Coin of Constantine VII c. 914 - 919

Curator: Here we have a Coin of Constantine VII, housed here at the Harvard Art Museums. Editor: It looks incredibly worn, almost smooth in places. You can still make out some figures, but the details are really softened by age and handling. It weighs just over five grams. Curator: These coins offer valuable insights into the Byzantine Empire’s visual culture. The iconography, the very act of minting—it all speaks to imperial power and legitimacy. Editor: And the material itself speaks of trade routes, the availability of resources, and the skilled labor required to produce these objects. It is not just the imagery, but the copper alloy which supported Constantine's reign. Curator: Exactly. Coins were powerful tools for projecting authority. Their distribution had profound political and economic implications. Editor: Looking at the level of wear, I wonder how many hands this particular coin passed through, how many transactions it facilitated, how far it travelled. Curator: A tiny object with a monumental story. Editor: Precisely! A humble coin embodying an empire’s vast network of labor and exchange.