Follis of Constantine I, Trier 310 - 313

Curator: Isn't it wild how objects like this little bronze follis, minted during the reign of Constantine I, can survive millennia? It's like a whisper from Trier's past. Editor: It's more of a shout, actually. It's like holding power, dominance, and control in your palm. You can feel the weight of history and also its fragility. Curator: Exactly! The portrait on one side, so meticulously rendered, hints at the deification of emperors, while the other side depicting a deity in full stance is a representation of the empire's ideals of that time, almost comical when you think about it. Editor: Comical, maybe, but it also speaks to the visual strategies empires employ to legitimize their power. It’s about making authority tangible, accessible, and seemingly immutable. Curator: It's amazing to think this coin was handled, traded, maybe even lost and found again. It makes you wonder about the stories it could tell. Editor: Yes, and whose labor produced the metal and imprinted these images? This coin is an incomplete narrative unless we think critically about who it represents and who it silences.