No legend, Constans, with long beard, wearing crown and military dress, holding long cross, and Constantine IV, crowned and wearing chlamys, holding cross on globe, standing; cross between their heads / Large M, ANNO to left, cross above, regnal year to right; mintmark CON. Reverse sometimes countermarked with monogram. 25mm, 7.90 grams. Constantinople mint. SB 1010, MIB 174b,d.

Constans II (641-668 CE) was a Byzantine emperor who came to the throne as a child during a period of intense external pressure and internal instability. His reign was dominated by the empire’s struggles against the rapidly expanding Arab Caliphate, which seized Egypt, Armenia, Cyprus (partially), and much of North Africa. Constans reorganized the military into the theme system to strengthen provincial defense and tried to resolve religious conflict through the controversial Typos, which attempted to silence debates over Monothelitism. He moved the imperial court to Sicily late in his reign, aiming to better protect remaining western territories, but this decision provoked resentment in Constantinople. Constans II was assassinated in 668 in Syracuse, leaving the empire weakened but still intact, and was succeeded by his son, Constantine IV.