From the Harvard Art Museums’ collections Histamenon of John I with the Meter Theou

Identification and Creation

Object Number: 1951.31.4.1413
People: John I Tzimiskes, Byzantine (r. 969 - 976)
Title: Histamenon of John I with the Meter Theou
Classification: Coins
Work Type: coin
Date: 969-976 CE
Places: Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Europe, Constantinople (Thrace)
Period: Byzantine period, Middle
Culture: Byzantine
Persistent Link: https://hvrd.art/o/165222

Physical Descriptions

Medium

Gold

Metal

Technique

Struck

Dimensions

4.39 g

Denomination

histameron

Inscriptions and Marks

Obverse Inscription: +IhSXISREXREGNLambdaNTInM
Reverse Inscription: +ThetaEOTOC BOHTheta'IWDeltaESP. To r., MTheta

State, Edition, Standard Reference Number

Standard Reference Number: DOC 3.2, 2.1 (p. 593)

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line: Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of Thomas Whittemore
Accession Year: 1951
Object Number: 1951.31.4.1413
Division: Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact: am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu; The Harvard Art Museums encourage the use of images found on this website for personal, noncommercial use, including educational and scholarly purposes. To request a higher resolution file of this image, please submit an online request.

Descriptions

Description: Obv.: Bust of Christ Pantocrator (Type VIIIb), bearded, with cross nimbus having 2 pellets in lower arms, 1 in upper, wearing tunic and himation; r. arm raised in blessing in sling of claok, l. clasps book to breast.

Rev.: To l., bust of John facing, bearded, wearing modified loros and crown with cross and pendilia, holding in l. hand, plain cross. To r., bust of the Virgin facing, nimbate, wearing mantle and maphorion, touching emperor's crown with her r. hand. Above, Manus Dei.

reverse die axis 7 o'clock

Publication History

Alfred R. Bellinger, ed., Catalogue of Byzantine Coins in the Dumbarton Oaks Collection and in the Whittemore Collection, Dumbarton Oaks Research Library & Collection (Washington, D.C, 1992), vol. 3, part 2, 593, cat. 2.1

Ioli Kalavrezou, Byzantine Women and Their World, exh. cat., Harvard University Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 2003), p. 128/figs. 58a, 58b

Exhibition History

Byzantine Women and Their World, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 10/25/2002 - 04/28/2003

This record was created from historic documentation and may not have been reviewed by a curator; it may be inaccurate or incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art at am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu