Coin of Constantine X c. 1059 - 1067

Curator: This is a gold coin issued during the reign of Constantine X, a Byzantine emperor. It's currently held in the collections of the Harvard Art Museums. Editor: Immediately, the gold speaks to me – not just its monetary value, but the skilled labor poured into crafting this tiny, portable symbol of power. Curator: Indeed. The imagery is potent. On one side, we see the Virgin Mary, a powerful intercessor and protector, while the other depicts Constantine himself, asserting his divinely ordained authority. Editor: I wonder about the hands that struck this coin. About the access to the gold material, the tools, the economic forces. It collapses grand narratives of emperors and religions into the scale of labor. Curator: And yet, these symbols shaped belief and legitimacy for centuries. This coin isn't just metal; it’s a concentrated dose of ideology, passed from hand to hand. Editor: It reminds us that even power relies on the very tangible resources of this world and the laboring bodies who transform them.