Coin (AE3/4) of Honorius, Cyzicus c. 4th century

Editor: Here we have a coin, an AE3/4 of Honorius, minted in Cyzicus. It feels like a tangible connection to a distant past. What can we learn from it? Curator: This coin embodies power and empire, but also its fragility. Honorius ruled a crumbling Western Roman Empire. The very act of minting this coin was a political statement, a claim to authority amidst instability. Editor: So, it's more than just currency; it’s propaganda? Curator: Precisely! Consider the iconography - whose image is struck here, what messages were circulated through such mass production? Coins allow us to trace how power and identity were negotiated. The metal itself even tells us about resource extraction. Editor: I see how much it reveals. It gives a voice to a past that still shapes us. Curator: Indeed, it prompts us to question whose stories are told and whose are left out of the historical narrative.