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                                Sale: CNG 61, Lot: 2184. Closing Date: Sep 25, 
                                2002.  LEO III (717-741) and POPE ST. GREGORY II 
                                (715-731). BID Estimate $1000  

                              LEO III (717-741) and POPE ST. GREGORY II 
                              (715-731). AR 1/8 Siliqua (0.26 gm). Struck circa 
                              717-731. Crowned and bearded facing bust, wearing 
                              chlamys and holding cross cruciger in right hand; 
                              star in upper field left and right / G R E O 
                              around central cross. O’Hara/Vecchi 29; DOC III 92 
                              (Leo III); MEC 1030 (Gregory III); SB 1534C 
                              (Gregory III). EF, very light encrustation around 
                              devices. ($1000)
                              This type was previously attributed to Gregory, 
                              exarch of Africa who revolted against Constans II 
                              in 647, or to duke Gregory of Benevento (732-739). 
                              However its presence in the papal-Byzantine hoard 
                              confirms its present identification. 
                              Gregory II was a strong and able pope who resisted 
                              the iconoclast edicts eminating from 
                              Constantinople and survived a number of attacks on 
                              his life instigated, some say, by agents of Leo 
                              III. When Liutprand, king of the Lombards 
                              (712-744), resumed a policy of expansion and 
                              unification, the papacy found itself completely 
                              isolated, appealing without success in 739 for 
                              help to the Frankish king Charles Martel, who was 
                              too busy defending his kingdom against the Moors. 
                              It took Pepin III (‘the Short”), the son of 
                              Charles Martel, to take the initiative and come to 
                              an understanding first with Pope Zacharias and 
                              later Pope Stephen II, who in 754 visited Gaul to 
                              request military help against the Lombards. 





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Lot sold for  $1200, plus buyers fees.

Used by permission of Classical Numismatic Group, www.cngcoins.com.