In the sixth century, East Roman emperors were predominantly depicted on coinage adorned in a cuirass and a military mantel, an iconographic choice that was not unexpected, given the substantial quantity of coins that was allocated for the remuneration of troops or military-related expenditures. Indeed, defence spending featured prominently in the economy of the East…
A kouratoreia (κουρατωρεία), known also as kouratorikion, was a fiscal term used from the second half of the sixth century to designate a distinct form of imperial property. From this period up to the eleventh century, the kouratoreiai were the crown lands of the Byzantine empire, exploited directly from the state to cover the needs…
Broken and cut fragments of copper, retrograde and blundered legends, rulers without heads. This is all that one sees when looking at the so-called “imitative” coins of the 13th century. These fragmentary pieces of metal are but a shadow of the aesthetic beauty of the gold coinage of the Komnenian dynasty that ruled Byzantium for…
Gold solidi, lead seals, silver plate: metal objects are some of the most recognisable products of the sixth-century Byzantine state, often directly connected to the patterns of administration, fiscality, and ideation that defined the empire. While much attention has been devoted to the objects themselves, we know relatively little about the spaces and communities that…