Finds

Honorius coin

A lot of material including a solid aureo, that is a gold coin weighing about 4.5g, was found in the material filling the bottle-shaped cistern, in the Sant’Eulalia area portico.

On the front (figs. 1, 3) it shows the bust of the Roman Emperor of the West, Honorius (393-423) and the legend Dominus Noster Honorius Pius Felix Augustus (Our Lord Honorius Pius Felix Augustus); on the back (figs. 2, 3) the picture of the emperor himself, with his head turned to the left, crushing a defeated enemy with his foot.

On that same side, around the figure, it indicates the mint of Ravenna (R V) and on the exergue (space in the coin field limited by a straight line) the legend COMOB, abbreviation of the title Comes Sacrarum Largitionum (count of the sacred donations), authority controlling the empire's finances starting from Constantine (emperor between 324 and 337) and OB for obryzum, indicating the gold's purity.

1
Fig. 1 - Gold coin of Honorius: front (photo from Unicity).
2
Fig. 2 - Gold coin of Honorius: back (photo from Unicity).
3
Fig. 3 - Solid gold coin from Honorius I, minted in Ravenna (from RIC X, tab. 40, n. 1321).

The iconograph of the emperor can be compared with a bronze coin found in Cornus (fig. 4).

4
Fig. 4 - Cuglieri, Cornus: bronze coin of Honorius (from Martorelli 2000, p. 81, cat. 122).
 

Bibliografia

  • R. MARTORELLI, Le monete, in A. M. GIUNTELLA (a cura di), Cornus I.2. L'area cimiteria-le orientale. I materiali = Mediterraneo tardoantico e medievale, 13. 2, Oristano 2000, pp. 50-105.
  • RIC X = J. P. C. KENT, The Roman Imperial Coinage, Volume X. The divided Empire and the Fall of the Western Parts AD 395-491, London 1994.
  • W. TREADGOLD, Storia di Bisanzio, Bologna 2009, pp. 31, 35, 313.

 

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