‘A note reconsidering the message of Heraclius’ silver hexagram, circa AD 615’ has appeared in the Spring 2019 issue of Byzantinische Zeitschrift. The short article identifies a previously unidentified connection between sources, which provides an important correction to our understanding of the reign of Heraclius (AD 610-41). The abstract reads as follows:
The hexagram was first minted during the darkest days of the final Roman-Persian War (602–628) when Roman fortunes were at their lowest. As a result, commentators have read the coin’s novel inscription, Deus Adiuta Romanis (God, help the Romans) as evidence for the ’stressful and desperate’ state of the empire. This paper presents the case that reading the coin alongside evidence for popular military practices instead paints a picture of the Roman state apparatus deftly manipulating mass propaganda. For the Romans in the 610s, these new coins signalled not defeatism but defiance and the promise of victory.
March 15th, 2019 by DC Whalin