Byzantine Empire (AD 330–1453) Coin of the Byzantine Emperor

Map of the Byzantine Empire circa AD 527–565 Byzantine Empire (AD 330–1453)

The Byzantine Empire controlled the eastern half of the Roman Empire, surviving for nearly a thousand years after the western half split up. As the Roman empire was declining in the west, attention shifted to the small village of Byzantium selected by emperor Constantine I— who reigned from AD 306–337—to become his new eastern capital Constantinople (modern Istanbul). A new culture emerged as well, blending aspects of Roman, Middle Eastern, and Christian cultural traditions.

Under Byzantine rule, the eastern Roman empire was able to maintain its control of the the eastern Mediterranean for approximately three centuries. Then, in the early seventh century AD, the Byzantine empire came into conflict with the Sasanians. The Sasanian king Khusrau II conquered the Levant, Egypt, and parts of eastern Anatolia in a conflict that lasted for 16 years (602–608 AD). The Byzantines were able to eventually turn the tide and re-take the lands that had been lost to them and defeat the Sasanians. The Byzantines lost most of the land that they had regained to the Muslims coming out of Arabia beginning in the 630s, while the entire Sasanian empire fell under Islamic control. The Byzantine Empire continued, albeit reduced in size, until it fell in 1453. Coin of the Byzantine Emperor Justin II (AD 565-574)

This coin of Byzantine Emperor Justin II was excavated by the OI’s Syrian-Hittite Expedition at the site of Çatal Höyük (“mound of Chatal”), located in the Amuq Valley—the classical “Plain of Antioch”— in present-day southwestern Turkey. Archaeologists found a series of assemblages for the Amuq Valley that stretched from the Neolithic period into modern times. This coin was minted in Nicomedia (now known as Izmit, located in western Turkey).

Inscription: (obv.) JUSTINIUS PP AUG (rev.) ANNO M NIKO Copper alloy Turkey, Çatal Höyük Amuq T Excavated in 1933 A58479