LEO VI, the Wise w akakia BYZANTINE Large Ancient Coin 886AD i31738

Description

Item:
i31738
Authentic Ancient Coin of:
Leo VI, the Wise - Byzantine Emperor: August 28, 886 - May 11th 912 A.D. -
Bronze Follis 25mm (5.33 grams) Struck 886-912 A.D.
Reference: Sear 1729
+ LЄOn bASILЄVS ROm' - Bust facing, with short beard, wearing corwn and chlamys, and holding
akakia in left hand.
+ LЄOn / Єn ΘЄO bA / SILЄVS R / OMЄOn in four lines.
You are bidding on the exact item pictured, provided with a Certificate of Authenticity and Lifetime Guarantee of Authenticity.
The
akakia
(
Greek
:
ἀκακία
, literally "guilelessness") was a cylindrical purple silk roll containing dust,
held
by the
Byzantine emperors
during ceremonies, and symbolizing the mortal nature of all men. It possibly developed from the
mappa
, the cloth used by the
Roman consuls
to start the races at the hippodrome.
Leo VI
, surnamed
the Wise
or
the Philosopher
(
Greek
:
Λέων ΣΤ΄ ὁ Σοφός
,
Leōn VI ho Sophos
, 19 September 866 – 11 May 912), was
Byzantine emperor
from 886 to 912. The second ruler of the
Macedonian dynasty
(although his parentage is unclear), he was very well-read, leading to his surname. During his reign, the renaissance of letters begun by his predecessor
Basil I
continued, but the Empire also saw several military defeats in the Balkans against
Bulgaria
and against the Arabs in
Sicily
and the
Aegean
.
//
Background
Leo was born to
Eudokia Ingerina
who was at the time mistress of Emperor
Michael III
and wife of his
Caesar
Basil
. Which of the two men was his biological father is uncertain. Basil legally acknowledged Leo as his son but his later treatment of him might suggest that he regarded Leo as Michael's son.
In 867, Michael was assassinated by Basil who succeeded him as Emperor
Basil I
. As the second eldest son of the Emperor, Leo was associated on the throne in 870 and became the direct heir on the death of his older half-brother Constantine in 879. However, he and his father hated each other and Basil almost had Leo blinded as a teenager. On August 29, 886, Basil died in a hunting accident, though he claimed on his deathbed that there was an
assassination
attempt in which Leo was possibly involved.
Domestic policy
One of the first actions of Leo VI after his succession was the reburial of Michael III in
Constantinople
, which may have contributed to the suspicion that he was Michael's son. Seeking political reconciliation, the new emperor secured the support of the officials in the capital, and surrounded himself with bureaucrats like
Stylianos Zaoutzes
and the eunuch Samonas. His attempts to control the great aristocratic families (e.g., the Phokadai and the Doukai) occasionally led to serious conflicts. Leo also attempted to control the church through his appointments to the patriarchate. He dismissed the
Patriarch
Photios
of Constantinople, who had been his tutor, and replaced him with his own 19-year old brother
Stephen
in December 886. On Stephen's death in 893, Leo replaced him with Zaoutzes' nominee, Antony II Kaleuas, who died in 901. Leo then promoted his own imperial secretary (
mystikos
)
Nicholas
, but replaced him with his spiritual father Euthymios in 907.
The magnificent
Church of Ayios Lazaros
in
Larnaca
was built during Leo VI rule in the late
9th century
. The church is one of the best examples of
Byzantine architecture
. Leo also completed work on the
Basilica
, the
Greek
translation and update of the
law code
issued by
Justinian I
, which had been started during the reign of Basil.
Bishop
Liutprand of Cremona
gives an account similar to those related about caliph
Harun al-Rashid
, stating that Leo would sometimes disguise himself and look for injustice or corruption. On one account, he was even captured by the city guards during one of his investigations. He wanted to know if the city patrol was doing its job appropriately. Late in the evening, he was walking alone and disguised. Though he bribed two patrols for 12
nomismata
, and moved on, the third city patrol arrested him. When a terrified guardian recognized the jailed ruler in the morning, the arresting officer was rewarded for doing his duty, while the other patrols were dismissed and punished severely.
Foreign policy
Leo VI was not as successful in battle as Basil had been. In indulging his chief counselor Stylianos Zaoutzes, Leo provoked a war with
Simeon I of Bulgaria
in 894, but was defeated. Bribing the
Magyars
to attack the
Bulgarians
from the north, Leo scored an indirect success in 895. However, deprived of his new allies, he lost the major
Battle of Boulgarophygon
in 896 and had to make the required commercial concessions and to pay annual tribute.
The
Emirate of Sicily
took
Taormina
, the last Byzantine outpost on the island of
Sicily
, in 902. In 904 the renegade
Leo of Tripolis
sacked
Thessalonica
with his Muslim pirates (an event described in
The Capture of Thessalonica
by
John Kaminiates
). In 907
Constantinople
was attacked
by the
Kievan Rus'
under
Oleg of Novgorod
, who was seeking favourable trading rights with the empire. Leo paid them off, but they attacked again in 911, and a
trade treaty was finally signed
.
Fourth marriage dispute
Leo VI caused a major scandal with his numerous marriages which failed to produce a legitimate heir to the throne. His first wife
Theophano
, whom Basil had forced him to marry, died in 897, and he married
Zoe Zaoutzaina
, the daughter of his adviser Stylianos Zaoutzes, though she died as well in 899. Upon this marriage Leo created the title of
basileopatōr
("father of the emperor") for his father-in-law.
After Zoe's death a third marriage was technically illegal, but he married again, only to have his third wife
Eudokia Baïana
die in 901. Instead of marrying a fourth time, which would have been an even greater sin than a third marriage (according to the Patriarch
Nicholas Mystikos
) Leo took as mistress,
Zoe Karbonopsina
. He married her only after she had given birth to
a son
in 905, but incurred the opposition of the patriarch. Replacing Nicholas Mystikos with Euthymios, Leo got his marriage recognized by the church, but opened up a conflict within it and allowed new grounds for
papal
intervention into Byzantine affairs when he sought and obtained papal consent.
Succession
The future Constantine VII was the illegitimate son born before Leo's uncanonical fourth marriage to Zoe Karbonopsina. To strengthen his son's position as heir, Leo had him crowned as co-emperor on May 15, 908, when he was only two years old. Leo VI died on May 11, 912. He was succeeded by his younger brother
Alexander
, who had reigned as emperor alongside his father and brother since 879.
Works
A collection of oracular poems and some short divinatory texts, at least in part based on earlier Greek sources, were attached to the emperor's name in later centuries. He is also the author, or at least sponsor, of the
Tactica
, a notable treatise on military operations.
He is credited with
translating
the
relics
of
St. Lazarus
to Constantinople in the year 890. There are several
stichera
(hymns) attributed to him which are chanted on
Lazarus Saturday
in the
Eastern Orthodox Church
. He also composed hymns which are sung on the
Great Feast
of the
Exaltation of the Cross
.
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