|
ID: |
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34-118 |
| Type: |
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Roman Imperial |
| Issuer: |
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Aelia Verina |
| Date Ruled: |
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AD 457-484
|
| Metal: |
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Gold |
| Denomination: |
|
Solidus |
| Struck / Cast: |
|
struck |
| Date Struck: |
|
AD 462-466 |
| Diameter: |
|
22 mm |
| Weight: |
|
4.47 g |
| Obverse Legend: |
|
AEL ЧERI_NA AVG |
| Obverse Description: |
|
Pearl-diademed and draped bust right, wearing necklace and earrings, crowned by the Hand of God |
| Reverse Legend: |
|
VICTORI_A AVGGG B |
| Reverse Description: |
|
Victory standing left, supporting long jeweled cross; in field right, star. |
| Exergue: |
|
CONOB |
| Mint Mark: |
|
CONOB |
| Mint: |
|
Constantinople |
| Primary Reference: |
|
RIC X 0607 |
| Reference2: |
|
Depeyrot 93/2 |
| Reference3: |
|
Vagi 3795 |
| Reference4: |
|
LRC 593 |
| Photograph Credit: |
|
Numismatic Ars Classica NAC AG |
| Source: |
|
http://www.arsclassicacoins.com/ |
| Price Sold For: |
|
47500 USD |
| Date Sold: |
|
11/24/2006 |
|
Grade:
|
|
aEF |
| Notes: |
|
NAC Auction 34, Lot 118
Extremely rare. An almost invisible nick on obverse,
otherwise about extremely fine
Ex Ratto sale 9 December 1930, 269
As the wife of Leo I and the mother-in-law of his successor Zeno, Aelia Verina held the title of Augusta for nearly the last three decades of her life. We have relatively detailed accounts of her machinations from 474 onward, and considering all of the power plays being made at court during Leo’s reign, we might presume she was deeply involved in the intrigues.
When her husband Leo I was ailing in 473, Verina helped arrange his adoption of their six-year-old grandson, Leo II, as successor rather than their son-in-law Zeno, a healthy man in his mid-30s with significant military experience. Despite his ideal qualifications, Zeno was not well liked, a feeling that Leo and Verina must have shared. The child Leo II was first raised to Caesar in October, 473, and finally to Augustus in January, 474, less than a month before his grandfather died.
The saga continued when the already fragile health of Leo II began to fail and it was necessary on February 9, 474, to have the boy proclaim his own father, Zeno, his co-emperor. When Leo II died in November, the cause of his demise must have been the fodder of palace gossip. Zeno was now sole emperor, and this displeased his mother-in-law Verina so much that she caused a false rumour to be spread of an impending palace coup, upon which she recommended that Zeno and Ariadne flee Constantinople for their own safety.
Verina now hoped to get her lover, the magister officorum Patricius, installed as emperor, but she met unexpected resistance in the senate which instead hailed emperor her brother Basiliscus. Thus, after her initial plot against her son-in-law, Verina now plotted against her brother, who responded by executing her lover Patricius. Once again, Roman history proves truth is stranger than fiction.
The old empress was forced into hiding as she worked for the return of Zeno as the lesser of two evils. Once Zeno recovered his throne from Basiliscus, Verina still devoted the rest of her life to undermining Zeno, which resulted in her exile to a fortress in the wilds of Isauria. Two of her counter-revolutionary efforts included backing a coup in 479 in the name of her other son-in-law, an ambitious young nobleman named Marcian, and her support of the rebellion of Leontius in 484.
Verina’s coins are rare today, but the must have been issued in some quantity at the time. Her solidi, tremisses and æ2s all bear her profile portrait, and she is also portrayed on some of Leo’s smallest bronzes as a standing figure flanked by the letters bE, representing the Greek version of her name, Berina.
The date of the present solidus is not certainly known. Kent, Grierson and Mays all describe it as an issue under her husband’s successor Zeno, with Kent suggesting it may have been struck in 462 or 466, two of the five occasions on which Leo I held the consulship. |
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