Coin of Herakleios c. 639 - 641

Editor: This is a gold coin, the Coin of Herakleios, struck by Abd-al-Malik of the Umayyads. It's fascinating how such a small object can carry so much history. What do you see when you look at this coin? Curator: I see a direct record of cultural appropriation and material transformation. The coin's gold content speaks to trade networks and resource extraction. The imagery, clearly mimicking Byzantine coinage, points to a deliberate manipulation of visual language for economic and political power. Editor: So, the value isn't just monetary, but also symbolic? Curator: Precisely. The coin embodies a struggle over resources and representation, where materiality and imagery become tools in asserting dominance and establishing a new cultural order. Editor: I never thought of it that way. I guess I was focusing on the image of the coin, instead of what it represents as a whole.