Byzantine Empire9 records
Imperial portraiture, Christian imagery, mint systems and dynastic authority in Byzantine gold.
Latest The Hyperpyron: Alexius I and a Reformed Gold CurrencyExplore context ⟶The Ancient Gold Journal
Stories Struck in Gold
Essays on coinage, rulers, sacred imagery and the responsibility of collecting objects that have survived history.
Collection Discovery
Browse the catalogue by context
Follow themes across the Journal, from imperial imagery and mint practice to provenance and responsible collecting.
Coin Histories7 records
Object-led studies of legends, denominations, iconography and the evidence carried by individual coins.
Latest Electrum at the Beginning of CoinageExplore context ⟶Roman Empire4 records
Power, ceremony and visual language across the gold coinage of imperial Rome.
Latest Koson Gold and the Memory of the Roman RepublicExplore context ⟶Collecting3 records
Practical scholarship on provenance, condition, grading and responsible stewardship.
Latest How Ancient Gold Records ProvenanceExplore context ⟶
Featured Essay
Constantine’s Solidus: An Imperial First
How a stable gold denomination became an enduring language of imperial authority.
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From the Collection
Latest Essays
Coin Histories
How to Read an Ancient Gold Coin
A practical, object-led method for reading portraits, legends, fields, mint marks and physical evidence without outrunning the record.
8 min readRead
Byzantine Empire
Mothers, Sons and Co-rule in Byzantine Gold
Byzantine gold turned family hierarchy into public government through placement, scale, regalia and the division of the two faces.
8 min readRead
Coin Histories
Reading Imperial Portraiture in Gold
Diadems, armour, frontal faces and sacred companions turned tiny gold portraits into a grammar of imperial office.
8 min readRead
Coin Histories
The Gold Solidus and Its Weight Standard
The solidus was defined by a historical target of seventy-two to the Roman pound, while every surviving coin has its own measurable history.
7 min readRead
Roman Empire
Vows, VOTA and Imperial Time
VOTA inscriptions translate promised anniversaries into public statements of continuity, legitimacy and hoped-for future rule.
6 min readRead
Byzantine Empire
What CONOB Means on Byzantine Gold
CONOB is a compact late Roman and Byzantine mint formula: Constantinople plus a claim of refined gold, not a decorative signature.
7 min readRead
Byzantine Empire
Irene and Constantine VI: Authority Divided in Gold
A rare Constantinopolitan solidus places Irene before her son, turning a restored partnership into a carefully ordered image of authority.
8 min readRead
Byzantine Empire
Isaac II Angelos: Empire and Archangel on the Hyperpyron
The first-reign hyperpyron of Isaac II makes celestial protection visible at the troubled end of the Komnenian political order.
8 min readRead
Roman Empire
Arcadius in Gold: Concordia and the Imperial Capital
The solidus of Arcadius turns dynastic succession, civic personification and the vows of rule into a compact language of concord.
7 min readRead