Byzantine Empire. Heraclius (AD 610-641). Solidus Constantinopolis

Solidus of Heraclius I, 610-641, with Heraclius Constantine and Heraclonas. AV Solidus, 638/639, Constantinople, 8. Officina; 4.38 g Three emperors standing side by side // Cross on steps. DOC 41 h; Sear 767.

Emperor Heraclius ruled from 613 together with his son from the first marriage, Heraclius Constantine (Constantine III). Heraclonas, his son from the second marriage with Martina, was from 632 as Caesar and from 638 also as Augustus, also a member of the imperial college. After Heraclius' death on February 11, 641, his sons were to rule the Byzantine Empire as equals. According to ancient tradition, the widow Martina reportedly tried to press her son Heraclonas’s claim to rule against his half-brother. Shortly after the death of Constantine III on May 25, 641, Heraclonas made his son Flavius Heraclius (Constans II) co-ruler under public pressure. Rumors of an alleged poisoning of Constantine III, together with the revived Monothelitism, a Christian doctrinal trend that attributed two natures to Jesus but only one will, led to unrest. Martina and Heraclonas were thereafter mutilated in a palace revolt and banished to Rhodes. Constans II then assumed sole rule of the empire.

The dynastic portraits of Heraclius with all three rulers depict them in the protocollary display scheme that corresponded to the appearance of the imperial family at important public ceremonies. The position of the principal emperor in the center, his elder co-regent to the right, and his noticeably smaller co-emperor to the left is clearly underscored by the relative sizes. Coins of our type show the younger Heraclius already likewise with the cross diadem, crowned on the same level of rule as his brother. The complete omission of the emperor’s name in the obverse legend further underscores the dynastic idea.