Gold Solidus of Leo VI and Constantine VII, 4.37 g.
Title
Gold Solidus of Leo VI and Constantine VII, 4.37 g.
Creator
Leo VI, Constantine VII
Date
908-912 CE
Description
Obverse: Christ with cross-nimbus behind head, seated on lyre-backed throne, right hand raised in blessing, left holding book; IhS(VS) XP(ISTO)S REX REGNANTIVM: Jesus Christ, King of those who rule.
Reverse: Standing facing figures of Leo VI on left and Constantine VII on right, each wearing loros and crown with cross and holding globus cruciger in outer hand and patriarchal cross between them; LEON ET CONSTANT(INVS) AVGG (AVGVSTI abbreviated) ROM(AION): Leo and Constantine, Augusti of the Romans.
Style/Period: Byzantine
Leo VI (the Wise) came to the throne in 886 CE, after his father, Basil I, died in a hunting accident (see 91.286). Leo was called "the Wise" not because he was a particularly sage ruler but because he was a noted scholar who finished the revision of the legal text, the Codex Justinianus, that Basil had begun, renaming it the Basilica for his father.
For reasons not yet clearly understood, Leo VI apparently did not mint solidi for the first twenty years of his reign. The solidi from his last years continue with an improved version of the Christ enthroned introduced by his father (see 91.286) on the obverse and with standing portraits of Leo and his son Constantine VII, co-emperor after 908 CE, on the reverse. The portraits are interesting for their depiction of the complex wrapping of the loros. The figures continue the convention of showing the senior emperor in larger scale on the left, but Constantine is depicted as nearly grown, while he was in fact a small child.
-- Eric N. Jurgens, LU '93
Bibliography: P. Grierson, Byzantine Coins (London 1982).
For reasons not yet clearly understood, Leo VI apparently did not mint solidi for the first twenty years of his reign. The solidi from his last years continue with an improved version of the Christ enthroned introduced by his father (see 91.286) on the obverse and with standing portraits of Leo and his son Constantine VII, co-emperor after 908 CE, on the reverse. The portraits are interesting for their depiction of the complex wrapping of the loros. The figures continue the convention of showing the senior emperor in larger scale on the left, but Constantine is depicted as nearly grown, while he was in fact a small child.
-- Eric N. Jurgens, LU '93
Bibliography: P. Grierson, Byzantine Coins (London 1982).
Source
Former collection of Ottilia Buerger. Purchased from Edward Gans, February 9, 1959.
Identifier
91.287
Rights
Wriston Art Center Galleries, Lawrence University, Appleton, WI,wriston-gallery@lawrence.edu,920-832-6890
Subject
Byzantine, Christ, cross-nimbus, thrown, book, Leo VI, Consantine VII, loros, crown, cross, globus cruciger, Leo VI, Constantine VII
Files
Citation
Leo VI, Constantine VII, “Gold Solidus of Leo VI and Constantine VII, 4.37 g.,” Lawrence University Classics Department & Ottilia Buerger Coin Collections, accessed November 5, 2026, https://thor.lawrence.edu/omeka/buerger/items/show/334.