Coin of Justinian I c. 538 - 542

Curator: This is a coin of Justinian I, housed here at the Harvard Art Museums. Editor: It looks like something you’d find at the bottom of the ocean, all encrusted and mysterious. Gives you a real sense of history. Curator: The coin is a fascinating object. Its materiality—the worn metal, the faded imagery—speaks volumes about power and its endurance through symbolic representation. Editor: I wonder what hands this little thing passed through? Did some merchant drop it, cursing, into the marketplace dust? Curator: The iconography of Justinian, carefully etched into the coin's surface, was a deliberate attempt to project imperial authority and divine legitimacy. Editor: Makes you think about what we imprint on our money today, doesn't it? What stories will our coins tell centuries from now? Curator: Precisely. It's a small object, but it encapsulates complex ideas about rule, image-making, and value. Editor: It's like holding a tiny, tarnished mirror to a vanished world. Wonderful.