Aspron Trachy Nomisma of Manuel I, Constantinople c. mid 12th century

Curator: This is an Aspron Trachy Nomisma, essentially a Byzantine coin, created under Manuel I in Constantinople. It now resides in the Harvard Art Museums. It seems small. Editor: Small, yes, but also monumental! Look at the wear, the patina, the very touch of history etched into its surface. It speaks of trade, power, and the human desire for exchange. Curator: Absolutely. Its material composition – the alloy, the specific weight – reveals much about the economic and social conditions of the time, the control over resources. Editor: And who controlled those resources? Who benefited from its circulation? This coin embodies the politics of its era, the empire's reach, the everyday lives it impacted. Curator: Indeed. Considering the labor involved in its creation—mining, smelting, striking—it offers a tangible link to the workers who shaped Byzantine society. Editor: Its very existence forces us to consider the power structures and the cultural narratives it both reinforced and challenged. It is an emblem of a world we can only glimpse now. Curator: It is a material object but also a conduit into history. Editor: A story waiting to be told.