LEO VI the Wise 886AD Constantinople Ancient Medieval Byzantine Coin i55460

Item: i55460

 Authentic Ancient

Coin of:

Bronze Follis 25mm (6.79 grams) Constantinople mint: 886-912 A.D.
Reference: Sear 1729
+ LЄOn bASILЄVS ROm’ – Bust facing, with short beard, wearing crown and chlamys,
and holding akakia in left hand.
+ LЄOn / Єn ΘЄO bA / SILЄVS R / OMЄOn in four lines.

You are bidding on the exact item pictured,

Authenticity.

The akakia was a
cylindrical purple silk roll containing dust,
held
by the
Byzantine emperors
during ceremonies, and
symbolizing the mortal nature of all men. It possibly developed from the
mappa, the cloth used by the
Roman consuls
to start the races at the
hippodrome.

Leo VI, surnamed the Wise or the Philosopher ( Leōn VI ho Sophos,

19 September 866 – 11 May 912), was

Byzantine emperor

from 886 to 912. The second ruler of the

Macedonian

dynasty
(although his parentage is unclear), he was very well-read, leading

to his surname. During his reign, the renaissance of letters begun by his

predecessor Basil

I
continued, but the Empire also saw several military defeats in the Balkans

against

Bulgaria

and against the Arabs in

Sicily
and the

Aegean.

//

 Background

Leo was born to

Eudokia Ingerina

who was at the time mistress of Emperor

Michael

III
and wife of his

Caesar

Basil

. Which of the two men was his biological father is uncertain. Basil

legally acknowledged Leo as his son but his later treatment of him might suggest

that he regarded Leo as Michael’s son.

In 867, Michael was assassinated by Basil who succeeded him as Emperor

Basil I

. As the second eldest son of the Emperor, Leo was associated on the

throne in 870 and became the direct heir on the death of his older half-brother

Constantine in 879. However, he and his father hated each other and Basil almost

had Leo blinded as a teenager. On August 29, 886, Basil died in a hunting

accident, though he claimed on his deathbed that there was an

assassination

attempt in which Leo was possibly involved.

 Domestic

policy

One of the first actions of Leo VI after his succession was the reburial of

Michael III in

Constantinople

, which may have contributed to the suspicion that he was

Michael’s son. Seeking political reconciliation, the new emperor secured the

support of the officials in the capital, and surrounded himself with bureaucrats

like

Stylianos

Zaoutzes
and the eunuch Samonas. His attempts to control the great

aristocratic families (e.g., the Phokadai and the Doukai) occasionally led to

serious conflicts. Leo also attempted to control the church through his

appointments to the patriarchate. He dismissed the

Patriarch

Photios

of Constantinople, who had been his tutor, and replaced him with his

own 19-year old brother

Stephen

in December 886. On Stephen’s death in 893, Leo replaced him with

Zaoutzes’ nominee, Antony II Kaleuas, who died in 901. Leo then promoted his own

imperial secretary (mystikos)

Nicholas
,

but replaced him with his spiritual father Euthymios in 907.

The magnificent

Church of Ayios Lazaros

in

Larnaca
was

built during Leo VI rule in the late

9th

century
. The church is one of the best examples of

Byzantine architecture

. Leo also completed work on the

Basilica,

the

Greek

translation and update of the

law code

issued by Justinian I

, which had been started during the reign of Basil.

Bishop

Liutprand of Cremona

gives an account similar to those related about caliph

Harun al-Rashid
,

stating that Leo would sometimes disguise himself and look for injustice or

corruption. On one account, he was even captured by the city guards during one

of his investigations. He wanted to know if the city patrol was doing its job

appropriately. Late in the evening, he was walking alone and disguised. Though

he bribed two patrols for 12

nomismata

, and moved on, the third city patrol arrested him. When a

terrified guardian recognized the jailed ruler in the morning, the arresting

officer was rewarded for doing his duty, while the other patrols were dismissed

and punished severely.

 Foreign

policy

Leo VI was not as successful in battle as Basil had been. In indulging his

chief counselor Stylianos Zaoutzes, Leo provoked a war with

Simeon I of Bulgaria

in 894, but was defeated. Bribing the

Magyars

to attack the

Bulgarians

from the north, Leo scored an indirect success in 895. However, deprived of his

new allies, he lost the major

Battle of Boulgarophygon

in 896 and had to make the required commercial

concessions and to pay annual tribute.

The

Emirate of Sicily

took

Taormina
,

the last Byzantine outpost on the island of

Sicily
, in 902.

In 904 the renegade

Leo of Tripolis

sacked

Thessalonica

with his Muslim pirates (an event described in The Capture

of Thessalonica by

John Kaminiates
).

In 907

Constantinople

was attacked

by the

Kievan Rus’ under

Oleg of Novgorod
,

who was seeking favourable trading rights with the empire. Leo paid them off,

but they attacked again in 911, and a

trade treaty was finally signed

.

 Fourth

marriage dispute

Leo VI caused a major scandal with his numerous marriages which failed to

produce a legitimate heir to the throne. His first wife

Theophano

, whom Basil had forced him to marry, died in 897, and he married

Zoe Zaoutzaina
,

the daughter of his adviser Stylianos Zaoutzes, though she died as well in 899.

Upon this marriage Leo created the title of

(“father of the emperor”) for his father-in-law.

After Zoe’s death a third marriage was technically illegal, but he married

again, only to have his third wife

Eudokia Baïana

die in 901. Instead of marrying a fourth time, which would have been an even

greater sin than a third marriage (according to the Patriarch

Nicholas

Mystikos
) Leo took as mistress,

Zoe

Karbonopsina
. He married her only after she had given birth to

a

son
in 905, but incurred the opposition of the patriarch. Replacing Nicholas

Mystikos with Euthymios, Leo got his marriage recognized by the church, but

opened up a conflict within it and allowed new grounds for

papal

intervention into Byzantine affairs when he sought and obtained papal

consent.

 Succession

The future Constantine VII was the illegitimate son born before Leo’s

uncanonical fourth marriage to Zoe Karbonopsina. To strengthen his son’s

position as heir, Leo had him crowned as co-emperor on May 15, 908, when he was

only two years old. Leo VI died on May 11, 912. He was succeeded by his younger

brother

Alexander

, who had reigned as emperor alongside his father and brother since

879.

 Works

A collection of oracular poems and some short divinatory texts, at least in

part based on earlier Greek sources, were attached to the emperor’s name in

later centuries. He is also the author, or at least sponsor, of the

Tactica

, a notable treatise on military operations.

He is credited with

translating

the

relics

of St.

Lazarus
to Constantinople in the year 890. There are several

stichera

(hymns) attributed to him which are chanted on

Lazarus Saturday

in the

Eastern Orthodox Church

. He also composed hymns which are sung on the

Great Feast

of the

Exaltation of the Cross

.