Preview
Creation Date
1152–1160
Geography
Minted in Thessalonica (Thessaloniki, Greece)
Culture
Byzantine
Medium
Copper
Dimensions
21 mm
0.12 oz. (3.44 g)
Credit Line
Gift of Brad Hostetler, 2022
Accession Number
2022.39
Condition
As of 9/2/2024: Due to significant wear on the left side, inscriptions are only legible to the right of the bust on both the obverse and reverse. Upper left and bottom right corners of the coin’s edge are particularly chipped and damaged, with blunt, straight edges. All decorative elements in relief, including busts, exhibit oxidation and darkening of the metal. Faces on both obverse and reverse are worn such that no specific features are discernible. However, besides this and the wear on the left, decorative details of the inscription are largely legible, including those of the figures’ costumes, hands, and headpieces.
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.329-331
Description
The obverse of this tetarteron depicts a beardless bust of St. George, a military saint. He is haloed (nimbate) and wears the typical military costume of the time, which consists of a tunic and breastplate. The saint also wears a sagion, a cloak typically worn by the emperor at times that he left the imperial palace (i.e., to enter church on a special occasion.) In this instance, it appears to represent a military cloak, like that which the emperor Manuel I gifted to his envoy on the battlefield against the Seljuks in 1176 (Hendy 1999: p. 157). The sagion takes on his military meaning beginning in the 12th century, with the increasingly military nature of the imperial offices. St. George also holds two pieces of traditional military insignia: a spear and shield, in his right and left hands, respectively. An identificatory inscription frames the saint in two columns; this inscription is longer than the cursory inscriptions typical of any coinage that depicts the Virgin Mary or Christ, given that saints did not have clearly established iconographic types at this point.
The reverse depicts a bust of a bearded Emperor Manuel I Komnenos. The emperor is dressed in a jeweled (as opposed to paneled) loros, a garment typically worn for major imperial ceremonies. In this instance, it appears in the simplified numismatic type, meaning it consists of a band that drapes over the shoulders and down the back of the emperor, rather than a garment that wraps around the figure’s entire body. Under the loros he wears in a divitision, or long tunic. Around his neck, the emperor wears a separate collar-piece decorated with five gems. Around the emperor’s head is the stemma, the colorful, jeweled crown which indicates the figure’s imperial status; hanging from it on both sides of the head are pendilia, or gemmed pendants. The various components of the emperor’s elaborate costume are used to demonstrate his position as the kingdom’s foremost leader across the political, military, and religious spheres. In his right hand, the emperor holds a labarum-headed scepter with a short staff. The labarum head appears as a flag displaying military insignia. In his left hand, the emperor holds the globus cruciger, or sphere topped by a cross which represents imperial power.
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