Constantine VII, 913-959, replaces Romanus I. A Byzantine story illustrated by Byzantine copper coins.
Byzantine history is, well, Byzantine. The complicated reign of Constantine VII, Porphyrogenitus, illustrates it. "Porphyrogenitus" means "born in the purple," which means his father (Leo VI, 886-912) was emperor when he was born. Unfortunately, when his father died Constantine was only seven or eight--too young to rule. Leo's brother, Alexander, (912-913) took the throne, but died after only a year. Constantine became nominal ruler with a regent. Regents tend to like power for themselves, so it gets complicated. The principal players are the young Constantine VII, his mother and first regent, Zoe, and Romanus I, a military man who became regent and co-emperor. There are more twists and turns than I recount here, but some events are illustrated by the third coin below which is clearly overstruck. (I posted the first version of this web page on CoinTalk, April 23, 2019.)
What's new? 2023, June 21: A scarce type of Constantine VII alone before the coins of Romanus.
2022, July 12: A short paragraph on Romanus II, son of Constantine VII.
Here are examples of the most common types for Constantine VII and for Romanus.
Constantine VII, 913-959
Struck 945-c. 950
26 mm. 6.77 grams.
Facing bust of Constantine VII, holding globus cruciger in left hand and akakia in front of his chest in his right hand.
+COҺST bA - SIL ROM' around ["N" looks like "Һ" on these coins]
"Constantine, emperor of the Romans"
Four line reverse legend:
+COҺST/ЄҺ ΘЄO bA/SILЄVSR/OMЄOҺ
"Constantine, in God (by the grace of God), ruler of the Romans"
Sear 1761.
DOC Constantine VII 26 "945-c. 950" ("Class 5")
[All references to the Dumbarton Oaks Catalogs are to volume 3, part 2.]
Romanus I, 920-944, during the reign of Constantine VII (913-959), but with no mention of Constantine VII. Struck 931-944.
27 mm. 6.95 grams.
Obverse legend: + RWMAҺ BASILEVS RωM'
"Romanus, emperor of the Romans"
The face is not as long as the face of Constantine VII.
The legends--both obverse and reverse--are of Romanus.
Reverse: +RWMA/Һ' EN ΘEω bA/SILEVS Rω/MAIωҺ
"Romanus, in God (by the grace) of God, ruler of the Romans"
Sear 1760.
DOC Constantine VII 25, "931-944" ("Class 4")
The Story of Constantine VII and Romanus I. Here is where it gets Byzantine.
The father of Constantine VII, Leo VI (886-912), "The Wise," needed a male heir but failed to father one until his fourth wife presented him with Constantine VII. (Having four wives got Leo in a lot of trouble with the church.) When Leo died there were historical complications I omit. Then Constantine VII became emperor while still a minor (about 8 years old), with his mother Zoe as regent.
Constantine VII and Zoe. 914-919. Note Zoe is larger.
26-23 mm. 4.90 grams.
You can see the name "Zoe" as "ZOH" in the obverse legend (at 2:00-3:00) and the middle line of the reverse ("H" is "eta" in Greek).
Obverse Legend: + COҺSTAҺT CЄ ZOH b
Reverse: +COҺS/TAҺTIҺO/CЄ ZOH bA/SILIS RO/MЄOҺ
"Constantine and Zoe, rulers of the Romans"
Sear 1758.
DOC Constnatine VII, 22 "914-919" ("Class 1")
So, you can understand that it was time to call in the coins of Romanus I and restrike them as coins of Constantine VII, which explains the overstrike on the coin above. That type was issued from 945 to c. 950, when Constantine VII began to issue coins with his own son, Romanus II.
Constantine VII and Romanus II, c. 950-959 [This type was struck until Constantine VII died (of natural causes) and Romanus II became sole emperor at age 21.]
27-25 mm. 7.68 grams.
+COҺST CЄ ROMAҺ b ROM
Their facing busts.
"Constantine [VII] and Romanus [II] rulers of the Romans"
+COҺST'/CЄ ROMAҺ/ЄҺ XRIST/b ROMЄO
"Constantine and Romanus, in Christ, rulers of the Romans"
Sear 1762 under Constantine VII.
DOC Constantine VII, 27 "c. 950-959" ("Class 6")
This type has the only depiction of Romanus II on copper coins.
Constantine VII and Romanus II
Struck c. 950-959
26 mm. 5.13 grams.
+CONST CЄ ROMAҺ b ROM
Their facing busts.
"Constantine [VII] and Romanus [II] rulers of the Romans"
+CONST'/CЄ ROMAҺ/ЄҺ XRIST/b ROMЄO
"Constantine and Romanus, in Christ, rulers of the Romans"
Sear 1762 under Constantine VII.
DOC Constantine VII, 27 "c. 950-959" ("Class 6")
Sear 1757.
The sequence of events.
Date. Event. (Link to a coin)
913) Constantine VII, son of emperor Leo VI, came to the throne at age 8, with his mother Zoe as regent (Coin).
920) A military man, Romanus I, forced Zoe out and was proclaimed co-emperor (Coin).
921) Romanus promoted his own adult son Christopher (Coin) as heir over Constantine VII. Constantine VII, while still nominally emperor, was moved down the list of those in line to rule.
924) Romanus promoted his other two sons.
931) Christopher died, which profoundly depressed Romanus
943) Romanus wrote a will that would give the empire (back) to Constantine VII.
944) The other two sons of Romanus, left out of the will, revoted and overthrew him, sending him to a monestary.
944) Constantine VII and the populace immediately overthrew them, sending them to a monestary too, which made Constantine VII sole ruler. New coins are overstruck (Coin) on coins of Romanus (Coin).
950) Constantine VII issued coins with his own son, Romanus II, as co-ruler (Coin).
959) Constantine VII died of natural causes and Romanus II became emperor.
The End
Return to "Introduction to Byzantine Coins."
A page about reading Byzantine-coin legends.
Go to the Table of Contents of this educational site on ancient coins.