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Basil I, Leo and Constantine (870-79)

 
 

Obverse

Bust of St. Basil blessing and holding a book. Circular inscription. A six rayed star on either side. No visible border.

......ΛΕΙΕΟΗΘΕΙ

Ἅγιε Βασίλειε βοήθει

Reverse

Three figures: in center a half-length representation of the emperor Basil I (bearded) wearing a crown surmounted by a cross and a loros. Left, a bust of Leo wearing a crown surmounted by a cross and at right a bust of Constantine (beardless) wearing a crown surmounted by a cross and a chlamys. Remains of an inscription. No visible border.

.............OS/A

Leon, Basilios καὶ Constantinos augusti

Obverse

Bust of St. Basil blessing and holding a book. Circular inscription. A six rayed star on either side. No visible border.

......ΛΕΙΕΟΗΘΕΙ

Ἅγιε Βασίλειε βοήθει

Reverse

Three figures: in center a half-length representation of the emperor Basil I (bearded) wearing a crown surmounted by a cross and a loros. Left, a bust of Leo wearing a crown surmounted by a cross and at right a bust of Constantine (beardless) wearing a crown surmounted by a cross and a chlamys. Remains of an inscription. No visible border.

.............OS/A

Leon, Basilios καὶ Constantinos augusti

Accession number BZS.1977.34.96
Diameter 22.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 6, no. 52.1.

Translation

Ἅγιε Βασίλειε βοήθει Leon, Basilios καὶ Constantinos augusti.

St. Basil, help Leo, Basil and Constantine, augusti.

Commentary

The images on this specimen do not derive from the dies of a boulloterion. The reverse is concave, indicating that first one side was struck with a punch and then the other. The object may have been used as a grain token.

Between 870 and 879, folles were struck depicting on the obverse Emperor Basil I flanked by his sons Leo and Constantine. Basil is represented half-length, bearded, and wearing a crown with a cross and a loros. Leo (at the l.) and Constantine (at the r.) are shown half-length, but smaller. Each is beardless, and wears a crown surmounted by a cross and a chlamys. The trio are usually identified by a circular inscription reading LEOASILSCOSA: Leon, Basil(ios), (καὶ) Const(antinos) aug(usti). See DOC 3.2: 10a.1 (pl. 31); the obverse of this coin is different from this tessera, which contains a portrait of St. Basil.

Bibliography

  • Catalogue of Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Oaks and in the Fogg Museum of Art, Vol. 6, Emperors, Patriarchs of Constantinople, Addenda (Open in Zotero)
  • Catalogue of the Byzantine Coins in the Dumbarton Oaks Collection and in the Whittemore Collection, Vol. 3, Leo III to Nicephorus III (717–1081) (Open in Zotero)