Roma Numismatics Ltd
Auction XXVII 22-23 Mar 2023
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Michael III 'the Drunkard' AV Solidus. Constantinople, AD 856-866. IhSЧS XRISTOS *, facing bust of Christ Pantokrator, wearing pallium and colobium, cross behind head / + MIXAHL bASILЄ', facing bust of Michael, wearing crown and loros, holding vexillum emblazoned with cross and akakia. Füeg 3.B; DOC 3; Sear 1688. 4.40g, 20mm, 6h.
Good Extremely Fine; small area of flatness. Very Rare, particularly in this condition.
From a private European collection.
Michael III became sole emperor at the age of just two, and in his infancy the empire was governed by his mother Theodora, and the minister Theoktistos. During the regency period, the use of religious icons, which previous rulers had sought to ban, was reinstated. This definitive end to Iconoclasm led to a renaissance in visual arts.
His later reign is difficult to evaluate due to the overtly hostile accounts written under Basil I, which characterise him as a drunkard. The impression gained from Arab sources, however, is one of Michael as an active and often successful military commander. Most importantly, during his reign Bulgaria had been transformed from a dangerous enemy into a religious and cultural satellite of Byzantium. This conversion of the Bulgarians has been evaluated as one of the greatest cultural and political achievements of the Byzantine Empire.
Good Extremely Fine; small area of flatness. Very Rare, particularly in this condition.
From a private European collection.
Michael III became sole emperor at the age of just two, and in his infancy the empire was governed by his mother Theodora, and the minister Theoktistos. During the regency period, the use of religious icons, which previous rulers had sought to ban, was reinstated. This definitive end to Iconoclasm led to a renaissance in visual arts.
His later reign is difficult to evaluate due to the overtly hostile accounts written under Basil I, which characterise him as a drunkard. The impression gained from Arab sources, however, is one of Michael as an active and often successful military commander. Most importantly, during his reign Bulgaria had been transformed from a dangerous enemy into a religious and cultural satellite of Byzantium. This conversion of the Bulgarians has been evaluated as one of the greatest cultural and political achievements of the Byzantine Empire.