Ancient Coins

Zoe and Theodora (1042), Zoë (1041), Pattern Tetarteron, c. 1041/2, FH(?)INOLCWNENIAAGO, facing bust, wearing ornate costume, crown with pinnacles and pendilia, holding globe with patriarchal cross and beaded sceptre, rev. bearded bust of Constantine VIII, wearing modified loros and crown with cross and pendilia, holding globe with patriarchal cross, border of large globules, 3.71g/12h (DOC III/2, p.730, 2). Very fine, dark patina, of the highest rarity; only the second recorded example (£8,000-12,000)

The brevity of the reign of Zoë was such that only three patterns are known. Zoë was one of the few Byzantine empresses who was Porphyrogenita, or ‘born into the purple’. She was the daughter of Constantine VIII (1025-28) and Helena, daughter of Alypius. Zoë married Michael IV (†December 1041) in 1034 and shortly before his death the couple had adopted as their son Michael V, the son of Michael IV's sister. After several months of rule, Michael V had the presumption to exile his adoptive mother to a convent. The population of the city, loyal to Zoë, quickly forced him to recall the empress and her younger sister Theodora in April 1042. The sisters deposed Michael V, blinded him and exiled him to a monastery, where he died later the same year. For two months Zoë shared power with Theodora, until she could find yet another husband, her third, and the last she was permitted according to the rules of the Orthodox Church. Her choice was Constantine IX Monomachos (1042-55). She died in 1050