(Any corrections, as always, are most welcome.)
Justinian I—Justinian the Great—coined this large (but tired) copper follis at Constantinople sometime during his reign from 527AD to 565AD. As it depicts his bust in profile, it likely is from the earlier part of his reign. It could possibly be one of the coins about which Newsweek Book Division’s Hagia Sophia is talking when it says the following about the construction of the famous old church, which was building from 532AD: “To encourage the workmen, a heap of coins was mixed with the earth each day, and in the evening when work was done they were allowed to forage for them, digging for what they could find.”
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