The Lattice Pattern on Late Byzantine Coin Issues

Symbols function as schematic pictorial forms and synoptic versions of concepts, facilitating the transmission of beliefs and messages through mass communication in societies over the ages. Quite often, with the passage of time, the loss of context leads to the lack of an appropriate meaning for a particular symbol, which was entirely understandable within the society that gave birth to it. Such may be the case with the so-called “lattice pattern,” depicted on specific late Byzantine coin issues (13th–15th centuries). This “lattice pattern,” described on occasion as “four interlaced bands” in the bibliography, appears on quite rare coins of John III Doukas Vatatzes, of Andronikos II Palaiologos and (possibly) of Manuel II Palaiologos. The aforementioned iconographical device is also used on other artifacts and objects dated in this period (manuscripts, icons, murals, mosaics, sculptures, liturgical vestments, pottery, etc.). One question revolves around the orientation of the symbol; the diagonal placement of the pattern, like a rhomboid shape, emerges as the rule, while an arrangement similar to the modern symbol of hash may be debatable. Under the conviction that this is not a random decorative element but a consciously selected motif, the proposed essay aspires to present a new interpretation through the thorough analysis of the typology and the connotations likely to be associated with this peculiar theme.