Half Tetarteron of Manuel I Komnenos

This half tetarteron coin of Manuel I Komnenos was minted sometime between 1152 and 1160. The bronze still shines through creating a beautiful contrast of shiny metallic brown and the darker oxidation. On the obverse, St. George is beardless and nimbate, wearing a tunic, breastplate and sagion, and holding a spear and shield in his hands (Hendy 1999, p. 337). On the reverse, Manuel is bearded, wearing a stemma, divitision, collar-piece, and jeweled loros, as he holds a labarum-headed scepter and globus cruciger in his hands (Hendy 1999, p. 337). Although this specific coin is worn, the original inscription on the obverse would have read “St. George”, and that on the reverse “Manuel Despot”, which was a common term used for the emperor (Hendy 1999, p. 337). The coin was minted in an uncertain Greek mint. While metropolitan mints produced every denomination of coin, non-metropolitan mints only produced half tetarterons (Hendy 1999, p. 287). The tetarteron was one of the lowest denominations, and was therefore not used in the sort of transactions that “surviving evidence most commonly deals with”; however, it may have been used internally in limited areas of the Empire as a circulating medium of monetary exchange (Hendy 1999, p. 48). 1,728 half tetarterons were equal to a singular gold hyperpyron, the most valuable coin during Manuel I’s reign as emperor (Morrisson 2001, p. 924). With that said, a unit, or barrel, of wine during the 12th century would have cost 1/5 of a hyperpyron in Constantinople, or roughly 346 half tetarterons (Morrisson and Cheynet 2001, p. 834). Choosing St. George to accompany Manuel on his half tetarteron is a clear indication of the emperor’s priorities, that of militaristic conquest and expansion. St. George is known for being a soldier and representing militaristic fortitude, as can be seen in his depiction in a fresco in the 11th-century Snake Church, where he is shown killing a serpent with St. Theodore, symbolically defeating the evils of the world. This representation of authority also ties into the idea of “emotional vitality” that Panofsky argues for in his demonstration of iconographic and iconological interpretation (Panofsky 1955, 53). By choosing to depict this combative saint on his coins, Manuel produces the sentiment of both authority and imperial strength throughout his territory. Given Manuel’s numerous expansionist campaigns and general militaristic strength, it becomes clear why the emperor was infatuated with the soldier St. George and included him on his coin. Bibliography Brand, Charles M., Alexander Kazhdan, and Anthony Cutler. 1991. “Manuel I Komnenos.” In The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium, ed. Alexander P. Kazhdan. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Hendy, Michael F. 1999. Catalogue of the Byzantine Coins in the Dumbarton Oaks Collection and in the Whittemore Collection, vol. 4, Alexius I to Alexius V, 1081–1204. Washington, DC: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection. Morrisson, Cécile. 2001. “Byzantine Money: Its Production and Circulation.” In The Economic History of Byzantium: From the Seventh Through the Fifteenth Century, ed. Angeliki E. Laiou, 909–966. Washington, DC: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection. Morrisson, Cécile, and Jean-Claude Cheynet. 2001. “Prices and Wages in the Byzantine World.” In The Economic History of Byzantium: From the Seventh Through the Fifteenth Century, ed. Angeliki E. Laiou, 815–878. Washington, DC: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection. Panofsky, Erwin. 1955. “Iconography and Iconology: An Introduction to the Study of Renaissance Art.” In Meaning in the Visual Arts: Papers in and on Art History, 26–54. Woodstock, NY: The Overlook Press. Pat McGann (’23) for ARHS 110 (Fall 2022)https://digital.kenyon.edu/arthistorystudycollection/2578/thumbnail.jp