#constantine vii

A Very Rare 1,000-Year-Old Byzantine Gold Coin Found in Norway

Approximately 1,000 years ago in Constantinople — the bustling capital of the Byzantine Empire — a small gold coin was minted.

Now, about a millennia later, the tiny treasure has been unearthed more than 1,600 miles away from its origin, according to a Nov. 30 news release from the Inlandet County Municipality.

Officials said a metal detectorist stumbled upon the artifact among the mountains in Vestre Slidre, Norway. It’s a rare discovery for Norway, and the seemingly out-of-place artifact appears to be in great condition, especially given its age.

Photos of the coin show each side’s intricate carvings. One side depicts Jesus Christ holding a Bible, while the other shows Byzantine emperors Basil II and Constantine VII, brothers who ruled together, officials said.

Each side also has an inscription. The side showing Jesus has a Latin inscription, which translates to “Jesus Christ, King of those who reign,” according to experts. The side depicting the emperors has a Greek inscription, which translates to “Basil and Constantine, emperors of the Romans.”

Experts said the coin was minted during Basil and Constantine’s reign, likely sometime between 977 and 1025. The dotted circles bordering the coin indicate its age.

HOW DID THE COIN MAKE IT FROM CONSTANTINOPLE TO NORWAY?

Experts have tried to determine how the coin ended up in Norway.

One hypothesis is that the artifact belonged to Harald the Ruthless — the king of Norway from 1045 until 1066, according to Britannica.

Before he was king, Harald the Ruthless, also known as Harald Hardråde, served as part of the Byzantine emperor’s guard, experts said. It was customary for guards to loot the palace after an emperor’s death, and three emperors died during Hardråde’s time as a guard.

Once the coin made it back to Norway, it could have been lost along a trade or transportation route, according to experts.

Archaeologists have not had a chance to fully examine the site where the coin was found, but they are planning a broader excavation in 2024, officials said.

By Moira Ritter.

The Emperor of Byzantium from the dynasty of Macedonians Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus.

Constantine VII (905-956) called Porphyrogenitus, was Roman emperor of the East from 913 to 959. He was born in Constantinople in September 905. The son of Leo VI by his mistress, later fourth wife, Zoe Carbonopsina, Constantine was legitimized by imperial baptism (January 6, 906). His early life was clouded by sickness and misfortune. From 912 to 944, he was successively under the domination of his uncle, Emperor Alexander, of his mother Zoe, and of the usurper Romanus I Lecapenus, whose daughter Helena he married (May 4, 919). Only in January 945 did Constantine succeed in gaining possession of the throne that was rightfully his. He died in Constantinople, universally regretted, on November 9, 959. Constantine's high reputation was won in the realms of literature and the writing of history, and his patronage of all the arts was catholic and beneficent. He became, moreover, in his years of power, an accomplished diplomat. There exist luminating accounts of embassies to or from Italy, Germany, Spain, Russia, and Hungary. He also tried by law to protect the property rights of small landowners and soldiers. Among the writings with which Constantine was personally concerned is the De thematibus (On the Provinces), a historical and topographical account of the Roman provinces as constituted in his day. More valuable is his account, in the so-called De administrando imperio (compiled 948-952), of the history of the occupants of countries outside the imperial borders; based on information from natives of these countries, this account is surprisingly accurate. His third great work, the so-called De cerimoniis aulae byzantinae, is a minute description of imperial ceremonial, one of the most important documents surviving from the Middle Ages. Constantine also wrote a charming and informative life of his grandfather, Basil I.