Preview
Creation Date
1152–1160
Geography
Thessaloniki (Greece)
Culture
Byzantine
Medium
Copper
Dimensions
20 mm
0.127 oz. (3.6 g)
Credit Line
Gift of Brad Hostetler, 2022
Accession Number
2022.37
Provenance
Purchased by Brad Hostetler from The Reeded Edge, Inc. (Cumberland, Md.) on November 30, 2019. Previously owned by Wayne C. Phillips (Diamond Bar, Calif.), date unknown.
Condition
On the obverse, there are some dents on the upper left outline and a large chip out of the coin on the bottom right that destructs parts of the coin’s image, wording, and shape. On the reverse, there are a few small chips, most noticeably at the upper left and bottom right. The material is worn at the top right, making the image and wording unclear; the shape is clearly worn down on the entire right side, and the image has likely been affected. The object is lightly damaged, having experienced wear over time. This has ruined parts of the initial images on the coin as well as the outline, which has some extra dents. The mark on the obverse is the most obvious; perhaps the coin was scratched against something, or it has simply dealt with expected wear over many centuries. The wear on the bottom right of the obverse and the top right and bottom (and some top left) of the reverse has altered some of the colorings of the coin; the pieces of the coin intended to be seen are a darker bronze, while the parts of the coin that have been scratched away appear lighter, closer to the hue of soil or rust. On the obverse, this appears primarily where there has been a denting and removal of the material, but on the reverse, this exists on many parts of the coin that seem to have remained intact. Because of the material erosion, the face of the image on the reverse is not visible and lacks detail. There is, most visible on the reverse, a circular outline of the coin likely meant to go around its entirety; however, because of the wear of the coin, this outline is only visible in the upper left section. - Caeleigh Stamper (’26), December 2022
Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings
Obverse:
⊙ ΓΕ (WΡ)ΓΙΟ[ς] = St. George
Reverse:
ΜΑΝȣΗ Λ [ΔΕCΠΟΤ] = Manuel Emperor
References
Hendy, Michael F. 1999. Catalogue of the Byzantine Coins in the Dumbarton Oaks Collection and in the Whittemore Collection, vol. 4, Alexius I to Alexius V, 1081–1204. Washington, DC: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, no. 18, p. 329.
Description
This Byzantine coin of Manuel I Komnenos is a bronze Tetarteron (Hendy 1999, p. 328), around the size of a penny. The reverse depicts emperor Manuel I Komnenos who reigned from 1143–1180. He is bearded, and wears a crown, a collarpiece, and a jeweled scarf worn by emperors, typically with studded precious stones. He holds a scepter with a cross-shaped sign in his right hand, and an orb with a cross in his left. The obverse depicts St. George who is beardless, wears a tunic, breastplate, and sagion, similar to a cloak (Kazhdan 1991). In his right hand is a spear, and in his left, a shield (Hendy 1999, p. 328).
This coin was minted in Thessaloniki, Greece, an excellent place of trade and one of the few workshop locations within Rome’s imperial frontier after the 7th century (Morrison 2001, p. 914). The coin’s value was enough to purchase around one meal (Morrison and Cheynet 2001, p. 842), and therefore relatively accessible. The copper material was not considered precious, so these coins were common in the Byzantine empire (Walker 2021). The coins lack pigment, instead displaying images and words solely through impression to ensure their maintenance through many trades and centuries. The copper material — also used for Byzantine jewelry and other objects — meant the coins were not as valuable as materials such as gold, but could imitate the appearance of it.
The comparable bust depictions of the saint and the emperor on the two sides of the coin suggest an equating of these two figures. St. George was a Roman soldier who died for his Christian faith (Kazhdan and Ševčenko 1991). Manuel’s placement of St. George on his coin suggests a dedication to Christianity, especially as many Eastern Orthodox Christians admired the saint; additionally, Manuel himself was known for his many military pursuits, but especially his attempts to entrench himself on Mediterranean coasts, which failed (Brand, Kazhdan, and Cutler 1991). Placing a successful military saint on his coins could suggest a stronger, desired military prowess. The Christian martyr St. George’s other depictions also displayed prowess, such as one during the Crusader period near Jerusalem displaying him riding a horse, prepared with weapons for battle (British Museum, 1984,0601.1). This more regal depiction suggests an attempt through the coin to present a Saint who could elevate the emperor’s status through insinuation.
Bibliography
Brand, Charles M., Alexander Kazhdan, Anthony Cutler. 1991. “Manuel I Komnenos.” In The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium, ed. Alexander P. Kazhdan. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Grierson, Philip. 1999. Byzantine Coinage. Washington, DC: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection.
Hendy, Michael F. 1999. Catalogue of the Byzantine Coins in the Dumbarton Oaks Collection and in the Whittemore Collection, vol. 4, Alexius I to Alexius V, 1081–1204. Washington, DC: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection.
Kazhdan, Alexander P. 1991. “Sagion.” In The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium, ed. Alexander P. Kazhdan. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Kazhdan, Alexander, and Nancy Patterson Ševčenko. 1991. “George.” In The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium, ed. Alexander P. Kazhdan. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Morrisson, Cécile. 2001. “Byzantine Money: Its Production and Circulation.” In The Economic History of Byzantium: From the Seventh Through the Fifteenth Century, ed. Angeliki E. Laiou, 909–966. 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.
Walker, Alicia. 2021. “Wearable art in Byzantium.” In Smarthistory, accessed November 23, 2022. https://smarthistory.org/wearable-art-byzantium/
Caeleigh Stamper (’26) for ARHS 110 (Fall 2022)