The Metropolitan Museum of Art - Gold Solidus of Justinian I (527

Art Object

Byzantium and Islam: Age of Transition

Examine aspects of images used by the Christian, Jewish, and emerging Muslim communities in the Byzantine Empire. Concludes with music that connects the three faiths.

Presented in conjunction with the exhibition Byzantium and Islam: Age of Transition, on view March 14 through July 8, 2012 at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
http://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/listings/2012/byzantium-and-islam

The Icons of Sinai: Continuity at a Time of Controversy
Hieromonk Justin of Sinai

Jews and Samaritans in an Age of Transition
Steven Fine, professor of Jewish History, Yeshiva University, and Director, Yeshiva University Center for Israel Studies

Panel Discussion
Moderated by Helen C. Evans, Mary and Michael Jaharis Curator of Byzantine Art, Department of Medieval Art and The Cloisters, MMA

Performance
Music between East and West: Continuity and Change
Alan Gampel, pianist and musicologist Clive Greensmith, cellist

This Sunday at the Met is made possible by Coexist Foundation.
Major support for the exhibition has been provided by Mary and Michael Jaharis The Stavros Niarchos Foundation The Hagop Kevorkian Fund.
Additional support has been provided by the National Endowment for the Arts.
The exhibition is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.

Images (2)

Gold Solidus of Justinian I (527–65)

Date:: 538–565
Geography:: Made in Constantinople
Culture:: Early Byzantine
Medium:: Gold
Dimensions:: Overall: 3/4 x 1/16 in. (1.9 x 0.1 cm)
Classification:: Coins
Credit Line:: Bequest of Joseph H. Durkee, 1898
Accession Number:: 99.35.7406

This artwork is currently on display in Gallery 301

Description

Justinian in 539 was the first Byzantine emperor to adopt a completely frontal portrait, the imperial standard pose for the rest of Byzantine history.

Coins connected an emperor to his subjects. He paid the army in coins, received taxes in coins, and was responsible for maintaining their weight and purity. These coins of early Byzantine emperors conveyed imperial ideals through inscriptions and images.
See also
What
Metal (59,587)

Gold (12,483)

Money (1,662)

Coins (1,631)

Solidi (42)
Where
Asia (68,257)

Turkey (1,723)

Marmara (242)

Istanbul (103)
When
A.D. 500-1000 (6,676)
In the Museum
Medieval Art (6,712)
Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History
Balkan Peninsula, 500–1000 A.D.