The Usurper Artavasdus

CNG 102, Lot: 1174. Estimate $2000. Sold for $3250. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Artavasdus, with Nicephorus. 741/2-743. AR Miliaresion (23mm, 2.11 g, 12h). Constantinople mint. Cross potent set on three steps / ARτ/AЧASDO/S S ҺICҺF/OROS ЄC/ΘЄЧ ЬAS/ILIS+ in six lines. DOC 6; SB 1545. VF, toned, light scratches. Very rare.

From the M. A. Armstrong Collection. Ex Neil S. Phillips Collection (Spink 121, 7 October 1997), lot 520; Leu 45 (26 May 1988), lot 418.

After Constantine V, brother-in-law of Artavasdus, succeeded Leo III, Artavasdus attacked him en route to a campaign against the Umayyads and usurped the throne. Artavasdus’ reign saw an overturn of Leo’s strict iconoclastic policies, but his orthodox efforts would ultimately be short-lived and his restoration of the icons in turn reversed. Artavasdus’ forces were defeated by Constantine V in the summer of 743. On 2 November of the same year, he and his son Nicephorus, whom he had raised to co-emperor, had their eyes put out in the Hippodrome.