coin of Etruscilla? 

Curator: Isn't it extraordinary? I find myself utterly captivated by this coin of Etruscilla, held here at the Harvard Art Museums. Editor: Time-worn and weighty. It evokes a sense of history pressing down. There’s also a kind of intimacy here, like holding someone's story in the palm of your hand. Curator: Indeed. It offers us a glimpse into Etruscilla's world, a woman whose presence likely resonated powerfully despite the patriarchal constraints of her time. Editor: Exactly. As a woman in power, even through her husband’s position, her likeness and name being circulated like this speaks volumes about the construction and performance of imperial femininity and authority. Curator: To ponder the hands it has passed through, the transactions it facilitated – it's like a little capsule of a bygone era. I feel a profound connection. Editor: And to think of who was excluded from these transactions, whose labor supported the economy represented on this coin...it complicates that connection, doesn’t it? Curator: Yes, the coin holds multiple narratives, seen and unseen. A pocket-sized portal to contemplate. Editor: A reminder that history isn't just about the powerful but about the silenced as well. Perhaps that’s what its weight really signifies.