THE Byzantine Empire succeeded theRoman Empire in about 500 AD and

its capital was Constantinople (modernIstanbul). Constantine the Great foundedConstantinople in 330 AD, but theGreek city previously on the site was

Byzantium (Greek: Byzantion) and theempire was named after it. The ByzantineEmpire lasted for almost a thousandyears and a great number of Byzantinecoins were minted. Because Christianitywas the religion of the empire the coins

have Christian symbols on them, andfrom 685 AD Christ often appears onthe obverse, and from 886 AD the VirginMary makes occasional appearances.Collectors of Byzantine coins need tohave the book, Byzantine Coins and

Hagia Sophia in Istanbul. Photo Marion Schneider & Christoph Aistleitner. Image Wikimedia Commons

Figure 1 – Map of the Byzantine Empire in 1025 AD when Constantine VIII became emperor. (Source: Wikimedia Commons with thanks to Cplakides)

their Values, by David Sear. Seriouscollectors needCatalogue of the ByzantineCoins in the Dumbarton Oaks Collectionand in the Whittemore Collection. It is infive volumes, but some volumes are intwo parts, so in total it consists of ninelarge books. At its greatest extent, when the em-peror was Justinian I (527-565 AD), theByzantine Empire included Italy, NorthAfrica and Egypt, but by the 11th centuryit had shrunk to only the boot of Italy,the Balkans, Greece and Anatolia. (Fig-ure 1 – map) Following the rise of Islamin the 7th century Muslim armies con-quered the Middle East, Egypt and NorthAfrica, but it was not till 1453 that Con-stantinople was taken and the ByzantineEmpire came to an end.Recently St John’s Cathedral in Bris-bane was able to acquire a very rare coinof the Byzantine emperor Romanus IIIArgyrus. (Figure 2) His surname was Arg-yrus which means ‘white’. We see himbeing crowned by the Virgin Mary on agold coin called a histamenon nomisma.(Figure 3) ‘Nomisma’ just means a coin,

but it was used especially for gold coins.In the tenth century gold coins weredivided into two denominations: thehistamenon, which meant ‘standard’ andthe smaller tetarteron, which meant‘quarter’ because it was lighter than thestandard by a quarter.Romanus succeeded Constantine VIIIin 1028 AD. Constantine had threedaughters but no sons, and just beforehe died he forced Romanus, the mayor ofConstantinople, to divorce his wife andmarry his middle daughter, Zoe. So Rom-anus became the emperor, and accordingto Psellus, who was a state official at thetime, imperial power went to his head.He wanted to be the equal of the greatemperors of the past and in 1030 hedecided, against the advice of his gener-als, to extend the empire in the east byinvading the territory of the Emir ofAleppo. (See map) He set out with a largearmy but to his surprise he was defeatedby the Emir’s forces, so he returned toConstantinople. Subsequently, however,one of his generals, George Maniakes,fought successfully in the region and in

1032 he was able to recover the city ofEdessa. (See map) Edessa had not beenpart of the Byzantine Empire since thereign of Heraclius in the 7th century. Back in Constantinople Romanus andZoe had come to hate each other. Accor-ding to John Norwich, the author ofByzantium: the Apogee, “She was furiouswith her husband. Her anger was dueprincipally to the fact that, from themoment he had given up hope of poster-ity, he had refused to share her bed andhad taken a mistress; indeed, he hadconceived so intense a dislike of her thathe could hardly bear to be in the sameroom.” It was at this time that John theOrphanotrophus (so-called because hewas director of the orphanage) saw anopportunity to promote his family. Hewas a eunuch who was influential in thebureaucracy, and he introduced hisbrother, Michael, to the imperial court.Michael was young and handsome, andfor Zoe it was love at first sight. Romanus was particularly devoted tothe Virgin Mary and he embarked on anambitious building project to erect anenormous church dedicated to the VirginPeribleptos (All-Seeing). It is very likelythat the icon known as the Virgin Hode-getria was housed in the church becausethe icon was also known as Peribleptos.It showed the Virgin Mary holding theChrist child on her left arm and gesturingtowards him with her right hand. Thename ‘Hodegetria’ means ‘she who pointsthe way’, but the name probably derivesfrom the Hodegon Monastery in Con-stantinople where the icon had previ-ously been housed and where monks ledblind pilgrims to a miraculous springwhich was said to be able to restore sight.The Church of the Virgin Peribleptos nolonger exists, nor does the icon, but manycopies were made of it, usually withonly the half-figure of Mary. (Figure 4)The original probably showed the full-figure of Mary, as on an ivory plaque fromthe 11th century (Figure 5), a metal plaquefrom the 12th century (Figure 6) and onthe coin in Figure 2. According to oneaccount, the Empress Eudocia, who hadretired to Jerusalem in 443 AD, sent theicon of the Virgin Hodegetria to theEmpress Pulcheria in Constantinople.It was a large icon requiring two men tocarry it, and the tradition was that SaintLuke painted it on the wooden table inthe house of the Holy Family in Nazareth.But the real story of its origin is probablyvery different because the image of themother and child is similar to that on thereverse of a small bronze coin issuedduring the period 337-340 by the sonsof Constantine the Great to honour hisstep-mother, Theodora. On the coin Pietasstands holding a child on her left armand she seems to be gesturing towardshim with her right hand. (Figure 7) There

Figure 2 – Silver miliaresion of Romanus III Argyrus (1028-1034 AD). It was minted at Constan-tinople in 1030. Romanus is on the reverse and the Virgin Hodegetria on the obverse. There aretraces of gilding. Sear 1822. (Collection of St John’s Cathedral, Brisbane)

Figure 3 – Gold histamenon nomisma of Romanus III minted at Constantinople. Christ is en-throned on the obverse, and on the reverse the Virgin crowns Romanus. The Greek legend onthe reverse means, “May the Virgin help Romanus.” At the top MΘ (with bars above to signifyabbreviation) means Mητηρ Θεου (Mother of God). Sear 1820. (ACR Auctions, Auction 15, Lot 840)

must be some connection between thiscoin and the icon of the Virgin Hodegetria.Mary and the Hodegetria icon werebelieved to protect the empire and theemperor, and according to Philip Grier-son, writing in Volume 3 of the Dumb-arton Oaks catalogue, “It was the custom,as early as the ninth century, for a gen-eral leaving on a campaign to visit theicon on the eve of his departure and prayfor success. When Romanus set out onhis unlucky Syrian campaign of 1030 hemust have performed such a ceremony,and in view of his peculiar temperamentand combination of interests it is highlylikely that he would have issued coinsto mark the occasion.” On the silver cointhat he issued the Greek legend (clearlyseen on the EF example in Figure 8)

continues from one side of the coin tothe other. It means, “O Virgin all-glorious,he who places his hope on thee will pros-per in all he does.” A major problem in the past has beenthat the emperor on the miliaresion isnot named, but it is now known that he isRomanus III. According to Philip Grier-son writing in Byzantine Coins, “Somecoins of the period are strikingly beaut-iful, notably that having on the obverse

the Virgin Hodegetria, with the infantJesus in her arms, and on the reverse thestanding figure of the emperor. Thesecoins, which are anonymous, were for-merly attributed to Romanus IV (1068-71), but since they were copied by Danishsilver pennies struck in the 1040s theyare better attributed to Romanus III(1028-34), who is known to have had anintense devotion to the Virgin.” Unfort-unately his intense devotion to the Virgin

Figure 6 – Gilded copper plaque showing theVirgin Hodegetria. It dates from the 12th cen-tury and was found in the loft of the Cathedralof Torcello in Venice. The Greek inscriptionreads, “Mother of God, strengthen thy servantPhilip the bishop.” (Wikimedia Commons)

Figure 4 – Icon of the Virgin Hodegetria paintedin Crete between 1570 and 1599. It is in the Ben-aki Museum in Athens. (Wikimedia Commons)

Figure 5 – Ivory plaque of the Virgin Hodegetria in the Catharijneconvent Museum. It is 25.6 cmstall and dates from the mid-10th to the 11th century. (Permission to use this image was kindlygranted by the Director of the Museum Catharijneconvent, Utrecht, The Netherlands.)

could not save him from the schemingmind of Zoe. Her passion for Michaelknew no bounds and only a few hoursafter Romanus died in a bath (Figure 9)she ordered the patriarch of Constan-tinople to consecrate her marriage toMichael. Psellus suspected that she hadpoisoned Romanus. Others thought shehad him strangled. The Virgin Hodegetria was the mostpopular of all the icons, but on coins theimage appears only on the miliaresionof Romanus III. The one acquired bySt John’s Cathedral is the only knownexample of this coin to have been gilded

and to have a suspension loop attached,but it is also unusual because it is wornand bent.

Why was it gilded?Obviously the ownermust have been wealthy to have a mil-iaresion in the first place, and to have itcoated with gold meant that it was ofparticular significance to him. As the iconof the Virgin Hodegetria was particu-larly associated with the military it wasprobably owned by a soldier, and obviouslya high-ranking one, perhaps a general.

Why does it have a suspension loop?The loop, which was also gilded, madethe coin into a pendant to hang aroundsomeone’s neck. People in those timeswere very superstitious and it is knownthat Byzantine soldiers wore pendantsas amulets to protect them in battle. Apopular saint to have on an amulet wasSt Theodore Stratelates (the general).He was a Roman soldier martyred forhis Christian faith in the 4th century. Anexample of such an amulet is shownin Figure 10. Some examples of themiliaresion have holes drilled in them

Figure 7 – Billon reduced centenionalis issued by the three sons of Constantine I to honourTheodora, the second wife of their grandfather, Constantius I. It is only 17 mms in diameter andwas minted at Trier (337-40 AD). Obverse: bust of Theodora. Reverse: woman with child and thelegend PIETAS ROMANA (Roman devotion). Sear 17502. On Byzantine coins people faced theviewer, not as on this coin. (Monnaies d’Antan, Mail Bid Sale 14, Lot183)

Figure 8 – Miliaresion of Romanus III. Romanus is wearing the loros, which was a long jewelledpiece of cloth that was wound around the body so that one end hung down in front and theother end was draped over the left arm. It represented Christ’s shroud. This coin sold forUS$15,000. (Stacks, The Golden Horn Collection, 12th Jan. 2009, Lot 3251)

Figure 9 – Miniature picture from the 12th cen-tury manuscript of the ‘Synopsis of Histories’by John Skylitzes, who was an 11th centuryhistorian. It shows two attendants lifting thedead body of Romanus out of the bath. (Wiki-media Commons)

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so that they can be suspended from theneck or attached to clothing (Figure 11),and on these coins the hole is placed sothat the Virgin Hodegetria stands up-right. On the gilded coin the Virgin wouldbe upside down! This indicates that thefocus was on Romanus himself. On thecoin he is shown wrapped in the loros

which indicated that he was Christ’srepresentative on earth. He probablygave it to someone as a special gift.

Why is it so worn? Perhaps it hungaround the person’s neck for a long time.If he was a military officer he probablywore a cuirass of leather or chain mail

which might have rubbed against it.Also if he was a high-ranking officer hewould have ridden on a horse, so therewould have been constant movement.

Why is it bent?When coins are bent itis not from natural causes. Even if a coinis buried in the ground for centuries itdoes not bend. Therefore a force of somesort must have been applied to the coin,and if it belonged to a soldier it couldhave been bent as a result of violenceduring a battle. Sadly it seems that thissoldier’s amulet did not save him. If this coin could talk it would tell afascinating story about people in the toplevel of Byzantine society. It would saythat the emperor himself gave it as aspecial gift to one of his generals beforehe set out on a military campaign. Thisgeneral was killed in battle and the prec-ious pendant was ripped from his deadbody. Whatever the true story this oddcoin certainly fires the imagination.

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Figure 10 – Amulet made of sardonyx showing St Theodore Stratelates in battle dress. It is 41 mmslong and was originally in a metal frame. It is in the Walters Art Museum. (Wikimedia Commons)

Figure 11 – Miliaresion of Romanus III with a hole in it. The border on these coins consists ofthree rings with pellets, which was similar to that on Abbasid dirhams from the 8th century.(Numismatica Ars Classica, Auction 52, Lot 705)

STARTING in 2017 The Mint of Fin-land will begin striking Denmark’s

coins.In 2014 Danmarks Nationalbankdecided to outsource production of allthe country’s banknotes and coins. Thereasons given were production costs andan anticipated decrease in the demandfor coins and banknotes. The tender forcoins was put out in mid-December 2015. The Mint of Finland won the contracton the grounds of being most economicalas well as offering the highest qualityand greatest security. The contract is forfour years.For Den Kongelige Mønt [The RoyalMint of Denmark] this is a historicchange. The institution dates back to theearly 16th century. For well over 500years it has been the only companyallowed to mint Danish coinage. Since 1975 the mint has been underthe control of Danmarks Nationalbank.The tender for banknotes is yet to be let.

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