ROMAN BYZANTINE BRONZE FOLLIS ANCIENT COIN OF EMPERIOR JUSTINIAN I THE GREAT WHO BUILT HAGIA SOPHIA *AC124

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This Roman Byzantine Empire bronze follis coin was minted in Constantinople by Emperor Justinian I, during his reign, 527 - 565 A.D.. The obverse is worn but shows a side profile of Justinian wearing a wreath crown.  The reverse shows a large M with a faint CON below indicating the Constantinople mint, and a star on either side of the M. 

HISTORY

Justinian I, also known as Justinian the Great, was the Roman emperor from 527 to 565.  His reign was marked by the ambitious but only partly realized "restoration of the Empire".  This ambition was expressed by the partial recovery of the territories of the defunct Western Roman Empire.  These campaigns re-established Roman control over the western Mediterranean, increasing the Empire's annual revenue by over a million solidi.  
Justinian is regarded as one of the most prominent and influential Roman emperors.  One of the most enduring aspects of his legacy was the uniform rewriting of Roman law, the Corpus Juris Civilis, which was first applied throughout Continental Europe and is still the basis of civil law in many modern states.  His reign also marked a blossoming of Byzantine culture, and his building program yielded works such as the Hagia Sophia.

As a ruler, Justinian showed great energy. He was known as "the emperor who never sleeps" for his work habits. Around 525, he married his mistress, Theodora, in Constantinople.  She was by profession an actress and some twenty years his junior.  In earlier times, Justinian could not have married her owing to her class, but his uncle, Emperor Justin I, had passed a law lifting restrictions on marriages with ex-actresses.  Though the marriage caused a scandal, Theodora would become very influential in the politics of the Empire.  

One of the most spectacular features of Justinian's reign was the recovery of large stretches of land around the Western Mediterranean basin that had slipped out of Imperial control in the 5th century.  As a Christian Roman emperor, Justinian considered it his divine duty to restore the Roman Empire to its ancient boundaries.

Justinian was a prolific builder.   Most notably, he had the Hagia Sophia, originally a basilica-style church that had been burnt down during the Nika riots, splendidly rebuilt according to a completely different ground plan, under the architectural supervision of Isidore of Miletus and Anthemius of Tralles.  On 26 December 537, according to Pseudo-Codinus, Justinian stated at the completion of this edifice: "Solomon, I have outdone thee" (in reference to the first Jewish temple).  The church had a second inauguration on 24 December 562, after several reworks made by Isidore the Younger.  This new cathedral, with its magnificent dome filled with mosaics, remained the centre of eastern Christianity for centuries.