Coin with Herakleios and his son
Type:
Coins
Date:
ca. 616–25
Location or Findspot (Modern-Day Country):
Turkey
Medium:
Gold
Dimensions:
2 cm
Description:
This nomisma or solidus (basic gold coin of 24 karats) of the Byzantine emperor Herakleios (r. 610–41), with his distinctive heavy mustache, shows him with his young heir, Herakleios Constantine (or Constantine III, who reigned for four months in 641). On the reverse is a cross elevated on four steps. Coins such as this one inspired contemporary and later Islamic coins, such as those of 'Abd al-Malik, the fifth Umayyad caliph (r. 685–705), whose coins removed the horizontal bar of the cross and transformed it into a staff topped with a globe.
Relevant Textbook Chapter(s):
4
Repository and Online Resources:
• View the collection of Byzantine emperors' coins at Dumbarton Oaks.
