538 NGC AU Justinian I Byzantine Empire Follis Nicomedia Mint Coin (21010201C)

Description

Dated Emperor Justinian I
(527-565 CE)
Byzantine Empire
l
arge copper
follis
coin.
AE follis or 40 nummi (22.34 gm, approx 41mm)
,
Nicomedia mint (NIK), officinia A =
1st officina
, reign year ANNO XII (=12) = 538/9 CE.
Certified by NGC to AU (light smoothing), Strike 5/5, Surface 3/5.
Conditionally rare grade, g
lossy chocolate surfaces.
Obverse: D N IVSTINI-ANVS P P AVG, helmeted, cuirassed bust of Justinian I facing, globus cruciger in right hand, shield decorated with horseman motif in left.
Reverse: cross in right field / Large M (mark of value); A/N/N/O to left, XII (year) to right, cross above, A below, NIK in exergue.
Reference: Sear 201
Justinian the Great was the Eastern Roman emperor from 527 to 565 CE. During his reign, Justinian sought to revive the empire's greatness and reconquer the lost western half of the historical Roman Empire. Justinian's rule constitutes a distinct epoch in the history of the Later Roman empire, and his reign is marked by the ambitious but only partly realized renovatio imperii, or "restoration of the Empire".
Because of his restoration activities, Justinian has sometimes been known as the "last Roman" in modern historiography. This ambition was expressed by the partial recovery of the territories of the defunct Western Roman Empire. His general, Belisarius, swiftly conquered the Vandal Kingdom in North Africa. Subsequently, Belisarius, Narses, and other generals conquered the Ostrogothic kingdom, restoring Dalmatia, Sicily, Italy, and Rome to the empire after more than half a century of rule by the Ostrogoths. The prefect Liberius reclaimed the south of the Iberian peninsula, establishing the province of Spania. These campaigns re-established Roman control over the western Mediterranean, increasing the Empire's annual revenue by over a million solidi.
A still more resonant aspect of his legacy was the uniform rewriting of Roman law, the Corpus Juris Civilis, which is still the basis of civil law in many modern states.
His reign also marked a blossoming of Byzantine culture, and his building program yielded such masterpieces as the church
of Hagia Sophia.