Kinzer Coins

Phocas & Leontia Ancient Byzantine Bronze Follis — Antioch Mint (AD 602–610)

Name: Phocas & Leontia Ancient Byzantine Bronze Follis — Antioch Mint (AD 602–610)
Brand: Kinzer Coins
Price: 65.0 USD
Availability: OutOfStock

Phocas & Leontia Ancient Byzantine Bronze Follis — Antioch Mint (AD 602–610)

$65.00 USD

Sale Sold out

Shipping calculated at checkout.

Phocas & Leontia Bronze Follis from Antioch — A Reign of Crisis

Own a Coin from One of the Most Turbulent Reigns of Early Byzantine History

The exact Byzantine bronze follis of Emperor Phocas and Empress Leontia shown, struck at Antioch during a period of military revolt, Persian invasion, and political instability.

✓ Guaranteed Authentic
✓ Exact Coin Shown
✓ 30-Day Returns

👑 Depicts Phocas and Leontia together in imperial imagery
🏛 Struck at the Antioch mint
🤲 The exact historic coin pictured is the one you'll receive

Own This Piece of History

Why This Coin Matters

Phocas came to power in AD 602 after a military revolt overthrew Emperor Maurice. Maurice and members of his family were executed, ending a reign that had recently achieved a favorable settlement with Sasanian Persia.

The change of regime destabilized relations with the Persian king Khosrow II, who used Maurice’s overthrow and death as a justification for renewed war against the Eastern Roman Empire. The resulting Byzantine–Sasanian conflict became one of the most destructive wars of Late Antiquity.

This bronze follis was struck in regnal year 6, AD 607/608, at Antioch, a major city and mint near the empire’s eastern frontier. The paired image of Phocas and Empress Leontia belongs to the official dynastic imagery of the reign; it should not be taken to mean that Leontia possessed equal constitutional authority as co-emperor.

Phocas himself was overthrown and executed in AD 610 by Heraclius. The Persian war continued long after his death and eventually brought both empires to the edge of exhaustion before Heraclius’s counteroffensive restored the lost Roman territories.

Only a few years later, the first Arab Muslim conquests transformed the political landscape of the Near East. It is therefore fair to place this coin within a major period of transition, while avoiding the overly simple claim that a single reign marked the exact moment when the ancient world became medieval.