Željko Demo: The rhetoric of holy images on the silver coinage of Sirmium - 2022

[Vel Saties]

Željko Demo: Retorika svetih slika na srebrnom novcu Sirmija (numizmatika u arheologiji i vice versa) // The rhetoric of holy images on the silver coinage of Sirmium (Numismatic archaeology or vice versa), Asseria 15-16 (2019-2020), Zadar 2022, 277-334. [cro // eng] - pre-press version

A group of silver Early Byzantine coins of the second half of the 6th century poorly known in archaeological (but not numismatic) circles is characterized by an obverse depiction of a winged bust (en face) with an aureole around the head, and a reverse depiction of a large cross with a semicircle (aureole or a domed arch / ciborium, tabernacle, canopy) and a circle at the base (the head of Adam or the grave of Christ), and a small cross on each side. The unnamed winged bust on the obverse is surrounded by a border of beads, and the group of three crosses on the reverse with a wreath of stylized pinebranches. The described coins are unique and without any analogies in the minting production of the period to which they belong. The winged bust on the obverse was long ago recognized as the figure of an angel, first unnamed, and later identified as the Archangel Michael, while the image of the three crosses on the reverse was first considered to represent the monogram of the Lombard King Cleph, and only lately as a highly simplified depiction of the scene of the Crucifixion of Christ on Golgotha/Calvary. The Christianization of the obverse and reverse points to the powerful “non-monetary” character of the coinage of the Angel/Golgotha type (also cited according to the first sites of discovery: the Kranj-Rifnik group), while the apotropaic quality of these images predisposed them to be used for phylacteric and amuletic purposes as well. Hence it is likely that the Angel/Golgotha coin type was minted in specific circumstances and for the needs of a local community, depicting on one side the Archangel Michael, the leader of the heavenly army, the protector of Byzantium and the emperor in Constantinople (Angel – obverse), and emphasizing, on the other hand, the triumph of Christ over death in the dogmatic sense (Golgotha – reverse). The numismatic characteristics of this coinage and its basic features are congruent with the Gepid coinage of the Sirmium mint minted during the reign of their King Cunimund (ca. 560 – 567), and the first years of the reign of the Byzantine Emperor Justin II (565 – 578). In that period, the year 567 was particularly important for Byzantium and the local Gepid-Romanic community in Pannonia Sirmiensis, when promptly after the Gepid collapse in the war against the Lombards, the Byzantine army captured Sirmium, and after almost 80 years was once again in charge of the city. Immediately afterwards, in the spring of 568, the Byzantine military commander....

https://www.academia.edu/77588274/Retorika_svetih_slika_na_srebrnom_novcu_Sirmija_numizmatika_u_arheologiji_i_vice_versa_The_rhetoric_of_holy_images_on_the_silver_coinage_of_Sirmium_Numismatic_archaeology_or_vice_versa_Asseria_15_16_2019_2020_Zadar_2022_277_334_cro_eng_pre_press_version