Item: i10231

Certified Authentic Ancient Roman Coin of:

Byzantine - Maurice Tiberius - Emperor: August 13, 582-November 22, 602 A.D.
 Bronze Follis 29mm (11.8 grams) Struck at the mint of Constantinople 582-602 A.D.
 Reference: Sear 494
D . N . mAVRIC . TIbЄR . PP . AVG . - Helmeted and cuirassed bust facing, holding globe cross and shield. 
Large M between A / N / N / O and numerals representing the regnal year; above, cross; beneath, officina letter; in exergue, CON.

You are bidding on the exact item pictured, provided with a Certificate of Authenticity and Lifetime Guarantee of Authenticity.

Flavius Mauricius Tiberius Augustus (Greek: Φλάβιος Μαυρίκιος Τιβέριος Αύγουστος; Armenian: Մորիկ, Morik; 539 – November 27, 602), known in English as Maurice, was a soldier and Byzantine Emperor who ruled from 582-602. He was one of the most important rulers of the early 'Byzantine' era, whose reign was troubled by almost unending wars on all frontiers.

 Biography

 Origins

Maurice was a son of Paulus.

 Persian War and accession to the throne

Maurice originated from Arabissus in Cappadocia and was a successful commander-in-chief. He was adopted by his predecessor Tiberius II, and succeeded him after the latter's death. His reign is an accurately documented era of the late classical antiquity (most important source is the historian Theophylact Simocatta). During a war with the Sassanid Empire, already under way in 572 under Justin II, Maurice was in service as commander-in-chief from 579 on. He scored a crushing victory against the Persians in 581. A year later, he married Constantina, the Emperor's daughter. On August 13, he succeeded his father-in-law. At that time, he ruled a bankrupt Empire, paying extremely high tribute to the Avars, its Balkan provinces thoroughly devastated by the Slavs and at war with Persia.

Maurice had to continue the war against Persia. In 586, his troops defeated the Persians at Dara. Despite serious mutiny in 588, they managed to stand up to the Persians for two more years, until Prince Khosrau II and Persian commander-in-chief Bahram Chobin in 590 overthrew King Hormizd IV. Bahram Chobin pretended to the throne and defeated Khosrau II, who subsequently fled to the Byzantine court. Although the Senate advised against it with one voice, Maurice lent an army of 35,000 men for Khosrau II to regain his throne, and in 591 the combined Roman-Persian army under generals Narses and John Mystacon defeated Bahram Chobin's forces near Ganzak. Maurice finally brought the war to a successful conclusion by means of a new accession of Khosrau II and the defeat of Bahram Chobin. As agreed upon, Khosrau II, probably adopted by Maurice, married Maurice's eldest daughter Miriam and had issue. Khosrau II further rewarded Maurice by ceding north eastern Mesopotamia and Armenia up to the capital Dvin and the Lake Van and Iberia (eastern Georgia) up to the capital Tbilisi. Maurice's treaty with his new brother-in-law brought a new status-quo to the east territorially, enlarged to an extent never before achieved by the empire in its six century history, and much cheaper to defend during this new perpetual peace - millions of solidi were saved by the remission of tribute to the Persians alone. Afterwards, Maurice imposed a Union between the Armenian Church and the Patriarchate of Constantinople.

 Balkan warfare

After his victory on the eastern frontier, Maurice was free to focus on the Balkans. The Slavs, having pillaged the Byzantine Balkan provinces for decades, probably began settling the land from the 580s on. The Avars took the strategically important fort of Sirmium in 582, using it as a base of operations against several poorly defended forts alongside the Danube. In 584 the Slavs threatened the capital and in 586 Avars besieged Thessalonica, while Slavs went as far as the Peloponnese. In 591 Maurice launched several campaigns against Slavs and Avars - with good prospect of turning the tide.

In 592 his troops retook Singidunum from the Avars. His commander-in-chief Priscus defeated Slavs, Avars and Gepids south of the Danube in 593. The same year he crossed the Danube into modern-day Wallachia to continue his series of victories. In 594 Maurice replaced Priscus with his rather inexperienced brother Peter, who despite initial failures, nonetheless scored another victory in Wallachia. Priscus, now in command of another army further upstream, defeated the Avars again in 595. The latter only dared to attack again peripherally in Dalmatia two years later. In 598 a treaty was signed with the Avar leader Bayan I, only to be broken for retaliation campaigns inside Avar homeland. In 599 and 601, the Byzantine forces wreaked havoc amongst the Avars and Gepids. In 602 the Slavs suffered a crushing defeat in Wallachia. The Byzantine troops were now able to hold the Danube line again. Meanwhile, Maurice was making plans for resettling devastated areas in the Balkans by using Armenian settlers.[citation needed]

 Measures of domestic policy

Map of the Roman Empire in 600 AD.

In the west, he organized the threatened Byzantine dominions in Italy and Africa into exarchates, ruled by military governors or exarchs, being mentioned in 584 and 591 respectively. The exarchs had more or less complete military and civilian competences. This was remarkable due to the usual separation of civilian and military competences in that era. By founding the exarchate of Ravenna, Maurice managed to slow down the Lombard advance in Italy, if not to halt it. In 597, an ailing Maurice wrote his last will, in which he described his ideas of governing the Empire. His eldest son, Theodosius, would be a ruler of the East from Constantinople, the second one, Tiberius, of the West with the capital in Rome. Some historians believe that two youngest sons were supposed to gain Illyricum and North Africa. But as he intended to maintain unity of the Empire, this idea bears a strong similarity with the Tetrarchy of Diocletian, given the fact that Maurice also maintained claims on the former western provinces now ruled by Germanic tribes. Maurice's violent death thwarted these plans however.

In religious matters, he was very tolerant towards Monophysitism, although he was a supporter of the Council of Chalcedon. He clashed with Pope Gregory I over the latter's defence of Rome against the Lombards.[1]

Summed up, his attempts to consolidate the Empire slowly but steadily met with success, last but not least thanks to the peace with Persia. His initial popularity apparently decreased during his reign, mostly because of his fiscal politics. In 588, his announcement to cut military wages by 25% led to serious mutiny of troops on the Persian front. He is said to have refused to pay a very little ransom in 599 or 600 to deliver 12,000 Byzantine soldiers taken prisoners by the Avars. It is said that the prisoners were killed and a military delegation, headed by an officer named Phocas was humiliated and rejected in Constantinople.

 Death

In 602, Maurice, always dealing with the lack of money, decreed that the army should stay for winter beyond the Danube, which would prove to be a serious mistake. The exhausted troops mutinied against the emperor. Probably misjudging the situation, Maurice repeatedly ordered his troops to start a new offensive rather than returning to winter quarters. After a while, his troops gained the impression that Maurice no longer mastered the situation, they proclaimed Phocas their leader and demanded Maurice to abdicate and proclaim the successor either his son Theodosius or General Germanus. Both men were accused of treason, but the riots broke out in Constantinople and the emperor with his family left the city for Nicomedia. Theodosius headed east to Persia, but historians are not sure whether he had been sent there by his father or if he had fled there. Phocas entered Constantinople in November, where he was crowned emperor, while his troops captured Maurice and his family.

Maurice was murdered on November 27 (some say November 23), 602. It is said that the deposed emperor was forced to watch his six sons executed before his eyes, before he was beheaded himself. Empress Constantina and her three daughters were spared and sent to a monastery. The Persian King Chosroes II used this coup and the murder of his Patron as an excuse for a renewed war against the Byzantine Empire.

 Legacy

Maurice, whose court still used Latin in the same way as the army and administration did, was in total an able emperor and commander-in-chief, even though Theophylact's description may be a bit too glorifying. He possessed insight, public spirit and courage. He proved his expertise on military and foreign affairs during his campaigns against Persians and Avars/Slavs in the same way as during peace negotiations with Khosrau II. His administrative reforms portray him as a statesman with farsightedness, the more so since they outlasted his death by far and were the basis for the introduction of the themes as military districts.

He also promoted science and arts; Maurice is also the traditional author of the military treatise Strategikon which is praised in military circles as the only sophisticated combined arms theory until World War II. However, some historians now believe the Strategikon is the work of his brother or another general in his court.

His greatest weakness was his inability to judge how unpopular his decisions were. Or to cite the historian Previte-Orton, listing a number of character flaws in the emperor's personality:

His fault was too much faith in his own excellent judgment without regard to the disagreement and unpopularity which he provoked by decisions in themselves right and wise. He was a better judge of policy than of men.[2]

It was this flaw that cost him throne and life and thwarted most of his efforts to prevent the disintegration of the great empire of Justinian I. It seems, as if Maurice attempted to have his way on behalf of Imperial pretension with respect to the old Imperium Romanum, but as his end shows, he met strong resistance.

His demise is a turning point in history, given the fact that the new war against Persia weakened both empires in a way enabling the Slavs to permanently settle the Balkans and paving the way for Arab/Muslim expansion. The English historian A.H.M. Jones concludes the final era of classical antiquity with Maurice's death, as the turmoil which shattered the Byzantine Empire in the next four decades permanently and thoroughly changed society and politics.

 Family relations

Maurice's marriage was fertile and produced ten known children:

  • Miriam/Maria (b. ca 582), married to Khosrau II and had issue.
  • Theodosius (4 August 583 - 27 November 602). According to John of Ephesus, he was the first heir born to a reigning emperor since the reign of Theodosius II (408 - 450).[3] He was appointed Caesar in 587 and co-emperor on 26 March 590.
  • Tiberius (d. 27 November 602).
  • Petrus (d. 27 November 602).
  • Paulus (d. 27 November 602).
  • Justin (d. 27 November 602).
  • Justinian (d. 27 November 602).
  • Anastasia (d. circa 605).
  • Theoctista (d. circa 605).
  • Cleopatra (d. circa 605).

His brother Petrus Augustus (ca 550 - 602) became the Curopalates and was killed at the same time of his brother. He married Anastasia Aerobinda (b. ca 570), daughter of Areobindus (b. ca 550) and wife, and had female issue.

His sister Theoktista (ca 540 - aft. 582) married a husband who died before 582 and had a daughter Gordia (ca 560 - aft. 597), who married Marinos (ca 555 - aft. 597), son of Nerses (ca 530 - aft. 595) and wife Hesychia (b. ca 535), by whom she had a daughter Theoktista (ca 575/ca 580 - aft. 597), married to Christodoros (b. ca 570) and had issue.

His sister Gordia (ca 550 - aft. 602) married Philippikos (ca 550 - Chrysopolis, 614), General, Comes Excubitorum and mag. mil. in 582, by whom she had a daughter, who married Artabastos Mamikonian (b. ca 565), and had issue.


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