Obv. IhSЧSXRI – SꞆЧSnICѦ; a cross crosslet on three steps, with saltire in the middle, a ball at the bottom; triple beaded rim decorated with 16 pellets.
Rev. horizontally, +COnST∕Ꞇ. / ΠΟRFѴROҀ / CЄROmѦnO / ЄnX’ꞶЄѴCЄЬ’ / Ь’RꞶmЄOn; triple beaded rim decorated with 16 pellets.
Silver, 2.77 g, 23.1 mm. DOC 21; Sear 1757. Grade AU, traces of lustre. Perfectly struck and preserved specimen for the best collections.
Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus, son of Leo VI the Wise and Zoe Karbonopsina, crowned as a two-year-old in 908, long remained in the shadow of power-hungry regents and relatives. He almost lost his throne to the House of Lekapenos. It was not until 945 that he became the actual ruler. He spent the years of waiting for power studying. He collected the accumulated knowledge in learned treatises. We owe him, among others, a record on the people of Litzike dwelling on the Vistula and about the Lędzians living in the eastern part of what became Poland later. His only son, Romanos II, ruled mainly through skillfully selected officials and generals, and died early in 963.
The cross depicted on this miliaresion was the
pattern for the reverse type of so-called Cyrillic pennies of Boleslaus the
Brave.
