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Following Constantine’s consecration of the city in 330 CE, Constantinople reigned for more than a millennium as the economic and cultural center of the Western world. Through the city’s ports and counting houses, the streets pulsed with vast quantities of silver and gold, which was mined from the farthest reaches of the empire. The metals were accumulated by bartering with visiting traders and taken from conquered enemies. Coinage underwent significant changes throughout the period, starting recognizably as Romanic in form, and ending with an entirely new set of denominations. Motifs and physical forms also were transformed in the early medieval period.
The Tyrant Collection chronicles this remarkable period with superb examples of the aureii, solidi, and hyperpyra. These coins serve as the ultimate artistic relics of their issuers and the times in which they commanded humanity’s greatest urban marvel. PCGS has certified a selection of these remarkably well preserved pieces to be displayed at the American Numismatic Association World’s Fair of Money in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. A few appetizing selections are presented herein to illustrate innovations in portraiture, religious iconography, and planchet style over the course of this period.
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The Byzantine Empire reached its greatest territorial extent during the nearly four-decade reign of Justinian I (527-565). The newly conquered lands of Africa and Italy added mints at Carthage, Rome, and Ravenna to supplement already extant operations in Constantinople, Nicomedia, and other central locales. His ambitious administrative and architectural reforms would leave us with the Corpus Juris Civilis (which went on to form much of the foundation of European civil law) and the Hagia Sophia, the quintessence of Byzantine architecture, which to this day remains one of the world’s most visited historic sites.
Numismatically, Justinian transformed obverse empirical portraits from profile to front-facing on his gold solidi and copper folles. He moved the symbol of the cross from the back of the coins to the front, emphasizing the inextricable bind of empirical and ecclesiastical power. Along with his empress Theodora, Justinian maintained an energetic interest in the proliferating religious debates of the empire, several of which would leave their mark on its coinage.
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The veneration of religious icons was widespread and, at various points, highly controversial during the middle period of the empire. A dramatic stylistic change was visited upon Byzantine coinage by Justinian II (no relation to his cognominal predecessor), who placed an image of Christ on the obverse of solidi for the first time. The coinage would alternate between this style and that of traditional imperial portraiture over the succeeding two and a half centuries as the iconoclast debate played out and Christian imagery again became the norm. Surviving pieces from these turbulent, early years are highly coveted today for their beauty and historic significance to the church.
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Economic turmoil in the 11th century transformed the Byzantine monetary system, and the gold solidus was replaced by the scyphate (cup-shaped) hyperpyron. Divisions between the Constantinopolitan elite and military rulers of the provinces led to a deterioration of territorial security in later years. This culminated into a devastating capture and destruction of the city by the Crusaders in 1204. Though the empire was restored by Michael VIII in 1261, the 13th and 14th centuries saw continued struggle and decline of Constantinople eventually fell to Mehmed II in 1453 which ushered in an era of Ottoman rule.
For more than a thousand years, the Byzantine Empire carried on the civilizational triumph that had been Rome. Today, the remarkable coinage of Constantine, Justinian, Michael, and their peers survives as a means to connect us to and teach us about this extraordinary period bridging the ancient and medieval worlds. We are thrilled to have had the privilege of certifying many of the exemplary pieces in the Tyrant Collection, and we invite you to see them in person at the World’s Fair of Money this August.