The numismatic iconography of the period of iconomachy (610-867)

Vrij, Maria Chantal (2018). The numismatic iconography of the period of iconomachy (610-867). University of Birmingham. Ph.D.

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Abstract

This thesis considers the use of numismatic imagery in the Byzantine Empire during the period 610-867, with its main focus centred in the period 685-842.

Though charting the iconographic trends and changes on the coinage of the period and the possible reasons behind them is the principal raison d’être of the thesis, it also tackles methodological issues such as the use and abuse of dies studies and ways of determining who decided what images appeared on coins. The main body of the text is arranged chronologically with the methodological issues appearing throughout. Exceptions to this format are the first chapter, which considers the economic context of coin circulation in the period and the gold purity of the coins of the period, and the third chapter, which considers the production at the mint of Cherson, which produced anonymous coins not identifiable by date, but still part of the context.

Finally, the thesis contains two appendices, the first paper appendix presents a catalogue of the coins held at the Barber Institute of Fine Arts for the period 685-842, and the second CD-ROM appendix presents the data from the All That Glitters… project, testing the purity of Byzantine gold coins with x-ray fluorescence.

Type of Work:

Thesis (Doctorates > Ph.D.)

Award Type:

Doctorates > Ph.D.

Supervisor(s):