Byzantine
Justinian I (527-565 AD). Rome, 537 AD.
AE Follis (28.2mm 11.37g)
Obv: D N IVSTINIANVS P P AVG Diademed, draped, and cuirassed bust of Justinian I to right.
Rev: Large M between six-pointed star and cross; above, cross; below, ROMA; all within wreath.
DOC 321a. MIB 214. SB 292
The wreath around the mark of value celebrates the initially unopposed recapture of Rome in 536 by Belisarius for the empire, which was followed by the epic siege by the Gothic forces of Witigis from March 537 to March 538.