Byzantine Empresses on Coins in the Early Byzantine Period (565– 610):
Byzantine Empresses on Coins in the Early Byzantine Period (565– 610):

a Survey of the Problems of Interpretation and Identification

Summary/Abstract: The focus of this article is the possible interpretations and problems related to the study of empresses’ fi gures on some Byzantine coins struck in the period between 565 and 610. This paper partly aims to address the use of coins as a visual medium for promoting specifi c messages. The paper will examine the empresses on coins struck in the period between the beginning of the Justin II’s reign (565) up to the reign of Phocas (602 – 610), surveying the various problems and hypotheses related to the identifi cation. Consorts of all the emperors from the period under study appeared on coins, but each case represents specifi c problems, to which various approaches can be applied for interpretation. Τhere are many contradictory opinions and hypotheses that make it diffi cult to express a consensus regarding the “phenomenon” of female fi gures’ depictions on 6th century coins.

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