TYPE Byzantine Empire, Irene (regent for Constantine VI, 780-797 AD), bronze follis, Constantinople mint DESCRIPTION . Obv: Facing crowned busts of Irene and Constantine VI, holding gl. cr. Rev: Denomination (M = 40 nummi), flanked by X and N, off. A, all in exergue below busts of Leo III, Constantine IV and Leo IV. REFERENCE: SB 1596, DO 5 GRADING: AVF / F+, brown-reddish patina, scarce ORDER INFO: B3035, $190 Nice example of a typically scarce issue of this celebrated and notorious (indeed, the first sole) Byzantine empress. Even though this remarkable design with five dynasty members spanning four generations of the Isaurian dynasty would suggest her commitment to family values, Irene's actions were to prove otherwise, as she ruthlessly disposed of her own son in 797. Her sole rule a disaster, she was finally deposed and banished to the island of Lesbos in 802, where a quaint village with the royal name of Vasilika and little more remain as a distant reminder of her exile.