Coin (AE3) of Constantine I, Antioch 330 - 333

Curator: Here we have a coin, specifically an AE3 of Constantine I, minted in Antioch. Editor: It has such an aged, almost spectral quality. The verdigris gives it a ghostly hue. Curator: Indeed, the material's transformation speaks volumes about time, trade, and the very hands it passed through. Copper alloy as a means of exchange, power made tangible. Editor: And look at the imagery. Constantine's profile, eternally facing right, suggests ambition, direction. On the reverse, figures stand, perhaps representing the army's strength or the emperor's virtues? Curator: The imagery was carefully chosen, a means to communicate power and imperial ideology to the masses. The manufacturing would have been a complex system of labour. Editor: It’s amazing how a single object carries so much. Each coin was a little monument, imbued with the aura of empire. Curator: Precisely, it's a fragment of history, its materiality deeply intertwined with its message. Editor: It leaves me thinking about the layers of meaning embedded in even the smallest artifacts.