Byzantine - Anonymous Class B Bronze Follis 21mm (4.8
grams)
Struck during the reign of Romanus III 1028-1034 A.D.
Reference: Sear 1823
Bust of Christ facing , wearing a nimbus crown, pallium and colobium, and
holding book of Gospels with both hands.
Cross, with pellet at each extremity, standing on three steps; in field, above
transverse limbs of cross, IS -XS; beneath limbs, bAS - ILЄ, bAS - ILЄ.
You are bidding on the exact
item pictured, provided with a Certificate of Authenticity and Lifetime
Guarantee of Authenticity.
Romanos III Argyros or Romanus III Argyrus (Greek: Ρωμανός
Γ΄ Αργυρός, Rōmanos III Argyros), (968 – April 11, 1034) was
Byzantine emperor (November 15, 1028 - April 11, 1034). His last name is
Greek for "silver".
Life
Romanos Argyros was the son of an unnamed member of the Argyros family and a
great-grandson of Emperor
Romanos I. His sister Maria had married
Giovanni Orseolo.
Under Basil II,
The soldier, he served as judge, and under
Constantine VIII
he became
urban prefect of
Constantinople. Romanos attracted the attention of Constantine VIII, who
forced him to divorce his wife (sending her into a
monastery)
and to marry the emperor's daughter
Zoe. The marriage took place on November 12, 1028, and three days later
Constantine VIII died, leaving Romanos III as emperor.
The new emperor showed great eagerness to make his mark as a ruler, but was
mostly unfortunate in his enterprises. He spent large sums upon new buildings
and in endowing the
monks, and in his endeavour to relieve the pressure of taxation disorganized
the finances of the state. Idealizing
Marcus Aurelius,
Romanos aspired to be a new "philosopher king",
and similarly desired to imitate the military prowess of
Trajan.
Among his striking cultural achievements one should note the foundation of
the Monastery of the Peribleptos (Sulu Manastir).
In 1030 he resolved to retaliate upon the incursions of the
Muslims on the
eastern frontier by leading a large army in person against
Aleppo, but by
allowing himself to be surprised on the march sustained a serious defeat at Azaz
near Antioch.
Though this disaster was retrieved by the capture and successful defence of
Edessa
by
George Maniakes in 1032 and by the defeat of a
Saracen fleet
in the
Adriatic, Romanus never recovered his popularity.
As a member of the aristocracy, Romanos III abandoned his predecessors'
curtailment of the privileges of the nobility and reduced their taxes, at the
same time allowing peasant freeholders to fall into a condition of serfdom. In a
vain attempt to reduce expenditure, Romanos limited his wife's expenses, which
merely exacerbated the alienation between the spouses.
At home Romanos III faced several conspiracies, mostly centered around his
sister-in-law
Theodora, as in 1029 and 1030. Although he survived these attempts on the
throne, his early death in 1034 was supposed to have been due to poison
administered by his wife, though it has also been alleged that he was drowned in
a bath on his wife's orders.
Family
By his first wife Helena, Romanos III Argyros had a daughter:
He had no children by his second wife Zoe. |