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November Auction 2015 13 November 2015
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BYZANTINE, GOLD SOLIDUS OF IRENE, Syracuse, ca. 797-802, 3.872g, 6h. DOC 3. Lightly toned with underlying luster. Sharply struck. A coin of great historical interest. Choice extremely fine
"I propose that we hand the city over to the women. Who better to run the city then they who run our households", proposed already Aristophanes several centuries ago... However, the sole rule of an empress was a completely new event in the Roman Imperial and Byzantine history. The experiment was a notable success and it was unfortunate that at this precise moment the western part of the Europe was arising. After the coronation of Charlemagne by Leo III in 800, the new Emperor and the Pope even conceived the bold idea of unifying the two Empires through the marriage of the two heads of state, but Irene was unfortunately deposed soon after the arrival in Constantinople of the western ambassadors.
"I propose that we hand the city over to the women. Who better to run the city then they who run our households", proposed already Aristophanes several centuries ago... However, the sole rule of an empress was a completely new event in the Roman Imperial and Byzantine history. The experiment was a notable success and it was unfortunate that at this precise moment the western part of the Europe was arising. After the coronation of Charlemagne by Leo III in 800, the new Emperor and the Pope even conceived the bold idea of unifying the two Empires through the marriage of the two heads of state, but Irene was unfortunately deposed soon after the arrival in Constantinople of the western ambassadors.