JUSTINIAN I, MIB 7, Date 545-565 AD, GOLD SOLIDUS Constantinople, Angel

★ Near extremely fine, good very fine condition - nice details at booth sides - full legends at booth sides - well centered - full diameter and full weight - lovely golden color toning ★
Flavius Petrus Sabbatius Iustinianus
Reign: Justinian I
Mint: Constantinople
Date: 545/565 AD
Nominal: Solidus
Material: Gold
Diameter: 21mm
Weight: 4.45g
Reference: MIB 7
Reference: SB 140
Reference: DOC 9e
Obverse: Pearl-diademed, helmeted, and cuirassed bust of Justinian I facing, wearing pendilia, with globus cruciger in right hand, shield decorated with horseman motif in left
Inscription: D N IVSTINIANVS PP AVG
Translation: Dominus Noster Iustinianus Perpetuus Augustus
Translation: Our Lord Iustinianus, Perpetual Augustus
Reverse: Angel standing facing, with grounded staff surmounted by staurogram in right hand, globus cruciger in outstretched left; star in right field
Inscription: VICTORIA AVGGG Є CONOB
Translation: Victoria Augustorum, Officina Epsilon, Constantinopolis Obryzum
Translation: Victory of the three Emperors, 5th officina, Constantinople 1/72 pound pure gold
Comment: Justinian (born c. 482 AD in Tauresium; died 14 November 565 AD in Constantinople), was Roman Emperor from 1 April (as co-emperor) or 1 August 527 AD until his death. He is referred to as a saint in some Orthodox sources, but is not listed as a saint in the official Church Synaxarion. Justinian is considered one of the most important rulers of late antiquity. His long reign marked an important phase in the transition from the ancient Imperium Romanum to the Byzantine Empire of the Middle Ages. The closing of the Neoplatonic school of philosophy in Athens in 529 AD and the de facto abolition of the ancient Roman office of consul in 542 AD stand for the end of antiquity that was approaching under him. On the other hand, in long wars against Ostrogoths and Vandals, he succeeded in regaining large parts of the Western Roman Empire, which had fallen under Germanic rule in the course of the so-called migration of peoples in 476 AD. In the east, the empire found itself embroiled in difficult, changeable battles with the Persian Sassanids. Justinian was of great importance for legal history, as he commissioned the compilation of Roman law, later known as the Corpus Iuris Civilis. The emperorship became increasingly sacralised during his reign. This destroyed the last remnants of the fiction once created by the principate that the emperor was only a primus inter pares. The most important narrative source for Justinian's time are the works of the historian Procopius of Caesarea, who strongly criticised the emperor's policies.