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Lot # 734 - The Gepids. Uncertain king. AR Quarter Siliqua, in the name of Byzantine Emperor Anastasius I (491-518). Sirmium mint, c. 491-552 AD. Obv. ON ΛNΛSTΛSIVS PP ΛVC. Pearl-diademed and cuirassed bust right. Rev. M IИVIT-ΛROHAN. Monogram of Theodoric; cross, above; below, star. Cf. Demo 69-78. AR. 0.91 g. 14.00 mm. RR. Very rare and in excellent condition for issue. Broad flan, nice light grey toning, with blackish deposits on reverse, otherwise. about EF. While coins of this type were first attributed by Brunsmid to the Gepids, Stefan later proposed an Ostrogothic mint at Sirmium has become the most accepted. The incompatibility of the weights of these issues with the Ostrogothic weight standard established under Theoderic, as well as the stylistic and epigraphic similarity with other Gepid issues struck in the names of both Anastasius and Justinian I, led Metlich to conclude that the whole so-called “Sirmium” group is, in fact, Gepid. The Gepids were a sub-tribe of the Goths who began arriving in Dacia in the AD 260s, and spread throughout the Balkans before invading Italy in the wake of collapsing Roman power in the late 5th century AD. For the most part, the Gepids were merely vassals of the greater Ostrogothic or Hunnic tribes, but from AD 454, when they defeated the Huns at Nadeo, to AD 552, when they were displaced by the Lombards, the Gepids possessed a state of their own in the region of the Carpathians and around Sirmium. Very rare silver siliquae and quarter siliquae are attributed to the Gepids during this period.
Lot # 760 - Leontius (695-698). AE Follis, Syracuse mint, 695-698 AD. Obv. Bearded bust facing, wearing crown and loros , and holding akakia and globus cruciger. Rev. Large M; above, monogram of Leontius and in exergue, SCL. D.O. 17; MIB 36; Sear 1343. AE. 4.15 g. 22.00 mm. R. Rare and in very good condition for issue. Nice green brown patina. VF. Of Isaurian origin, Leontius was a very efficient military leader and served capably under several emperors. Constantine IV appointed him strategos of Anatolikon. Justinian II sent him to campaign against the Arabs in Armenia and Georgia, in 686. Defeating the Arab raiders, Leontius campaigned successfully into Azerbaijan and Albania, gathering loot and gaining a reputation for cruelty. This campaign convinced the Caliph Abd al-Malik to renew his treaty with the Byzantines, originally signed during the reign of Constantine IV, with more favorable terms for the Byzantine Empire. The Caliph agreed to share the income from Armenia, Iberia, and Cyprus and increased the amount of yearly tribute paid to the Byzantines. In 692, after a Byzantine defeat at the battle of Sebastopolis due to the desertion of a large contingent of Slavs, Justinian II, holding Leontius responsible, imprisoned him in Constantinople. In 695, after further setbacks against the Arabs, Justinian II released Leontius and appointed him strategos of Hellas. Leontius, once freed from prison, quickly organized a rebellion against the emperor. With support from the Blue faction and the patriarch Callinicus, Leontius and his followers seized Justinian II and proclaimed Leontius as emperor. Leontius had Justinian's nose and tongue slit and him exiled to Cherson in the Crimea.