THEODERIC used to be called Theo-doric, but the name Theodericus, the

Latin form of Theoderic, appears on hiscoins and inscriptions. The Goths wereGermanic people originally from north-ern Europe, and the two main brancheswere the Ostrogoths (East Goths) andthe Visigoths (West Goths). When theHuns invaded Europe from Asia they

caused great migrations of people. TheVisigoths invaded Italy and sacked Romein 410 AD, but they eventually settledin Spain. The Ostrogoths invaded Italyin 489 and established the OstrogothicKingdom. (Figure 1 – map) Althoughthe Romans called them barbarians theGoths were Christians, having been con-verted by Ulfilas in the 4th century.

The last ruler of the whole RomanEmpire that stretched from Britain toSyria was Theodosius I. When he died in395 the empire was divided between histwo sons. Arcadius received the easternhalf which continued to flourish as theByzantine Empire, while Honoriusreceived the western half which was in-vaded by the barbarians. The Ostrogothicinvasion was led by Theoderic, the sonof the Ostrogothic king, Theodemir.Theoderic was born in 454 and when

he was about seven he was taken as ahostage to Constantinople, the Byzan-

The Coins ofTheoderic

the Ostrogothby Peter E. Lewis

Below the stone roof of Theoderic’s Mausoleum at Ravenna. (Wikimedia Commons)

Figure 1 – Map of the barbarian invasions. (Wikimedia Commons)

Figure 2 – Odovacar on the obverse of a silvercoin minted at Ravenna. There is a monogram ofhis name on the reverse. (Wikimedia Commons)

tine capital. After eleven years Theo-demir died, and the Byzantine emperorLeo recognized Theoderic as king of theOstrogoths. Theoderic then led his peo-ple to settle in the Balkans, but Leo’ssuccessor, Zeno, fearing that the Ostro-goths might cause trouble in the Byzan-tine Empire, ordered Theoderic to takethem to Italy, overthrow its barbarianruler, Odovacar, and govern the countryin Zeno’s name. After several battlesTheoderic controlled all of Italy exceptRavenna. In 493 Ravenna surrenderedand Theoderic entered the city to talkpeace with Odovacar, but when they wereat dinner Theoderic suddenly killedOdovacar and his son with his sword.So in a most treacherous way began theOstrogothic Kingdom of Italy whichlasted until 552 when the last Ostro-gothic king was killed. Although Theo-deric ruled wisely and the country pros-pered, his murderous act stained hischaracter forever. We know what Odovacar and Theoderic

looked like because there are rare coins

with fairly realistic portraits of them.(Figures 2 and 3) They both have amoustache, which suggests that it wasa distinguishing feature of northernEuropean men at the time, and theyboth have a peculiar hairstyle with thehair piled up at the top and like a fringeat the front. Men do not have moustacheson Byzantine coins at that time or on

the coins of the late Roman Empire. The coins of Theoderic are dealt with

in detail in the book by Philip Griersonand Mark Blackburn, Medieval Euro-pean Coinage, Volume I: The Early MiddleAges (5th-10th centuries), published byCambridge University Press in 1986.Much of the information in this articlecomes from their book. It is hoped that

Figure 3 – Theoderic on the obverse of a triplesolidus or medallion minted on the 30th an-niversary of his being made co-ruler with hisfather in 479. On the reverse Victory holds awreath. (Wikimedia Commons)

Figure 4 – Solidus of Theodoric in the name of Anastasius. (Bertolamic Fine Arts, Auction 67, Lot 616)

Figure 5 – Solidus of Theodoric in the name of Anastasius. (Classical Numismatic Group, https://cngcoins.org, Auction 115, Lot 805)

Figure 6 – Solidus of Theoderic in the name of Anastasius. Theodoric’s monogram is at the endof the reverse legend, and there is a monogram of Rome in the left field. (Classical NumismaticGroup, Triton XIX, Lot 2198)

this brief account will stimulate interestin the coins of that fascinating period inthe history of Europe.Theoderic ruled Italy from 493 to 526

when he died of natural causes. He issuedcoins of gold, silver and bronze, and thechief mints were Rome, Ravenna andMilan. Although he ruled independentlyhis gold and silver coins have the nameand image of the Byzantine emperor onthe obverse. The emperors are Zeno(474 – 491), Anastasius (491 – 518) andJustin I (518 – 527). The gold coins area solidus and a tremissis (worth a thirdof the solidus). These gold coins havethe same reverses as the Byzantine gold

coins minted at Constantinople, and atfirst sight it is not easy to tell the differ-ence. In some cases the attribution toTheoderic is made only on the groundsof style and where the coins were found.According to Grierson and Blackburn,“The coinage of Ostrogothic Italy is forthe most part markedly superior artis-tically and technically to that of Con-stantinople, the coins being carefullydesigned and struck in higher relief.”There are also clues to their Ostrogothicorigin such as the obverse legends end-ing in PFAVG instead of PPAVG as onthe Byzantine gold coins, and COMOBin the exergue instead of CONOB.

(Figure 4) Sometimes there are spellingmistakes, e.g. PΓ instead of PF. (Figure5) On some solidi a tiny monogram ofTheoderic appears on the reverse mak-

Figure 7 – Solidus of Theoderic in the name of Anastasius. Theoderic’s monogram is at the endof the reverse legend, and there is a monogram of Milan (Mediolanum) in the left field. (Numis-matica Ars Classica NAC AG, Auction 93, Lot 1142).

Figure 8 – Tremissis of Theoderic in the name of Anastasius. (Sincona AG, Auction 50, Lot 1014)

Figure 9 – Tremissis of Theoderic in the name of Anastasius. (Numismatica Ars Classica NAC AG, Auction 93, Lot 1133)

Figure 10 – Quarter-siliqua of Theoderic in thename of Justin I. Diameter 11 mms. (ClassicalNumismatic Group, Auction 106, Lot 905)

Figure 11 – Half-siliqua of Theoderic in thename of Anastasius. (Numismatica Ars Clas-sica NAC AG, Auction 93, Lot 1137)

ing the attribution certain. (Figures 6and 7) Theoderic’s monograms are notconsistent and can be difficult to deci-pher at times.The tremisses of Theodoric are like

the Byzantine ones but with the usualPFAVG instead of PPAVG, and COMOBinstead of CONOB. (Figure 8) PFAVGstands for “Perp Felix Augustus” mean-ing perpetually blessed, whereas PPAVGstands for “Perp Augustus”. CONOBstands for “Constantinople Obryzum”meaning refined gold of Constantinople,whereas COMOB presumably stands for“Comes Obryzum” meaning refined goldof a companion, i.e. Theoderic. On some

rare tremisses the goddess Victory onthe reverse holds a wreath and a palminstead of a wreath and a small globewith a cross on it. (Figure 9) This trem-issis became the model for gold coinsissued by the Burgundians and othermigrant people in Gaul and Spain. It is a different situation with Theo-

doric’s silver coins, which are easy toidentify because his monogram usuallyappears on the reverse. (Figure 10)Even the obverses are different becausealthough there is the name of theByzantine emperor, the profile bust hasa collar with pellets on it, which Grier-son and Blackburn thought might have

been intended to indicate that it wasTheoderic himself. There are two silverdenominations, a half-siliqua and a quar-ter-siliqua, as well as some rare coinssuch as a double siliqua and a siliqua.A half-siliqua minted early in his reignhas a star on the reverse, but Griersonand Blackburn say it is a monogram ofI and X for Jesus Christ. (Figure 11) If so,it was intended to reassure the peoplethat their new ruler was a Christian,but it probably did not ease their anxi-ety because they knew that the Gothswere a different type of Christian. Theywere Arians, people who had acceptedthe teaching of Arius, a priest of Alexan-

Figure 12 – Bronze coin with Roma on the obverse and an eagle on the reverse. It was minted at Rome from 493 to 534.(Numismatica Ars Classica NAC AG, Auction 93, Lot 1115)

Figure 13 – Bronze coin with Roma on the obverse and a she-wolf suckling Romulus and Remus on the reverse. (Classical Numismatic Group, Triton XXIII, Lot 995)

dria in the 4th century. He believed thatJesus was subordinate to God the Fatherand not fully divine. Ulfilas, the greatmissionary who had converted the Goths,was an Arian, but the people of Italywere orthodox, meaning that they hadaccepted the decrees of the church coun-cils held at Nicaea in 325 and Chal-cedon in 451 which confirmed thatJesus was fully divine. Although Theoderic was an Arian he

protected the orthodox church, and hisorthodox prime minister, Cassiodorus,stated the official policy of religiousfreedom: “We cannot command religion,for no one can be forced to believe againsthis will.” The Byzantine historian, Pro-

copius, wrote, “Theodoric was exceed-ingly careful to observe justice . . . andattained the highest degree of wisdomand manliness. . . Both the Goths andthe Romans loved him greatly.”The bronze coins issued during the

reigns of Theoderic and his successor,Athalaric, were anonymous. They showno indication of who the ruler was. Grier-son and Blackburn call them municipalbronze coinage of Rome. On the obversethey have the helmeted bust of the god-dess Roma with the legend INVICTA(or IMVICTA) ROMA, meaning uncon-querable Rome. The goddess appears asshe did on the silver denarii of the RomanRepublic seven hundred years earlier.

On the reverse there are symbols of an-cient Rome, generally either an eagle(Figure 12) or the twins, Romulus andRemus, being suckled by a she-wolf(Figure 13). The denominations were afollis and a half-follis, showing their val-ues XL (40) and XX (20) respectively.There was a heavy series followed by alight series, and on a half-follis in thelight series there is a fig tree betweentwo eagles on the reverse. (Figure14)According to the Roman historian, Livy,the twins who founded Rome were suck-led by the she-wolf under a fig tree. Under Theoderic the kingdom expan-

ded to include southern Gaul, Spain

Figure 14 – Bronze coin with Roma on the obverse and a fig-tree between eagleson the reverse. (Numismatica Ars Classica NAC AG, Auction 93, Lot 1119)

Figure 15 – Map of Theoderic’s empire in 523AD. The territories in pink are ruled byTheoderic. The stippled areas are also domi-nated by him at this time. (Wikimedia Com-mons. Author: Howard Wiseman)

and even a large part of the Balkansaround Sirmium. By 523 he ruled anempire. (Figure 15 – map) Many histor-ians call him Theoderic the Great be-cause of his achievements. He repairedmuch of the damage that invaders haddone to Rome and other places in Italy.The building of the churches of SaintApollinare and Saint Vitalis at Ravennawas begun during his reign (Figure 16).Today we can visit his mausoleum atRavenna (Figure 17) and see the sar-cophagus in which his body was laid.(Figure 18) His remains have long sincedisappeared, but we can hold his coinsin our hands and imagine the time whenthe glory of Rome was briefly re-vived.

Figure 16 – Basilica of San Vitale at Ravenna. (Wikimedia Commons)

Figure 17 – Theoderic’s mausoleum at Ravenna. (Wikimedia Commons)

Figure 18 – Theoderic’s porphyry sarcophagusin his mausoleum at Ravenna. (WikimediaCommons)

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