Its significance in coinage issues
After
Constantine I converted to Christianity, the Byzantines suddenly had a leadership
problem. Unlike the Roman Empire that was expiring, they had to "sell" the
concept of emperor as God from the start, as Christianity alone makes no
provision for that establishment. Through a complicated series of liturgical and
political modifications, they had to modify Christianity to accommodate their
desire to retain the empirical political structures of the old Roman Empire. The
emperor was not simply appointed by God, he was the co-regent with Christ on
earth. It proved an effective strategy. The Byzantine government was to be
operated as an empirical Theocracy.
The old
pagan system had plenty of gods, goddesses, and personifications that the
people could attach their beliefs to. The natural
world provided all kinds "signs" that were explained as evidence of the
existence of these gods. Everything from
lighting to sunshine, wind, thunder…everything was a sign from one of the
gods. Now that Christianity was
introduced on a large scale by the emperor, Christianity had a problem. The old pagan system was supported by
thousands of images of their gods repeated over and over through the centuries
which had the effect of cementing the pagan culture together. These images gave
the pagans tangible things to latch on to.
Christianity
being a relatively new concept to most pagans in the empire, really had only
one symbol, a cross. This one symbol was
not sufficient to convey the message of Byzantine-style Christianity to the
masses, so the Byzantines began to create all kinds of new religious pictures
or iconography to lend support to Christianity, and more importantly, to reinforce
the notion of the emperor as co-Deity.
None of
these icons were more important than that of Christ up to the 5th
century when the Virgin Mary was declared "Mother of God." It is Important to
note that they "put their money where their mouth was" so to speak. To prove to
all without a doubt as to how significant these images were, they had to be
adorned just as their emperor was—with gold, silver, and precious cut stones. The common people made or bought painted
wooden pictures of the Image of Christ, the Virgin Mary, or the Saints. These
people would later be known as Iconodules. If one was too poor to buy an icon
for their own, they did not have to worry—icons soon appeared on the coinage as
well, from the lowly follis to the gleaming solidus.
The
glittering religious relics and icons were intended to impress foreign nations
as well. The Byzantines assisted in the
construction of a smaller version of St. Sophia in Kiev, for example. Byzantine artisans adorned it with many icons
of the saints and designed for it the same type of mosaics found in
Constantinople. It was hoped that this might pacify the potentially envious leadership
in Kiev, but also served the empirical goal of illustrating the dominance of
the emperor over all other earthly kings.
Iconography
of Christ and the Virgin Mary
Gilt icons
of Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary were found all over Constantinople. They were so important than men sometimes died
protecting them during an attack. Some
of these icons were even carried into battle where the purpose was clearly to
strike fear into the enemy. What army
would dare to fight against God and his co-regent emperor? These images truly terrified whole armies—you
might say they literally "put the fear of God" into them.
This also
illustrates the dramatic difference in how the Byzantines presented their
version of Christ versus the Christians of the west. In Constantinople, Christ
is always presented as the King of Kings, often enthroned, always in vibrant
color, and all-powerful. Never was Christ portrayed as He was in the west—suffering
and dying on the cross. In fact, Byzantine
crosses were most often presented bare, as in the case of the solidus and
hexagram coinage in particular.
Byzantines
might imagine that their army carrying a crucifix image (of Christ suffering) into
battle might not have the same effect. For
the Byzantines, Christ HAD to be presented as the living, all-powerful
co-regent to legitimize their own emperor, and this is precisely why we see
these images repeated over and over throughout Byzantium. Christ is found on
their coinage issues and throughout their mosaics and art.
The most affordable
of these coinage issues are bronze coins called "Anonymous Folles" which were
produced from the period of John I (969-976 A.D.) to Alexius I (1081-1118
A.D.). They are "Anonymous" because they show the image of Christ on the
obverse instead of the emperor. On the reverse there may be a large cross or a
multi-line inscription such as, "IhSuS / XRISTuS / bASILEu / bASILE" ("Jesus
Christ King of Kings"), or "IC-XC / NI-KA" ("May Jesus Christ
Conquer").. These are the largest coins for the period as well, issues
mostly running from 21mm to 32mm. The folles are divided up into 12 different
classes (A1 through K) which denote their specific type.
The image of
Christ appears on other bronze coinage issues which also shows the
emperors;
FOLLES: Constantine
X, Constantine X & Eudocia 1059, 1068AD Romanus IV 1068, Nicephorus III 1078,
TETARTERON: Manuel I 1143.
There is an excellent
article on Christian images on coinage listed in this forum by Zach Margulies
located HERE
Also
important for us to understand today is that these images of Christ, the
Virgin, and Saints, called "icons" were not merely pretty pictures. Many people at the time believed that these
images were actually active participants in their lives and worship. This is
why iconoclasm created such a division.
Eliminating the icons was like taking away a person 's personal
relationship with someone connected to the Deity. (A full discussion of
iconoclasm is beyond the scope of this work, but see further recommended
reading texts at the end.)
Because
these images were "participatory" in the liturgy, it is not surprising to learn
that while Constantinople was under siege before it fell in May, 1453, the
Patriarch and his staff would parade these images around the walls of the city
every day while in prayer for deliverance.
Iconography
of the Cross
As
previously mentioned, the image of the Holy Cross was not the same as the Cross
used in the western territories. In Byzantium, the Cross was almost always
presented bare. The gold and silver coinage bear a Cross usually presented on three
steps. The Cross is seen on the emperor 's
crown, as a globus cruciger held by the emperor, and also appears at the top of
the emperor 's staff at times. We often
see the Cross placed on coinage on steps and in exergue. The image of the Cross was a powerful one for
the Byzantines, and Christians might say, the original, symbol of
Christianity. It 's unmistakable.
The
Byzantines recovered the True Cross from Jerusalem and brought it to
Constantinople, so every image of the Cross repeated in their coinage and
iconography was a visual reference to what they saw every day in the city. For others, a constant reminder of their
emperor.
Far away
from the capitol, coinage carried the message of Byzantine Christianity across
the Mediterranean and well into foreign territories via many trade routes. People
might be thousands of miles from Constantinople and know with a glance that the
coinage they carried was Byzantine empirical issue, either from the capitol
itself or any one of the numerous branch mints. And always comforted with a
miniature icon they could easily hide away.
Dan R.
References:
Books:
John Julius
Norwich "A Short History of Byzantium"
Helen C.
Evans. "The Glory of Byzantium: Art and Culture of the Middle Byzantine Era,
A.D. 843-1261"
Christa
Schug-Wille. "Art of the Byzantine World"
Philip
Grierson "Byzantine Coinage" (Dumbarton Oaks Byzantine Collection Publications)
January 31, 1999
P.D.
Whitting. "Byzantine Coins"
Video
John Romer "Byzantium:
The Lost Empire" (DVD) The Discovery Channel.
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