Ancient Coins

Odovacar, King of Italy (476-493), Odovacar, King of Italy (476-493), In the name of Basiliscus (475-6), Solidus, Rome, Milan or Ravenna, dn basiliscvs vv avg, pearl-diademed, helmeted and cuirassed bust facing slightly right, holding spear and shield decorated with horseman, rev. victoria avggg s conor, Victory standing left, holding long cross, star in right field, 4.40g/5h (RIC –; MEC –; Lacam –, but for similar issue in the name of Zeno cf. p.857 type 2, 1 and pl.54, 4). Faint scratching in obverse field, otherwise extremely fine; unpublished in the standard references and of the greatest significance for the numismatic research of late antiquity (£8,000-10,000)

Provenance:
Tellmann FPL 131, October 1968.

Illustrated on the back cover. Odovacar, from the Germanic Audawakrs, ‘watchful of wealth’, was the son of the Scirii chieftain Edeko, a vassal of Huns under Attila. In 470 he was appointed leader of a band of the Scirian-Herulic foederati in Italy, and in 475 Magister militum and patrician by the Western emperor Julius Nepos. That same year the Roman general Orestes promised them a third of the Italian peninsula if they led the revolt against the Nepos. After the success of the revolt Orestes rescinded his pledge to the foederati and elevated his son Romulus to the rank of Augustus. This resulted in Odovacar leading his tribesmen in a revolt against Orestes, who was captured and executed at Placentia and the last Western emperor, Romulus Augustus, was compelled to abdicate at Ravenna on 4 September 476. In order to avoid conflict with the then Eastern emperor Zeno and keep the administration and finances of Italy, Odovacar astutely renounced the meaningless title of emperor by sending the imperial insignia to Constantinople and declared himself patrician of the West. Odovacar is referred to as rex in many documents, but the title appears to be informal, though he himself used it at least once and on another occasion it was used by the consul Basilius. With Odovacar as the first de facto Germanic King of Italy, a new era began with the support of the Senate and general consent of the of Rome poeple.

The series of solidi in the name of Zeno with exergue legend conor and concomitant officina letters G, D, Q and S has been attributed by Lacam (pp.855-60) to the military mint of Theoderic in about 488-9. The existence of this solidus in the name of the Eastern emperor Basiliscus would lower the issue date to the time of Odovacar in either the short period of the first reign of Basiliscus (28 August-31 October 475), or the second reign (4 September to late 476) between the deposition of Romulus and the delayed news of the return of Zeno to Constantinople in late August. Official news of the reinstatement did not reach Italy for some time, when, according to Malchus (fr. 10), Odovacar personally wrote to congratulate Zeno on his restoration