Description:
In AD 324, Emperor Constantine the Great transferred the Eastern Roman Empire capital to Byzantium, which became Constantinople, also known as "New Rome." Long after the fall of Rome, the Byzantine Empire was still called the Roman Empire by its inhabitants and neighbors, although the main language spoken here was Greek. In the 6th century, Justinian I created the authority of the Eastern Orthodox Church which firmly established Christianity throughout the Empire.
Over the following centuries, the Eastern Romans helped to shield Europe from Muslim expansion and provided a stable gold currency for the region. The obverse of this gold tremissis coin shows a cross potent and the reverse depicts the pearl-diademed, draped and cuirassed bust of Emperor Maurice Tiberius. The tremissis was a currency of late ancient Rome and it continued to be minted by the Eastern Romans until the 8th century. Equal to one-third weight of the solidus coin, the tremissis coins were minted in 1.5 grams of near pure gold.
Maurice Tiberius was the Byzantine Emperor from 582 to 602. He won a major war with Persia, which expanded the eastern frontier dramatically and he also had great military success in the Balkans. Maurice's famous manual of war, "Strategikon", influenced European militaries for nearly a millennium. Today, Maurice stands out as the last Byzantine Emperor whose Empire strongly resembled the Roman Empire.
