Gold Solidus of Justin I, 4.48 g.
Title
Gold Solidus of Justin I, 4.48 g.
Creator
Justin I
Date
518-527 CE
Description
Obverse: Helmeted bust of Justin I three-quarter facing right, holding spear behind head in right hand; shield with attacking horseman on left shoulder; D(OMINVS) N(OSTER) IVSTINVS P(ER)P(ETVVS) AVC(VSTVS): Our lord Justin, perpetual Augustus.
Reverse: Standing angel facing, holding globus cruciger in left hand and staff with cross in right; eight-pointed star in right field; VICTORIA AVCCC (AVGVSTORVM abbreviated) S: Victory of the Augusti, officina mark S; in exergue, CONOB: gold of Constantinople.
Style/Period: Byzantine
Of peasant origin, Justin I rose through the ranks of the military and was proclaimed emperor by the army in 518 CE. A man of little learning, in matters of policy he is thought to have relied upon the advice of his nephew, Justinian I. He made an alliance with the papacy in Rome and restored religious orthodoxy in the East in the wake of his predecessor's unpopular Monophysitism or belief in the unity of the divine and human natures of Christ.
The obverse depicts Justin in the stylized portrait type established by his predecessor, Anastasius I (see 91.268). On the reverse, however, Justin introduced a new type. In place of the profile Victoria commonly depicted on the reverses of earlier coins (see 91.168) is a facing angel holding a cross-staff in his right hand and a globus cruciger or sphere with a cross on top in his left hand. The transformation of the female Victoria into a male angel has been accomplished by changing the Victoria's chiton belted beneath the breasts to a chlamys belted at the waist. Roman emperors had sometimes been depicted with the globus, a symbol of their rule of the world, but beginning in the fifth century it acquired the Christian cross and became a globus cruciger. The globe was apparently symbolic; there is no evidence of the existence of such an object until 1014 CE, when Pope Benedict VIII had a globus cruciger made as a coronation present for Henry II.
-- Timothy S. Riley, LU '92
Bibliography: W. Wroth, Catalogue of the Imperial Byzantine Coins in the British Museum (London 1908); P. Grierson, Byzantine Coins (London 1982).
The obverse depicts Justin in the stylized portrait type established by his predecessor, Anastasius I (see 91.268). On the reverse, however, Justin introduced a new type. In place of the profile Victoria commonly depicted on the reverses of earlier coins (see 91.168) is a facing angel holding a cross-staff in his right hand and a globus cruciger or sphere with a cross on top in his left hand. The transformation of the female Victoria into a male angel has been accomplished by changing the Victoria's chiton belted beneath the breasts to a chlamys belted at the waist. Roman emperors had sometimes been depicted with the globus, a symbol of their rule of the world, but beginning in the fifth century it acquired the Christian cross and became a globus cruciger. The globe was apparently symbolic; there is no evidence of the existence of such an object until 1014 CE, when Pope Benedict VIII had a globus cruciger made as a coronation present for Henry II.
-- Timothy S. Riley, LU '92
Bibliography: W. Wroth, Catalogue of the Imperial Byzantine Coins in the British Museum (London 1908); P. Grierson, Byzantine Coins (London 1982).
Source
Former collection of Ottilia Buerger. Purchased from Hesperia Art, Feb. 9, 1959.
Identifier
91.269
Rights
Wriston Art Center Galleries, Lawrence University, Appleton, WI,wriston-gallery@lawrence.edu,920-832-6890
Subject
Byzantine, helmet, Justin I, spear, shield, horseman, horse
Files
Citation
Justin I, “Gold Solidus of Justin I, 4.48 g.,” Lawrence University Classics Department & Ottilia Buerger Coin Collections, accessed November 5, 2026, https://thor.lawrence.edu/omeka/buerger/items/show/319.