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Class C follis, sb1825, attributed to Michael IV, 1034-1041 CE
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Obverse: EMMANOVHA - Three -quarter length of Christ Antiphonetes standing facing, wearing nimbus cr. pallium and colobium, raising rt hand in benediction in L. hand book of Gospels, in field to L., IC barred, to r., XC barred.
Reverse: IC-XC/ NI-KA - Jewelled cross with pellet at each end divides inscription into four equal parts, IC--XC/NI--KA
Mint: Contantinople
Date: 1034-1041 CE
25mm, 6.06g
SB 1825 Class C follis
The Obverse is Christ as Antiphonetes, "the guarantor." A famous icon of Christ was so named because, according to a miracle story, it had been held as loan collateral by a creditor. The Byzantine empress Zoë (r. 1028–50) had coins struck with the Antiphonetes image and kept an icon of the type close at hand. "I myself have often seen her, in moments of great distress, clasp the sacred object in her hands, contemplate it, talk to it as if it were indeed alive, and address it with one sweet term of endearment after another," wrote court historian Michael Psellos (1018–ca. 1081).
Source: Icon with Christ Antiphonetes [Byzantine] (1979.217) | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History | The Metropolitan Museum of Art
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