Article
Licensed
Unlicensed
Requires Authentication
A note reconsidering the message of Heraclius’ silver hexagram, circa AD 615
-
Douglas C. Whalin
Published/Copyright:
March 14, 2019
Abstract
The hexagram was first minted during the darkest days of the final Roman-Persian War (602-628) when Roman fortunes were at their lowest. As a result, commentators have read the coin’s novel inscription, Deus Adiuta Romanis (God, help the Romans) as evidence for the ’stressful and desperate’ state of the empire. This paper presents the case that reading the coin alongside evidence for popular military practices instead paints a picture of the Roman state apparatus deftly manipulating mass propaganda. For the Romans in the 610s, these new coins signalled not defeatism but defiance and the promise of victory.
Published Online: 2019-03-14
Published in Print: 2019-02-01
© 2019 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin/Boston
You are currently not able to access this content.
You are currently not able to access this content.
Articles in the same Issue
- Titelei
- 10.1515/bz-2019-toc
- Siglenverzeichnis
- I. ABTEILUNG
- A question of audience: Laonikos Chalkokondyles’ Hellenism
- The Byzantine antiquarian: a case study of a compiled colophon
- An early Byzantine Pseudepigraphon: the Apocryphal Acta Barnabae
- Graecia est professa discordiam. Teoderico, Anastasio e la battaglia di Horreum Margi
- How widespread was the belief in demonic tollgates in sixth- to ninth-century Byzantium?
- Asinine tales east and west: the Ass’s Confession and the Mule’s Hoof
- Leontios Eustratios e un capitolo della tradizione manoscritta di Niceforo patriarca
- À la recherche de l’auteur de sept lettres inconnues: la collection épistolographique du codex Vat. gr. 1020
- One erroneous attribution of Defence of Eunuchs
- A note reconsidering the message of Heraclius’ silver hexagram, circa AD 615
- II. ABTEILUNG
- Die Senatsaristokratie des oströmischen Reiches, besprochen von Beat Näf
- Visionserwartung. Visualisierung und Präsenzerfahrung des Göttlichen in der Spätantike, besprochen von Jean-Michel Spieser
- Das Christusbild. Zu Herkunft und Entwicklung in Ost und West, besprochen von Michael Altripp
- Das byzantinische Priene. Stadt und Umland, besprochen von Martin Dennert
- Nicephori Blemmydae De virtute et ascesi, Iosephi Racendytae De virtute, besprochen von Sofia Kotzabassi
- The Letters of Theodoros Hyrtakenos, besprochen von Marina Loukaki
- Orthodox magic in Trebizond and beyond, besprochen von Rudolf Stefec
- Nachrichten
- Totentafel
- Nachrufe
- Paul Canart (25. 10. 1927 – 14. 9. 2017)
- Urs Peschlow (11. 3. 1943 – 16. 3. 2018)
- Vasilka Tǎpkova-Zaimova (7. 8. 1924 – 9. 9. 2018)
Articles in the same Issue
- Titelei
- 10.1515/bz-2019-toc
- Siglenverzeichnis
- I. ABTEILUNG
- A question of audience: Laonikos Chalkokondyles’ Hellenism
- The Byzantine antiquarian: a case study of a compiled colophon
- An early Byzantine Pseudepigraphon: the Apocryphal Acta Barnabae
- Graecia est professa discordiam. Teoderico, Anastasio e la battaglia di Horreum Margi
- How widespread was the belief in demonic tollgates in sixth- to ninth-century Byzantium?
- Asinine tales east and west: the Ass’s Confession and the Mule’s Hoof
- Leontios Eustratios e un capitolo della tradizione manoscritta di Niceforo patriarca
- À la recherche de l’auteur de sept lettres inconnues: la collection épistolographique du codex Vat. gr. 1020
- One erroneous attribution of Defence of Eunuchs
- A note reconsidering the message of Heraclius’ silver hexagram, circa AD 615
- II. ABTEILUNG
- Die Senatsaristokratie des oströmischen Reiches, besprochen von Beat Näf
- Visionserwartung. Visualisierung und Präsenzerfahrung des Göttlichen in der Spätantike, besprochen von Jean-Michel Spieser
- Das Christusbild. Zu Herkunft und Entwicklung in Ost und West, besprochen von Michael Altripp
- Das byzantinische Priene. Stadt und Umland, besprochen von Martin Dennert
- Nicephori Blemmydae De virtute et ascesi, Iosephi Racendytae De virtute, besprochen von Sofia Kotzabassi
- The Letters of Theodoros Hyrtakenos, besprochen von Marina Loukaki
- Orthodox magic in Trebizond and beyond, besprochen von Rudolf Stefec
- Nachrichten
- Totentafel
- Nachrufe
- Paul Canart (25. 10. 1927 – 14. 9. 2017)
- Urs Peschlow (11. 3. 1943 – 16. 3. 2018)
- Vasilka Tǎpkova-Zaimova (7. 8. 1924 – 9. 9. 2018)
