The obverse of this miliaresion of Emperor Basil I (867-886) depicts a cross potent, while the reverse gives the names of the emperor and his favorite son Constantine. Basil used his coins – as many rulers before and after him – as means to transport his political program. This coin said: The successor to the Byzantine throne has been chosen, it is Constantine; the succession is thus secured, and the empire stable. Constantine died years before his father, however, and so in 879, the second son Leo became heir to the throne. He became sole emperor under the name of Leo VI in 886, and would go down into history as "Leo the Wise."