JESUS CHRIST Class G Anonymous 1068AD VIRGIN ORANS Byzantine Follis Coin i41852

Description

Item:
i41852
Authentic Ancient Coin of:
Byzantine Empire
Anonymous Class G
Bronze Follis 26mm (5.49 grams)
Struck during the reign of
Romanus IV
, Diogenes -
Byzantine Emperor: 1 January 1068 A.D. - 19 August 1071 A.D.
Reference: Sear 1867
Bust of
Christ
facing , wearing a nimbus crown, pallium and colobium, and raising right hand in benediction;
in left hand, scroll; to left, IC; to right, XC; border of large pellets.
Facing bust of the
Virgin orans
, nimbate and wearing pallium and maphorium; to left, MP; to right,
ΘV; border of large pellets.
For more than a century, the production of Follis denomination Byzantine coins had religious Christian motifs which included included Jesus Christ, and even Virgin Mary. These coins were designed to honor Christ and recognize the subservient role of the Byzantine emperor, with many of the reverse inscriptions translating to "Jesus Christ King of Kings" and "May Jesus Christ Conquer". The Follis denomination coins were the largest bronze denomination coins issued by the Byzantine empire, and their large size, along with the Christian motif make them a popular coin type for collectors. This series ran from the period of Byzantine emperors John I (969-976 A.D.) to Alexius I (1081-1118 A.D.). The accepted classification was originally devised by Miss Margaret Thompson with her study of these types of coins. World famous numismatic author, David R. Sear adopted this classification system for his book entitled, Byzantine Coins and Their Values. The references about this coin site Mr. Sear's book by the number that they appear in that work.  The class types of coins included Class A1, Class A2, Class B, Class C, Class D, Class E, Class F, Class G, Class H, Class I, Class J, Class K. Read more and see examples of these coins by reading the JESUS CHRIST Anonymous Class A-N Byzantine Follis Coins Reference.
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Jesus of Nazareth
(
c.
5 BC/BCE –
c.
30 AD/CE), also referred to as
Jesus Christ
or simply
Jesus
, is the central figure of
Christianity
. Most
Christian denominations
venerate him as
God the Son
incarnated
and believe that he
rose from the dead
after being
crucified
.
The principal sources of information regarding Jesus are the four
canonical gospels
, and most
critical scholars
find them, at least the
Synoptic Gospels
, useful for reconstructing Jesus’ life and teachings. Some scholars believe apocryphal texts such as the
Gospel of Thomas
and the
Gospel according to the Hebrews
are also
relevant
.
Most critical historians agree that Jesus was a
Jew
who was regarded as a teacher and
healer
, that he
was baptized
by
John the Baptist
, and
was crucified
in
Jerusalem
on the orders of the
Roman Prefect
Judaea
,
Pontius Pilate
, on the charge of
sedition
against the
Roman Empire
. Critical Biblical scholars and historians have offered competing descriptions of Jesus as a self-described
Messiah
, as the leader of an apocalyptic movement, as an itinerant sage, as a charismatic healer, and as the founder of an independent religious movement. Most contemporary scholars of the
Historical Jesus
consider him to have been an independent, charismatic founder of a Jewish restoration movement, anticipating an imminent apocalypse. Other prominent scholars, however, contend that Jesus' "
Kingdom of God
" meant radical personal and social transformation instead of a future apocalypse.
Christians traditionally believe that Jesus was
born of a virgin
:529–32
performed
miracles
,
:358–59
founded
the Church
,
rose from the dead
, and
ascended
into
heaven
,
:616–20
from which he
will return
.
:1091–109
Most Christian scholars today present Jesus as the awaited Messiah promised in the
Old Testament
and as God, arguing that he fulfilled many Messianic prophecies of the
Old Testament
. The majority of Christians worship Jesus as the incarnation of God the Son, one of three divine persons of a
reject Trinitarianism
Trinity
, wholly or partly, believing it to be non-scriptural.
The
Virgin Orans
,
Oranta
(The Great
Panagia
) (
Ukrainian
:
Оранта
) is a well-known
Orthodox Christian
depiction of the
Virgin Mary
in prayer with extended arms. It is stored in the
Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kiev
in
Ukraine
. The 6 meter high
mosaic
is located in the vault of the chancel. The icon has been present in the Cathedral since its foundation by
Yaroslav I the Wise
in the 12th century.
The Virgin's solemn and static posture, the characteristic folds of her garments, and her pensive expression indicate the design was strongly influenced by
Byzantine art
.
The image is considered as one of the greatest sacred symbols in Ukraine, a
palladion
defending the people of the country. It has been called an "Undestructible Wall" or "Unmoveable Wall". Legend says that as long as the
Theotokos
is extending Her arms over
Kiev
, the city will stand indestructible.
The
embroidered
handkerchief on the belt of the Mother of God is popularly thought to be for wiping away the tears of those who come before her with their problems and concerns.
In 1997 the
National Bank of Ukraine
issued commemorative coins "Orante" ("Oranta") within the "Spiritual Treasures of Ukraine" series.
Romanos IV Diogenes
or
Romanus IV Diogenes
(
Greek
: Ρωμανός Δ΄ Διογένης,
Rōmanos IV Diogenēs
) was a member of the
Byzantine
military aristocracy who, after his marriage to the widowed empress
Eudokia Makrembolitissa
was crowned
Byzantine emperor
and reigned from 1068 to 1071. During his reign he was determined to halt the decline of the Byzantine military and stop Turkish incursions into the Byzantine Empire, but in 1071 he was captured and his army routed at the
Battle of Manzikert
. Upon his capture he was overthrown in a palace coup, and when released he was quickly defeated and detained by members of the
Doukas
family. In 1072, he was blinded and sent to a monastery where he died of his wounds. //
Accession to the throne
Romanos Diogenes was the son of
Constantine Diogenes
and a member of a prominent and powerful
Cappadocian
family, connected by birth to most of the great aristocratic nobles in
Asia Minor
. Courageous and generous, but also quite impetuous, his military talents had seen him rise with distinction in the army, but he was eventually convicted of attempting to usurp the throne of the sons of
Constantine X
Doukas in 1067. While waiting to receive his sentence from the regent
Eudokia Makrembolitissa
, he was summoned into her presence and advised that she had pardoned him and that furthermore she had chosen him to be her husband and the guardian of her sons as emperor. She took this course of action firstly due to her concern that unless she managed to find a powerful husband, she could easily lose the regency to any unscrupulous noble, and secondly because she was infatuated with the popular Romanus. Her decision was met with little protest as the
Seljuk
Turks had overrun much of Cappadocia and had even taken the important city of
Caesarea
, meaning that the army needed to be placed under the command of an able and energetic general.
The problem Romanus and Eudokia had in executing this plan was that Eudokia’s deceased husband, Constantine X, had made her swear an oath never to remarry. She approached the
Patriarch
John Xiphilinos
and convinced him both to hand over the written oath she had signed to this effect, and to have him pronounce that he was in favour of a second marriage for the good of the state. The
Senate
agreed, and on January 1, 1068 Romanus married the empress and was crowned Emperor of the Romans.
Campaigns against the Turks
Romanus IV was now the senior emperor and guardian of his stepsons and junior co-emperors,
Michael VII
,
Konstantios Doukas
, and
Andronikos Doukas
. However, his elevation had antagonised not only the
Doukas
family, in particular the
Caesar
,
John Doukas
who led the opposition of the palace officials to Romanos’ authority, but also the
Varangian Guard
, who openly expressed their discontent at the marriage of Eudokia. Romanos therefore decided that he could only exercise his authority by placing himself at the head of the army in the field, thereby focusing the whole government’s attention on the war against the Turks.
By
1067
, the Turks had been making incursions at will into
Mesopotamia
,
Melitene
,
Syria
,
Cilicia
and Cappadocia, culminating with the sack of Caesarea and the plundering of the Church of
St Basil
. That winter they camped on the frontiers of the empire, and waited for the next year’s campaigning season. Romanos was confident of Byzantine superiority on the field of battle, looking on the Turks as little more than hordes of robbers who would melt away at the first encounter. He did not take into account the degraded state of the Byzantine forces which had suffered years of neglect from his predecessors, in particular Constantine X. His forces, mostly composed of
Sclavonian
,
Armenian
,
Bulgarian
, and
Frankish
mercenaries, were ill-disciplined, disorganised and uncoordinated, and he was not prepared to spend time in upgrading the arms, armour or tactics of the once feared Byzantine army.
Campaign of 1068
The first military operations of Romanos did achieve a measure of success, reinforcing his opinions about the outcome of the war.
Antioch
was exposed to the
Saracens
of
Aleppo
who, with help from Turkish troops, began an attempt to reconquer the Byzantine province of Syria. Romanos began marching to the southeastern frontier of the empire to deal with this threat, but as he was advancing towards
Lykandos
, he received word that a Seljuk army had made an incursion into
Pontus
and plundered
Neocaesarea
. Immediately he selected a small mobile force and quickly raced through
Sebaste
and the mountains of
Tephrike
to encounter the Turks on the road, forcing them to abandon their plunder and release their prisoners, though a large number of the Turkish troops managed to escape.
Returning south, Romanos rejoined the main army and they continued their advance through the passes of
Mount Taurus
to the north of
Germanicia
and proceeded to invade the
Emirate
of Aleppo. Romanos captured
Hierapolis
which he fortified in order to provide protection against further incursions into the south-eastern provinces of the empire. He then engaged in further fighting against the Saracens of Aleppo but neither side managed a decisive victory. With the campaigning season reaching its end, Romanos returned north via
Alexandretta
and the
Cilician Gates
to
Podandos
. Here he was advised of another Seljuk raid into
Asia Minor
which saw them sack
Amorium
, but they had returned to their base so fast that Romanos was in no position to give chase, and he eventually reached
Constantinople
by
January
1069
.
Campaign of 1069
Plans for the following year’s campaigning were initially thrown into chaos by a rebellion by one of Romanos’
Norman
mercenaries
, Crispin, who led a contingent of Frankish troops in the pay of the empire. Possibly due to Romanos not paying them on time, they began plundering the countryside near where they were stationed, and attacking the imperial tax collectors. Although Crispin was captured and exiled to
Abydos
, the Franks continued to ravage the
Armeniac Theme
for some time. In the meantime, the land around Caesarea was again overrun by the Turks, forcing Romanos to spend precious time and energy in expelling the Turks from Cappadocia. Desperate to begin his campaign proper, he ordered the execution of all prisoners, even a Seljuk chieftain who offered to pay an immense ransom for his life. Having brought a measure of peace to the province, Romanos marched towards the
Euphrates
via
Melitene
, and crossed the river at
Romanopolis
, hoping to take
Akhlat
on
Lake Van
and thus protect the Armenian frontier.
Romanos placed himself at the head of a substantial body of troops, and began his march towards Akhlat, leaving the bulk of the army under the command of
Philaretos Brachamios
with orders to defend the Mesopotamian frontier. Philaretos was soon defeated by the Turks, whose advance on
Iconium
forced Romanos to abandon his plans and return to Sebaste. He sent orders to the
Dux
of Antioch to secure the passes at
Mopsuestia
, while he attempted to run down the Turks at
Heracleia
. The Turks were soon hemmed in the mountains of
Cilicia
, but managed to escape to Aleppo after abandoning their plunder. Romanos once again returned to Constantinople without the great victory he was hoping for.
Affairs at Constantinople
The year
1070
saw Romanos detained at Constantinople while he dealt with many outstanding administrative issues, including the imminent fall of
Bari
into
Norman
hands. They had been besieging it since 1068, but it had taken Romanos two years to finally get around to doing anything about it. He ordered a relief fleet to set sail, containing sufficient provisions and troops to enable them to hold out for much longer. But the fleet was intercepted and defeated by a Norman squadron under the command of
Roger
, the younger brother of
Robert Guiscard
, forcing the final remaining outpost of Byzantine authority in
Italy
to surrender on April 15, 1071.
While this was playing out, Romanos was undertaking a number of unpopular reforms at home. He reduced a great deal of unnecessary public expenditure that was wasted on useless court ceremonials and beautifying the capital. He reduced the public salaries that were paid to much of the court nobility, as well as reducing the profits of tradesmen. His preoccupation with the military had also made him unpopular with the provincial governors and the military hierarchy, as he was determined to ensure they could not abuse their positions, especially through corrupt practices. He incurred the displease of the mercenaries by enforcing much need discipline. Romanos was also deeply unpopular with the common people, as he neglected to entertain them with games at the
hippodrome
, nor did he alleviate the burdens of the peasants in the provinces. All this animosity would help his enemies when the time came that they moved against him.
Nevertheless, he did not forget his principal target, the Turks. Being unable to go on campaign himself, he entrusted the imperial army to one of his generals,
Manuel Komnenos
, nephew of the former emperor
Isaac I
, and elder brother to the future emperor
Alexios
. He managed to engage the Turks in battle, but was defeated and taken prisoner by a Turkish general named
Khroudj
. Manuel convinced Khroudj to go to Constantinople and see Romanos in person in order to conclude an alliance, which was soon completed. This act motivated the Seljuk Sultan
Alp Arslan
to attack the Byzantine Empire, besieging and capturing the important Byzantine fortress of
Manzikert
.
Battle of Manzikert and capture by Alp Arslan
Early in the spring of 1071, Romanos marched at the head of a large army with the intent of recovering Manzikert. It was soon evident that the army had a serious discipline problem, with soldiers regularly pillaging the area around their nightly camps. When Romanos attempted to enforce some stricter discipline, a whole regiment of German mercenaries mutinied, which the emperor only managed to control with the greatest difficulty.
Believing that Alp Arslan was nowhere near Manzikert, he decided to divide his army. One part of the army he dispatched to attack Akhlat, at that time in possession of the Turks. Romanos himself advanced with the main body of the army on Manzikert, which he soon recaptured. At this point his advance guard met the Seljuk army which was rapidly approaching Manzikert. Romanos ordered the forces attacking Akhlat to rejoin the army, but their portion of the army unexpectedly came across another large Turkish army, forcing their retreat back into Mesopotamia. Already under strength, Romanos’ army was further weakened when his Uzes mercenaries deserted to the Turks.
Arslan had no desire to take on the Byzantine army, and so proposed a peace treaty with favourable terms for Romanos. The emperor, eager for a decisive military victory, rejected the offer, and both armies lined up for a battle that took place on August 26, 1071. The battle lasted all day without either side gaining any decisive advantage when the emperor ordered a part of his centre to return to camp but the order was misunderstood by the right wing.
Andronikos Doukas
, who commanded the reserves, was the son of Caesar John Doukas, and he took advantage of the confusion to betray Romanos by marching away from the battle with some 30,000 men instead of covering the emperor’s retreat, claiming that Romanos was dead. The Turks now began to press in on the Byzantine army.
When Romanos discovered what had happened, he tried to recover the situation by making a defiant stand. He fought valiantly when his horse was finally killed from under him. Receiving a wound in the hand which prevented him from wielding a sword, he was soon taken prisoner.
According to a number of Byzantine historians, including
John Skylitzes
, Arslan at first had difficulty believing the dusty and tattered warrior brought before him was the Roman Emperor. He then stepped down from his seat and placed his foot on Romanos’ neck. But after this sign of ritual humiliation, Arslan raised Romanos from the ground, and ordered him to be treated like a king. From then on he treated him with extreme kindness, never saying a cruel word to him in the Emperor's eight-day stay in his camp, and who then released him in exchange for a treaty and the promise of a hefty ransom. At first Alp Arslan suggested a ransom of 10,000,000
nomismata
to Romanos IV, but later reduced it to 1,500,000
nomismata
with a further 360,000
nomismata
annually.
Betrayal
In the meantime, the opposition faction scheming against Romanos IV decided to exploit the situation. The Caesar John Doukas and
Michael Psellos
forced Eudokia to retire to a monastery, and easily prevailed upon Michael VII to declare Romanos IV deposed. They then refused to honor the agreement made between Arslan and the former emperor. Romanos soon returned and he and the Doukas family gathered troops. A battle was fought at
Doceia
between Constantine and Andronikos Doukas and Romanos, in which the army of Romanos was defeated, forcing him to retreat to the fortress of
Tyropoion
, and from there to
Adana
in Cilicia. Pursued by Andronikos, he was eventually forced to surrender by the garrison at Adana upon receiving assurances of his personal safety. Before leaving the fortress, he collected all the money he could lay his hands on and sent it to the Sultan as proof of his good faith, along with a message: “As emperor, I promsed you a ransom of a million and a half. Dethroned, and about to become dependent upon others, I send you all I possess as proof of my gratitude.”
Andronikos stipulated that his life would be spared if he resigned the purple and retired into a monastery. Romanos agreed, and this agreement was ratified at Constantinople. However, John Doukas reneged on the agreement, and sent men to have Romanos
cruelly blinded
on (June 29, 1072), before sending him into exile to
Kınalıada
in the
Sea of Marmara
. Leaving him without an assistant, his wound became infected, and he was soon enduring a painfully lingering death. The final insult was given a few days before his death, when Romanos received a letter from John Doukas, congratulating him on the loss of his eyes. He finally died, praying for the forgiveness of his sins, and his wife Eudokia was permitted to honor his remains with a magnificent funeral.
Family
By his first wife Anna, a daughter of
Alusian of Bulgaria
, Romanos IV Diogenes had at least one son:
Constantine Diogenes, who was married to Theodora, sister of
Alexios I Komnenos
. This marriage was arranged by
Anna Dalassena
after the death of Romanos IV, but it was shortlived, as Constantine perished under the walls of
Antioch
in 1073 while serving with his brother-in-law Isaac Komnenos.
By his second wife, the Empress
Eudokia Makrembolitissa
, he had:
Nikephoros Diogenes
Leo Diogenes
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