JUSTINIAN I BRONZE FOLLIS – ISSUE STRUCK AD 541/2 WHEN THE JUSTINIANIC PLAGUE BEGUN – XF NGC GRADED BYZANTINE COIN (Inv. 20203)

$650.00

20203. BYZANTINE EMPIRE. JUSTINIAN I, AD 527–565.
Bronze Follis/40 Nummi, 40 mm. Issue of Constantinople, officina A, struck Regnal Year 15 (AD 541/42).
Obv. D N IVSTINIANVS P F AVC, helmeted and cuirassed facing bust, holding globus cruciger and shield, cross in right field. Rev. M between A/N/N/O and X/V, cross above, A below, CON in exergue.
Sear 163.
NGC graded XF, nicely struck on a broad planchet.

The year AD 541 saw the beginning of the great “Justinianic Plague,” often considered the world’s first recorded pandemic. The bubonic plague apparently arrived in Egypt at the port of Pelusium in the fall of 541 and quickly spread via ships throughout the empire and beyond. It continued in waves until 549 and recurred sporadically for the next two centuries. The death toll remains unclear, although Procopius, a Byzantine source, indicates that up to 10,000 died each day in Constantinople at the very height of the plague.