Preview
Creation Date
1059–1067
Geography
Constantinople (Istanbul, Turkey)
Culture
Byzantine
Medium
Copper
Dimensions
28 mm
5.5 oz (0.19 g)
Credit Line
Gift of Brad Hostetler, 2022
Accession Number
2022.34
Provenance
Purchased by Brad Hostetler from Ilya Zlobin (Rego Park, N.Y.) on September 24, 2021.
Condition
All description is from the upright obverse perspective. Medium wear, the coin’s details are less prominent than they were in the 11th century. The figures’ faces have become almost featureless. The rim is marked by a circular pattern of dots, which is slightly faded in areas. On the obverse, the lower-center edge, middle-right, and top left edges of the coin lack detail from wear. The lower middle-edge bends toward the viewer. On the reverse, the lower edge, middle to lower left, and middle to lower right show serious wear. There are depressions and indentations on the edges of the coin. There is a small hole on the lower edge of the coin that goes through to the other side, the interior of which is rusted and worn. - Will Margeson (’26), December 2022
Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings
Obverse:
+EMMA NOVHΛ = Emmanuel (illegible)
IC XC = Jesus Christ (illegible)
Reverse:
+KWNTΔK EVΔKAVΓΟ = Constantine Doukas Eudokia Augustuses (illegible)
References
Grierson, Philip. 1973. Catalogue of the Byzantine Coins in the Dumbarton Oaks Collection and in the Whittemore Collection, vol. 3, Leo III to Nicephorus III, 717–1081. Washington, DC: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, no. 8, p. 774.
Description
The obverse of this 11th-century coin of Constantine X Doukas and Eudokia (r. 1059–1067) shows Christ donning a tunic and a traditional ancient Greek dress called a himation (Grierson 1973, p. 744). A cross nimbus surrounds his head (Grierson 1973, p. 744). On the reverse, Eudokia is shown on the left while Constantine is on the right. They both wear a type of imperial costume called a modified loros, along with chains and pearls (Grierson 1973, p. 744). Between them, they hold a scepter inscribed with a Christogram (Grierson 1973, p. 744). The jumbled inscriptions and superimposed images indicate that this coin was overstruck or struck twice. Copper alloy, or bronze, allowed for a cleaner overstriking process because it became increasingly malleable when heated. This coin is a copper follis that was minted in Constantinople. A Byzantine would need 383 of these coins to buy one unit of wheat, called a modios thalassios (Morrisson and Cheynet 2001, p. 823).
The coin is pierced with a small hole, suggesting that it could have been worn on a necklace as jewelry or an amulet. There is a long tradition of Byzantines wearing coins as jewelry, as seen in this gold example from the Metropolitan Museum of Art (17.190.1664). Copper was considered an ideal medium for coin amulets (Fulghum 2001, p. 141). As shown by Michael Yonan, materiality is important for art-historical study. The coin’s medium and low value meant it was widely accessible to everyone while in circulation, allowing the image of the emperor and empress to be seen by all classes of Byzantine society. This amulet function gives the coin a second meaning for the owner, attributing a protective power to Christ, Constantine X, and Eudokia.
Bibliography
Duncan-Jones, Richard P. 1976. “The Size of the Modius Castrensis.” Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 21: 53–62.
Fulghum, Mary Margaret (Molly). 2001. “Coins Used as Amulets in Late Antiquity.” In Between Magic and Religion: Interdisciplinary Studies in Ancient Mediterranean Religion and Society, eds. Sulochana R. Asirvatham et al, 139–148. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield.
Grierson, Philip. 1973. Catalogue of the Byzantine Coins in the Dumbarton Oaks Collection and in the Whittemore Collection, vol. 3, Leo III to Nicephorus III, 717–1081. Washington, DC: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection.
Morrisson, Cécile. 2010. “Money, Coins and the Economy.” In The Byzantine World, ed. Paul Stephenson, 34–46. London: Routledge.
Morrisson, Cécile, and Jean-Claude Cheynet. 2001. “Prices and Wages in the Byzantine World.” In The Economic History of Byzantium: From the Seventh Through the Fifteenth Century, ed. Angeliki E. Laiou, 815–878. Washington, DC: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection.
Will Margeson (’26) for ARHS 110 (Fall 2022)