Anonymous Commemorative Issue, Alexandria 333 - 337

Curator: This is an interesting artifact: an Anonymous Commemorative Issue from Alexandria depicting Constantine I. It weighs only 2.59 grams. Editor: It's so small, but immediately striking. I see a figure in profile, seemingly a ruler wearing a helmet, but it feels worn, doesn't it? Curator: The wear speaks to its function and material reality. It was handled, traded, circulated—a tool of economic and political power, a propaganda piece almost. Editor: Precisely. And flipping it over, we see Romulus and Remus suckling from the she-wolf, a potent symbol loaded with ideas of origins and legitimacy, not just for Rome, but also for Constantine. Curator: The coin itself, its production and distribution, served as a constant reminder of Constantine’s authority. Editor: Absolutely, it's about the narratives that it embodies and perpetuates. Thank you for illuminating the context and craft behind such a tiny, but weighty object. Curator: My pleasure. It's a great reminder to consider the hands and machines that make such things.