This article is part of a series about the coins of Turkey. Before the Turks ever arrived, it was Roman land for about 500 years, and then for another 500 or so during the period we call Byzantine, but, as far as they were concerned, it was still the Roman Empire. That’s a lot of time (and a lot of coins). Can’t help putting a lot of words in the story. There’s a lot of story to tell.
First to address an error in the last article. I called Honorius the son of Arcadius and in the very next paragraph called him his brother. Honorius and Arcadius were brothers. Arcadius’ son and successor was Theodosius II.
That’s a convenient place to start. We’re going to rush through the last three-quarters of a century of the Western Roman Empire before moving on to the “Byzantines.”
In that period 27 people issued coins naming themselves Augustus, with an additional nine relatives. Ten of the augusti were rebels or puppets, mostly in the West. Many of those augusti were only on the historical stage for a year or two or three.
The overall political picture is of diminishing ability to deal with events, especially in the West. There was a decline in money to do things with, leaving space for local powers and outsiders to do things, with powerful Barbarian generals making moves, including setting up puppet emperors.
In the east, the Sasanian Empire of Persia was preoccupied with an ongoing conflict with the Hephthalites to their east.
