US DOLLAR
EURO
AUSTRALIAN DOLLAR
CANADIAN DOLLAR
POUND STERLING
Product Description
This Roman Byzantine Empire bronze half follis coin was minted under the rule of emperor Justin II, during the 10th year of his reign, 574 - 575 A.D.. The obverse shows a faint image of emperor Justin and his wife, empress Sophia, facing standing. The reverse shows a large K (the denomination in the Greek number indicating 20 nummi which equaled a half follis).
HISTORY
Justin II was Eastern Roman emperor from 565 until 578 AD. He was the nephew of Justinian I and the husband of empress Sophia, the niece of the empress Theodora, and a member of the Justinian dynasty.
Justin II inherited a greatly enlarged but over-extended empire, with far fewer resources at his disposal compared to Justinian I. He ended the payment of tributes and adopted a hard line stance against the empire's neighbors, which resulted in rekindling of war with the Sassanid Empire, and in a Lombard invasion which cost the Romans much of their territory in Italy.
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 center of eastern Christianity for centuries.
