ABSTRACT
The noose around Constantinople now tightened further; nor was there any obvious source of hope for those remaining in the capital. The Balkans continued to suffer devastation at the hands of Avars and Slavs.114 In Asia Minor the last functioning mint – that at Nicomedia – ceased operating in 619. See Hendy 1985: 416. Perhaps in 620, but more probably in 622, the important central Anatolian city of Ancyra fell into Persian hands. A Persian fleet was also active, and the island of Rhodes fell to the invaders in 622/3 (Chr. 724 147/18, AG 934, Theoph. A.M. 6111 [618/19], 302, Chr. 1234, 96, 230/133, Mich. Syr. XI.3, 408a/133 n.300, Agap. PO 8.458).115 Evidence for Sasanian activity along the Aegean coast is also provided by a hoard of coins discovered on the island of Samos, probably buried in 623. See Oeconomides and Drossoyianni 1989: 163-75.
