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Banner Artemide LV
Lot # 649
Constantine IX Monomachus (1042-1055 AD). AV Histamenon Nomisma, Constantinople mint. Obv. +IhC XIC RCX RCSnAnTIhm. Facing bust of Christ Pantokrator, nimbate, raising hand in benediction and holding Gospels; crescents in nimbus. Rev. +CωhtSATh bASILCЧS Rm. Facing bust of Constantine, wearing crown and loros, holding long cross and globus cruciger. D.O. 3; Sear 1830. AV. 4.41 g. 28.00 mm. Superb, struck on a very broad flan and with an excellent bust of Constantine. EF/Good EF. Michael V had succeeded his uncle Michael IV as emperor. His first actions were to banish his uncle, John the Eunuch and to imprison the Empress Zoe in a nunnery. This led to the population’s demand for an ousting of the emperor and he was deposed, blinded and Zoe and Theodora ruled jointly for 7 weeks. Zoe then chose Constantinus as her third husband. He was interested in learning and the arts and less in statesmanship. In 1046 he had a first encounter with the Seljuk Turks in Armenia which resulted in a truce. Foolishly he then disbanded the Armenian forces at a time when they should have been strengthened. In 1054 the Great Schism between the churches of the West and East was caused when the Patriarch refused to adopt Western church practices. He was excommunicated by a Papal legation and he in turn excommunicated them. This rift was never to heal. In all, Constantinus IX did more damage to the state than many an emperor before him.
(Sincona 3,2011,3529 note).