JOHN II COMNENUS ASPRON TRACHY____Byzantine Cup Coin______BUST OF CHRIST FACING

Description

20G23
FRASCATIUS ANCIENTS
A BEAUTIFUL BILLON ASPRON TRACHY (CUP COIN) OF JOHN II COMNENUS FROM 1118 - 1143 AD .
John II Comnenus' reign was characterized by unremitting attempts to reconquer all important Byzantine territory lost to the Arabs, Turks, and Christian Crusaders.
THE SIZE IS 30.5 MM AND 3.43 GRAMS.
Sear 1944
OBVERSE – Bust of Christ facing, wearing nimbus cr., pallium and colobium, and raising right hand in benediction; in left, book of gospels
REVERSE – Bust of John facing, wearing crown and loros, and holding cruciform scepter
JOHN II COMNENUS
John II Comnenus was Byzantine emperor (1118–43) whose reign was characterized by unremitting attempts to reconquer all important Byzantine territory lost to the Arabs, Turks, and Christian Crusaders.
A son of Emperor Alexius I Comnenus and Irene Ducas, John kept an austere court and spent most of his reign with his troops. He canceled Venetian trading privileges granted by his father but was forced to restore them after the Venetians launched a fleet against him. He thwarted Pecheneg, Hungarian, and Serbian threats during the 1120s, and in 1130 he allied himself with the German emperor Lothar II (III) against the Norman king Roger II of Sicily.
In the later part of his reign John focused his activities on the East. In 1135 he defeated the Danishmend emirate of Melitene. Two years later he reconquered all of Cilicia from the kingdom of Lower Armenia and later forced Raymond of Poitiers, prince of Antioch, to recognize Byzantine suzerainty. Though John and Raymond formed an alliance against the Turkish Atabegs of Syria, their campaigns were not particularly successful. In 1143 John returned to press his claims to Antioch. He died following a hunting accident after naming his fourth son, Manuel I, to succeed him.
BYZANTINE CUP COINS
It appears that the main reason for the emergence of the concave fabric of this coin type, and its survival for almost three centuries, was to make thin coins strong enough to resist bending and breakage. Thin curved shells are inherently strong and light. This is how Mother Nature designed the eggshell. And this is how the Byzantines designed their coins.
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NOTE: Frascatius is a life member (LM #6864) of the American Numismatic Association (ANA). Frascatius fully complies with the ANA Member Code of Ethics.
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