CONSTANTINE VII & ZOE 913AD Constantinople Follis Ancient Byzantine Coin i34955

Item: i34955

Authentic Ancient

Coin of:

Byzantine Empire:
Constantine VII, Porphyrogenitus – Emperor:

Bronze ‘ Follis ‘ 25mm (6.06 grams)  struck at the mint of Constantinople
Reference: Sear 1758
+COnSτΑnτ’ CЄ ZOH b’ – Facing busts of Constantine VII, beardless on left and
Zoe on right both crowned and holding between them long pariarchal cross;
Constantine wears loros, whilst his mother is clad in chlamys.
+CONS / τAnτInO’ / CЄ ZOH bA / SILIS RO / mЄOn.

You are bidding on the exact item pictured,

Authenticity.

Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos or

, “the

Purple-born

” (Greek:

Κωνσταντίνος Ζ΄ Πορφυρογέννητος, Kōnstantinos

VII Porphyrogennētos), (September 2, 905 – November 9, 959) was the

son of the

Byzantine emperor

Leo VI and his

fourth wife

Zoe

Karbonopsina
. He was also the nephew of the Emperor

Alexander

. He is famous for his four descriptive books,

,

Ceremoniis
,

and

.

His

nickname

alludes to the Purple Room of the imperial palace, decorated with

the stone

porphyry

, where legitimate children of reigning emperors were normally born.

Constantine was also born in this room, although his mother Zoe had not been

married to Leo at that time. Nevertheless, the epithet allowed him to underline

his position as the legitimized son, as opposed to all others who claimed the

throne during his lifetime. Sons born to a reigning Emperor held precedence in

the Byzantine line of ascension over elder sons not

born “in the

purple”
.

//

 Reign

Constantine was born at

Constantinople

, an illegitimate son born before an uncanonical fourth

marriage. To help legitimize him, his mother gave birth to him in the Purple

Room of the imperial palace, hence his nickname Porphyrogennetos. He was

symbolically elevated to the throne as a two-year-old child by his father and

uncle on May 15, 908. After the death of his uncle Alexander in 913 and the

failure of the usurpation of

Constantine Doukas

, he succeeded to the throne at the age of seven, under

the regency of the

Patriarch

Nicholas

Mystikos
.

His regent was presently forced to make peace with

Tsar

Simeonn
of Bulgaria

, whom he reluctantly recognized as Bulgarian emperor. Because of

this unpopular concession, Nicholas was driven out of the regency by

Constantine’s mother

Zoe

Zoe was no more successful with the Bulgarians, by whom her main supporter,

Leo Phokas

, was defeated in 917, and in 919 she was replaced by the

admiral

Romanos Lekapenos

, who married his daughter

Helena Lekapene

to Constantine. Romanos used his position to advance to the

ranks of

in May 919, kaisar (Caesar) in

September 920, and finally co-emperor in December of the same year. Thus, just

short of reaching nominal majority, Constantine was again eclipsed by a senior

emperor.

Constantine’s youth had been a sad one for his unpleasant appearance, his

taciturn nature and his relegation at the third level of succession behind the

eldest son of Romanos I Lekapenos. Nevertheless, he was a very intelligent young

man with a large range of interests, and dedicated those years to study the

court’s ceremonial.

Romanos kept power for himself and maintained it until 944, when he was

deposed by his sons Stephen and Constantine. Romanos spent the last years of his

life in exile on the Island of

Prote

as a monk and died on June 15, 948.

With the help of his wife, Constantine VII succeeded in removing his

brothers-in-law and on January 27, 945, Constantine VII was once again sole

emperor at the age of 39, after a life spent in the shadow. Several months

later, Constantine VII crowned his own son

Romanos II

co-emperor. Having never exercised executive authority, Constantine remained

primarily devoted to his scholarly pursuits and relegated his authority to

bureaucrats and generals, as well as his energetic wife Helena Lekapene.

In 949 Constantine launched a new fleet of 100 ships (20

dromons
, 64

chelandia, and 10 galleys) against the

Arab

corsairs hiding in

Crete
, but like

his father’s attempt to retake the island in 911, this attempt also failed. On

the Eastern frontier things went better, even if with alternate success: in 949

the Byzantines conquered

Germanicea

, repeatedly defeated the enemy armies and in 952 crossed the

upper Euphrates

. But in 953 the

Arab

amir

Sayf

al-Daula
retook Germanicea and entered the imperial territory. The land in

the east was eventually recovered by

Nikephoros Phokas
,

who conquered

Hadath

, in northern

Syria
, in 958,

and by the Armenian

general

John Tzimiskes

, who one year later captured

Samosata
,

in northern

Mesopotamiaa

. An Arab fleet was also destroyed by

Greek fire

in 957. Constantine’s efforts to retake themes lost to the Arabs were the first

such efforts to have any real success.

Constantine had intense diplomatic relationships with foreign courts,

including the caliph

of

Cordoba

Abd ar-Rahman III and

Otto I

,

King of Germany

. In the autumn of 957 Constantine was visited by

Olga
,

princess of the

Kievan Rus’

. The reasons for this voyage have never been clarified: in any

case, she was baptised with the name Helena, and began to convert her people to

Christianity

.

Constantine VII died at Constantinople in November 959 and was succeeded by

his son Romanos II

. It was rumored that Constantine had been poisoned by his son or

his daughter-in-law

Theophano

.

 Literary

and political activity

Constantine VII was renowned for his abilities as a writer and scholar. He

wrote, or had commissioned, the works

cerimoniis aulae byzantinae
(“On Ceremonies”), describing the kinds of

court ceremonies also described later in a more negative light by

Liutprand of Cremona

;

(“On the Administration of the Empire”), giving

advice on running the empire internally and also how to fight external enemies;

and a history of the Empire covering events following the death of the

chronographer

Theophanes the Confessor

in 817. Amongst his historical works was a history

eulogising the reign and achievements of his grandfather,

Basil I
.

These books are insightful and are of immense interest to the historian,

sociologist and anthropologist as a most useful source of information about

nations neighbouring with Byzantium. They also offer a fine insight into the

Emperor himself.

In his book, A Short History of Byzantium,

John

Julius Norwich
refers to Constantine VII as “The Scholar Emperor” (180).

Norwich states, “He was, we are told, a passionate collector—not only of books

and manuscripts but works of art of every kind; more remarkable still for a man

of his class, he seems to have been an excellent painter. He was the most

generous of patrons—to writers and scholars, artists and craftsmen. Finally, he

was an excellent Emperor: a competent, conscientious and hard-working

administrator and an inspired picker of men, whose appointments to military,

naval, ecclesiastical, civil and academic posts were both imaginative and

successful. He did much to develop higher education and took a special interest

in the administration of justice (181). In 947, Constantine VII ordered the

immediate restitution, without compensation, of all peasant lands, thus, by the

end of [his] reign, the condition of the landed peasantry—which formed the

foundation of the whole economic and military strength of the Empire—was better

off than it had been for a century” (182-3). 

By his wife

Helena Lekapene

, the daughter of Emperor

Romanos I
,

Constantine VII had several children, including:

• Leo, who died young.
• Romanos II

  .

• Zoe. Sent to a convent.

• Theodora

  , who married Emperor

  John I Tzimiskes

  .

• Agatha. Sent to a convent.

• Theophano

  , daughter in-law.

• Theophano. Sent to a convent.
• Anna. Sent to a convent.