberius inherited an empire financially gutted by his predecessor Tiberius II, who had depleted the treasury through largesse and frontier subsidies. The VICTORIA AVSTRVM ("Victory of the South") reverse type on Roman-mint tremisses of this reign is less common than the Constantinople issues and reflects the administrative complexity of maintaining a functioning western mint while simultaneously funding wars against Persia in the east and facing the Lombard advance into Italy — the very campaigns that would ultimately define, and exhaust, his twenty-year rule.

MIB II distinguishes two die varieties under references 35 and 36, differentiated by subtle officina and legend spacing characteristics.