Numismatics

NUMISMATICS. - Numismatics is the science that studies coinage in all its constituent elements and in the evolution they have undergone over the course of the centuries.

Metallic coinage constitutes that means of exchange which, having appeared and been adopted in the 7th century B.C. in the eastern Hellenic world, immediately spread to the entire Mediterranean Hellenic world and then to the Roman one, to reach down to our own days, keeping its general characteristics intact and repeating down to the present the various experiments and adaptations that the development of economic civilization has imposed upon it in every age.

As for the types that adorn its two faces, they always bear the reflection above all of the religious conception of the various peoples, ancient and modern, whether through symbols drawn from the world of nature, from the animal world and from the artifacts of man, or through the very figure of the divinity, conceived and portrayed in human form. Roman coinage reached the Constantinian age imbued with the spirit and the forms of the pagan religion, repeating symbols and figurations of all the divinities of the Greek-Roman Olympus; but from the moment the religion of Christ came forth into the light, coinage too reflected the triumph of Christian thought.

Christian numismatics for the Italian peninsula extends over the entire period from the Constantinian age to our own days, and comprises three grand groups of emissions: the coinage from Constantine to Romulus Augustulus; the Byzantine one, for the entire Byzantine world and for the countries that imitated its coinage more or less for a long time; and the Italian one of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.

I. THE LATE ROMAN EMPIRE

It comprises the Constantinian age and that of the Valentinians down to the fall of the Empire. The coinage displays the first Christian signs and reveals the subsequent and complete disappearance of those numerous types which for three centuries illustrated the whole coinage of Rome, reflecting the pagan religion and cult.

The tetrarchs present only 5 deities; Constantine the Great, 4; Constantine II, 3 (Iuppiter, Mars, Sol); Constans I, one (Mars), and with him the typology concerning the pagan deities of imperial Rome comes to an end. The same may be said of the personifications (Concordia, Iustitia, Fides, Pietas, Felicitas, Spes, Virtus, Genius, etc.), which in their greater number rose to the rank of true and proper deities: they constituted a grandiose multiform pantheon of at least 30 varied figurations, as many as are counted in the age of the Antonines. Of these the tetrarchs still present 22; Constantine I, 15; Crispus, 6; Constans and Constantius only Securitas. In this successive and rapid disappearance of the pagan types there is in reality expressed on the coinage the evolution of Constantine's religious policy and the imposing of the new faith. The coinage indeed reveals this transition in all its degrees. The Constantinian age in the broad sense, and then the age of the Valentinians, mark the two periods in which the moments of this evolution are most clearly observed down to the final phase.

Christianity makes its first appearance on the coinage with signs of primitive Christian symbolism: the cross and the chrismon; in the second place there appears that individual attitude of the imperial portrait, the head looking upward, which would remain in art as an expression of exaltation and divine inspiration; there follows the appearance of the "manus Dei" which reveals the tangible presence of the divinity for the protection of the Augusti; finally there is the advent of the cross-bearing Angel, a direct derivation of the Roman Victory.

The Cross and the chrismon begin their appearance, usually on the reverse, as "symbols", that is, as secondary elements, extraneous to the coin type, which continues to be pagan, and still on a minimal number of issues and pieces. Almost at the same time they are found as "accessories" of the type; later they rise to constitute the true and proper "type", first of a few issues, then of the entire coinage with the absolute exclusion of every other element. This evolution lasts more than a century and reaches full development shortly before the fall of the Western Empire, through the two principal moments of which mention was made above. The sporadicity and occasional character of these signs in the first period is not to be imputed to the responsibility and personal initiative of the mint-workers, but to the circumstance that the imperial Chancery had to have regard for the very many pagans of the Empire.

a) The Cross (in the three variants † ✠ ✠) appears as a symbol in the field of the Constantinian small bronzes SOLI INVICTO and MARTI CONSERVATORI (314-18); then on the aureus on which two standing Victories place the shield inscribed VOTA POPULI B(OMANI) (c. 320); later on the small bronzes GLORIA EXERCITUS, between two soldiers guarding the standards (333-35). It then returns, as a symbol, on the gold and bronze issues of the Valentinians, of Theodosius, Honorius, John, etc.

As an accessory of the coin type the Cross appears on the emperor's sceptre or on the globe supported by Rome or by Victory or by the emperor (cross-bearing globe), always in the period of the Valentinians. Finally the long jewelled Cross appears in the right hand of the standing Victory, and determines its transformation into the Christian angel, precisely with the Augustae of Valentinian III (Galla Placidia and Grata Honoria); the Cross replaces every other attribute: the crown, the palm and the trophy. It must however be remembered that the emperor Zeno on his great classicizing bronze (471-476-491) revives the Roman Victory walking with crown and palm [IMPERATOR] ZENO FELIX PER[PEYVS] AVG[VEYUS] - INVICTA ROMA S[ENATVS] C[ONSVLTO], a type that Theodoric would adopt on his well-known gold medallion (497-500), just as later Theodahad (534-36) on his magnificent great bronze [D[OMINVS] N[OSTER] THEODAHATUS REX - VICTORIA PRINCIPUM S[ENATVS] C[ONSVLTO]].

Only from the age of the Valentinians does the Cross constitute the true and proper type of the solidi, of the gold tremisses, of the silver coins and of the small bronzes down to the fall of the Empire; on the bronze of Galla Placidia one reads around the Cross SALUS REIPUBLICAE; on the solidus of Olybrius SALUS MUNDI; and then in the Eastern Empire, on the silver of Tiberius II Constantine, LUX MUNDI.

b) The chrismon is found as a symbol already in the Constantinian age, in the field of the small bronzes GLORIA EXERCITUS - VIRTUS EXERCITUS, near the two soldiers guarding the labarum, or near the standard between two seated captives (320-24); then on other small bronzes VICTORIAE LAETAE PRINC. PER. with the two Victories (320-24); then again on the small bronzes GLORIA EXERCITUS near the two soldiers guarding the labarum (333-35); on the gold solidi of Constantius II GLORIA REIPUBLICAE between the two figures of Rome and of Constantinople; finally between the four military standards of the great silver of Constans, etc. For these issues too the circumstance is repeated that a minimal part of them presents this symbol.

For the age of the Valentinians down to the fall of the Empire, the chrismon, as a symbol, appears on the gold solidi between Rome and Constantinople supporting the shield of the vota, near the standing emperor, or the standing or writing Victory, or in the exergue of gold issues, etc.; and also on the solidus of Anthemius between the two emperors Anthemius and Leo.

As an accessory of the coin type it adorns the helmet of Constantine on the small bronzes of the mints of Trier, of the period 313-17; it then adorns the shield of Constantius II and the cuirass of Constans; it surmounts the globe supported by Rome on the gold medallion of Nepotian, the crown of the vota supported by the two Victories of the bronzes of Magnentius, Decentius, etc. Then for the age of the Valentinians the chrismon appears on the emperor's shield on the obverse of the solidi of Honorius and Valentinian and of Majorian; on the shield of the Victory of the medallion of Attalus, in that of the solidi of Valens, etc.; finally it is inscribed by Victory on the solidi of Galla Placidia, Flaccilla, etc.

As a true and proper type the chrismon appears initially on the great bronzes of Magnentius and Decentius, flanked by the A-Ω; these are the pieces that are also found in the loculi of the catacombs for use as devotional medals, the only ones intentionally placed, because the others have been attached outside, only as a mark of recognition, and of these the obverse is visible. In the age of the Valentinians, the chrismon constitutes the type of the quinarii and of the gold tremisses of almost all the subsequent emperors, of the silver coins of Severus II, Anthemius, Glycerius, etc.

But the chrismon had its most important adaptation on the banner of the imperial cavalry, which became the Christian labarum (v.). In the form described by Eusebius (Vita Constantini, I, 31) the labarum appears, as far as is known, only once on Roman coinage, that is, on the small bronze of Constantine SPES PUBLICA. In the second form, however (a cloth surmounting the Roman standard, on which the Christian monogram is written), it appears initially from 325, on the common small bronzes GLORIA EXERCITUS, on which two soldiers guard the standard surmounted by the Christian labarum, of Constantine and his sons; then, after 337, in the hands of Constans and Constantius, now standing on the ship, now crowned by Victory, now in the act of trampling the defeated enemy; and these are the issues FEL. TEMP. REPARATIO - GLORIA ROMANORUM - TRIUMPHATOR GENTIUM BARBARORUM - VIRTUS CONSTANTI - VIRTUS CONSTANTINI AUG(VST) - GAUDIUM POPULI ROMANI. Such types are repeated down to Arcadius and Honorius. With Valentinian III the use of the labarum as an accessory of the emperor's figure tends to fall away, because now the emperor assumes the long cross as a scepter, or a short one resting on his shoulder, and triumphs in that type which now dominates on the solidus: the emperor standing frontally, leaning on the cross-bearing scepter, trampling the dragon with a human head, a type which for Valentinian seems to exalt the victory over Attila at Châlons and his expulsion from the Gauls, and then for Marcian the circumstance that he, with the help of St. Leo, frees Italy as well. And yet a labarum is still found on the bronzes and gold solidi of several Byzantine emperors, from Theophilus (839-42) to Constantine VIII (1025-28) at least.

c) The manus Dei as an accessory with a clearly Christian meaning appears initially on small bronzes of the consecration of Constantine, where it tends to meet the new divus as he flies up to heaven in the quadriga; then it is seen crowning the head of Constantius II on the gold medallion GAUDIUM ROMANORUM; then that of Honorius standing and crushing the crouching lion, on the solidus VICTORIA AUGG.; finally the diademed heads of Valentinian III, Galla Placidia, Grata Honoria, Arcadius, Eudocia, etc. Often the manus Dei appears on the head of Byzantine emperors from Constantine V and Leo IV, to John I Tzimiskes, to Basil II, Michael IV, Alexius I, John II and down to at least Isaac II (1185-95).

Imperial iconography from Constantine onward still sporadically presents one particularity, that of eyes turned to heaven. It would seem to be determined by religious feeling: but this attitude is in reality repeated on certain series of coins struck on the occasion of imperial anniversaries starting from 25 July 326 and is never accompanied by religious symbols. These are rare series struck in the name of Constantine and his sons, then of certain successors down to Julian Caesar, that is, from the year following the Council of Nicaea to the moment when Julian, made Augustus, declares himself an adversary of Christianity.

d) The use of the nimbus, very rare for the first three centuries of the Empire and going back to the Antonines, seems to have had its origin in the East; certainly it acquired particular importance after the conquest of the East by Constantine. It always and everywhere expressed the divinity of the emperor, and only later assumed a Christian meaning. Diocletian and Maximian are already nimbed on the lead medallion of Paris which celebrates the crossing of the Rhine in 287, then Constantine Augustus and Constantius Caesar on the gold medallion AETERNA GLORIA SENAT(US) P(OPULUS)Q(UE) R(OMANUS); and Constantine in turn on the gold medallion SOLI INVICTO COMITI of the mint of Siscia; and again Constantius II Augustus on the great gold medallion

D(OMINUS) N(OSTER) CONSTANTIUS VICTOR SEMPER AUG(USTUS); Fausta on her magnificent gold piece PIETAS AUGUSTAE, and Gratian on the solidus PRINCIPIUM INVENTITIS; then Valentinian and Valens on gold solidi and medallions and all the emperors who sit paired in ceremonial dress: Valentinian and Valens, Honorius and Arcadius, Theodosius and Valentinian on the solidi VOTA PUBLICA; VICTORIA AUGG.; GLORIA ROMANORUM; SALUS REIPUBLICAE; finally Anthemius and Leo are nimbed, standing and together supporting a long cross, on the solidus SALUS REIP(UBLICAE).

e) The evolution from the type of Victoria to that of the Angelus appears evident from the coins. While the Roman Victory still continues to appear, with her usual attributes and in those attitudes more proper to this late period (supporting the shield of the tota, inscribing the same shield, carrying the trophy, etc.), her figure is found as a half-length bust, frontal and with wings spread, in a hieratic but academic scheme, suspended in the upper field of the coin where the two emperors sit, on whose heads she seems to impose her hands or a crown. She is already seen on a gold piece of Diocletian CONCORDIAE AUGG. NN., but it is an incidental appearance; later, however, it becomes fixed on the gold solidi of Gratian, then of the Valentinians, of Theodosius, Maximus, Flavius Victor, etc. (cf. the reverses VICTORES AUGUSTI; VICTORIA AUGG.; BONO REIPUBLICAE NATI). A second phase is represented by the reverse type of the Augustae from Valentinian III onward: rigidly posed and frontal, with parallel lowered wings, she appears leaning on the long cross that rests on the ground. From the Western world this type, like all the others of the period, passes to the Byzantine world and coinage; and, as a fixed type, it persists until Heraclius (mid-7th century), when it is supplanted by the cross potent that appeared at the end of the 6th century (cf. the coins of Anastasius, Justin I, Justinian, Justin II).

II. BISANZIO

With the last types discussed, which recur both in the West and in the East, we enter the domain of the properly Byzantine world.

At this historical moment one encounters the singular but very explicable fact of the vast imitation of solidi and tremisses of Byzantine type and character: in Italy through the work of the Ostrogothic kings and then of the Lombards; in France through the work of the Burgundians in the region of the Sequani, already at the end of the 4th century, and of the Franks of Clovis I; in the Iberian peninsula through the work of the Visigoths, when they invaded Narbonensis (412) and, with the favour of Honorius, occupied Roman Spain and Aquitaine from the Ocean to Toulouse, down to the Arab conquest (beginning of the 8th century), etc.

In the Byzantine world one must note above all the even greater fixity of the few monetary types still in use, their greater schematism, and the frontality that dominates completely in the field of coins as, indeed, in all figurative art. The human figure, whether divinity or emperor, takes on the outline of a mannequin clothed in rigid bejewelled garments, overloaded with symbols and emblems, in which one can no longer recognize this or that Augustus, nor distinguish him from the Augusta beside him, except by some vague ornamental detail of the dress or the crown.

The coin is monotonous also in its reverse types, which have lost any contact with the reality of political, social and civil life and draw their inspiration solely from the religion of the State. Everywhere and always the cross predominates, in numerous variants: with equal and unequal arms, double-armed or patriarchal, on several steps or potent, anchored, crossed at the four extremities, with a central medallion for the relic, with a quatrefoil medallion enclosing the emperor's bust, or with two imperial busts hanging from the horizontal arms, etc.

Subsequently there appear the figure of Christ and of the Virgin Mother in certain notable variants, some of which were often imitated from works of art of the period; then a few saints, always named; while on silver and later on bronze the epigraphic type triumphs, in phrases of sacred invocation and evocation.

The effigy of Christ is introduced by Justinian II: a frontal bust with the cross behind the head, the book of the Gospels closed in the left hand, and the right hand blessing, in two variants: with beard and long, smooth, flowing hair; with harsh features of the face, stylized hair with short, stiff curls, and a short, stiff beard. After the iconoclast movement, with Theodora the bust of Christ reappears, and Basil inaugurates the Christ seated frontally on a throne with a cross-bearing nimbus and then a jewelled one, which with few variations in detail lasts until the end of the Empire. There are then types that might be called episodic: Christ crowning Romanus I (beginning of the 10th century), and standing between Romanus IV and his wife Eudocia, crowning them both with raised arms (1076-1071); and crowning Manuel I, and Andronicus I and II, etc.

Then there is the so-called Christ "of Chalcis", standing frontally on a footstool, with Theodora (1055-56), Alexius I Comnenus (1081-1118) and Alexius IV (1203-1204). Finally he is found standing in an oval, in imitation of the Venetian zecchino, with Manuel II and John VIII (1391-1425; 1423-48).

Leo IV introduces the bust of the Virgin orans (886-912), wrapped in veil and mantle and with arms outstretched, a type that would alternate for centuries with that of Christ. With Nicephorus II the Virgin appears beside the emperor as a half-figure, mantled and nimbed, and with him supports the patriarchal cross; she is found again standing beside John I, Michael III, Romanus III, etc., then on the solidus of Theodora, who appears standing in a tight tunic with a crossed apron and supporting the long labarum with her left hand; the Virgin brings her right hand to the labarum.

With Romanus IV (1067-71), the type inaugurated by John I Tzimiskes at the end of the 10th century reappears, that is, the figure of the Virgin frontally, as a half-bust, holding with both hands the medallion of the Divine Son. The type lasts a long time, alternating with that of the Virgin seated, with this medallion before her breast, and with that of the Virgin orans standing with the same medallion on her breast. Then there is the episodic type of the Virgin crowning the emperor. But the most graceful figure, the least stylized and most natural, is the Virgin of the great silver coin of Romanus IV, standing with veil, tunic and very long mantle and a broad nimbus, carrying on her left the Divine Son, nimbed and blessing. Perhaps she is to be recognized as the Virgin Hodegetria, known from other monuments of the period.

Then the saints appear. The first is St. George in cuirass, short tunic and cloak. He is young and nimbed, his left hand on the hilt of the sword, supporting with his right the patriarchal Cross together with John II Comnenus (1118-43). Then are found St. Theodore and St. Demetrius, introduced by Manuel I Comnenus (1143-80). They are nimbed and standing, and support together with the emperor the patriarchal Cross or the labarum or the monstrance: St. Theodore is bearded with cuirass, short tunic and cloak and places his left hand on the long sheathed sword; St. Demetrius is nimbed with cuirass and his left hand on his breast. The archangel Gabriel is adopted by Isaac II Angelus (1185-95); he appears young, nimbed and winged, dressed in cuirass and tunic, his left hand on his breast, and supports together with the emperor a sword raised from the ground. On other emissions St. Michael crowns the emperor, or together they support the long Cross. With Alexius III Angelus (1195-1203) are found St. Constantine and St. Demetrius. Finally Michael VIII Palaeologus (1261-82) appears on his coin kneeling before the Saviour who blesses him, and St. Michael appears behind him, winged and nimbed. On the reverse of this solidus is a conventional bird's-eye view of the circuit of the towered walls of Constantinople, at whose centre appears the bust of the Virgin orans, protectress of the city.

III. CHRISTIAN ITALY

The opening of communal urban mints dates back to the period around the year 1000, with the first flowering of the Italian communes. The series begin with denarii of uncertain and irregular outlines, with inscriptions in Gothicizing letters, of a type limited at first to epigraphic devices, then depicting the Cross, the flower, the imperial eagle. This type, with the development of communal liberties, unfolds and becomes fixed in the figure of the bishop and in the effigy of the patron saint; the latter soon came to prevail everywhere, personifying the free Commune.

Many are these saints who appear at an uncertain date in the individual communes and in successive periods of the Italian Middle Ages: Sts. Peter and Paul at Rome, St. John at Florence, St. Mark at Venice, St. Zeno at Verona, St. Cyriacus at Ancona, St. Ansovino at Camerino, St. Emygdius at Ascoli, St. Novolone at Faenza, St. Savino at Fermo, St. Imerio at Cremona, St. Abundius at Como, St. Syrus at Pavia, St. Prosdocimus at Padua, St. Gaudentius at Rimini, St. Apollonius at Brescia, St. Herculanus at Perugia, St. Justus at Trieste, St. Lawrence at Viterbo, St. Secundus at Asti, St. Posidonius at Mirandola, St. Petronius at Bologna, St. Maurelius at Ferrara, etc. The types are constituted, according to the periods and the denominations, now by a bust, now by the standing frontal figure, now again by the figure seated on a throne and even beneath an arch. In these primitive dies the bust is drawn schematically and fits as a triangle into the small field of the coin; it appears frontal, the head nimbed or covered by the papal or episcopal mitre, clothed in the priestly mantle closed on the breast by a large gem used as a clasp.

The standing frontal saint likewise wears mitre, nimbus and priestly mantle; he is usually in an attitude of blessing and supported with his left hand on the pastoral staff or the tall cross. This type too finds a counterpart in the products of the contemporary major and minor arts. Sometimes the saints are contained within a niche, as St. Syrus at Pavia. Nor is it rare for the saint to hold a city or church in his hand; thus appear St. Terentius at Pesaro, St. Petronius at Bologna, St. Prosdocimus at Padua, etc. Less common is the frontal seated saint, of Bologna, Parma, Cremona, Milan, Como, Monza, etc.; to it correspond the blessing pontiff of the Avignon silver gros, the crowned Rome, with the senatorial mantle and the globe, of the anonymous papal gros (13th-14th centuries), the Angevin kings of the silver gigliati of the mints of the Kingdoms of Naples and Sicily; and finally the Christ seated on a throne and blessing of the Venetian matapani, etc.

Individual are the two figurations of the Venetian zecchino coined from 1284: the blessing Redeemer in a starry nimbus, and St. Mark handing to the kneeling doge the banner of Venice; types of style and conception still Byzantine in character, which find a counterpart in certain mosaic figurations of the most ancient cathedrals.

For southern Italy no analogous behavior of monetary civilization is determined. Here there are few mints operating under the influence of the Byzantine domination and the related Byzantine coinage; from these derive the Byzantine-style series of Benevento, Salerno, Mileto, Naples, etc., where the Cross prevails above all, accompanied, on the large bronze follari, by a very rough, summary bust, with purely linear elements, which is named and identified at Salerno as the bust of Christ, of St. Peter, of the Mother of God and of St. Matthew; at Gaeta as St. Erasmus; at Naples as St. Januarius, etc.

But since here from this moment the various Norman, Swabian, Angevin, Durazzesque and Aragonese dynasties prevail, there is realized, with absolute precedence over the rest of the Peninsula, the superimposition of dynastic interest upon religious interest. Nevertheless on the gold tari of Henry VI, Frederick II and Manfred there appears the Cross with the Byzantine legend I(MEOV)C X(PIXTO)C NIKA, and Roger the duke on the silver ducat of Brindisi places the bust of the Savior; at Benevento Sicone changes the old type of the Roman Victory into the archangel Michael duly named; and Roger count of Mileto places on his trifollaro the beautiful and evocative figuration of the Virgin seated with the Divine Son in her arms.

A little later, in the second half of the 13th century, Charles I of Anjou inaugurates on his gold soldo the complex figuration of the Annunciation (repeated by Charles II), where inspiration, ingenuousness and freshness contribute to the precious work of art of the die, and the very fine, small but complex figuration appears inspired by some pictorial work (AVE GRACIA PLENA DOMINUS TECUM). Then Alfonso I of Aragon around the figuration of the sovereign at a gallop writes D(OMI)N(U)S M(EUS) ADIUTOR ET EGO DESP(ERAVI) IN

M(E): while more proudly Ferdinand I of Aragon proclaims himself CORONATUS QUIA LEGITIME CERTAVIT around the scene of the coronation which presents the King seated on a throne, frontal, with sceptre and globus cruciger, crowned by a cardinal standing at his right, assisted in turn by a bishop standing at his left. Finally, beside the figure of the archangel Michael, standing on the dragon stretched at his feet, the type of his carlino, one reads IUSTA TUENDA. Again Alfonso II of Aragon writes CORONAVIT ET UNXIT ME MANUS T(UA) D(OMINE) on his silver coronato which declares and sanctions the divine right of his kingdom.

In the sixteenth century there are established almost everywhere lordships, duchies and principalities, where dynastic interest predominates and therefore the iconographic interest or right of effigy. But if, at the same time, the religious interest expressed by the monetary type weakens, it is nevertheless not entirely eliminated, nor exhausted: it becomes rather more complicated and now often reflects prototypes of the great contemporary pictorial and sculptural art. They are often episodic types, reproduced and adapted on the die with true artistic sense; they are religious legends that are inserted into it and multiply to reflect that popular religious sentiment of the humblest masses, never extinguished in Italy.

In the Savoy series Amedeo VIII displays St. Maurice on horseback with nimbus, banner and sword; on the ducats of 1430 the Saint hands the banner to the kneeling Duke, repeating the gesture of St. Mark at Venice. Ludovico writes on the ducat: DEUS IN ADIUTORIUM MEUM INTENDE; and Charles I repeats the ejaculation CHRISTUS VINCIT, CHRISTUS REGNAT, CHRISTUS IMPERAT. Charles Emmanuel I beside the figure of St. Charles writes DISCERNE CAUSAM MEAM, alluding to the war for the succession of Monferrato; and beside the blessed Amedeo one reads: BENEDIC MAREDITTATI TUAT; and POEDERE ET RELIGIONE TENEMUR, with which motto it has been sought to explain the FERT, which is moreover still enigmatic. At Milan, with the Sforza, St. Ambrose appears mitred, nimbed, on horseback at a gallop against the heretics, or standing he strikes a warrior with a whip; finally he appears on the clouds with his enemies at his feet. At Pisa already from the first Republic (12th century) the Virgin with the Divine Son appears seated and takes up stable residence there for centuries, while Siena calls itself CIVITAS VIRGINIS; at Aquileia already on the coins of the patriarch Raymond (second half of the 13th century) the Virgin appears, and shortly afterwards the invocation VIRGO MARIA ADVOCATA MUNDI. Precisely the Virgin Mother with the Divine Son appears frequently on the coins of the Peninsula almost everywhere: at Modena with Francesco I d'Este the Mother of God adoring the Divine Son: AVERTISTI IRAM INDIGNATIONIS; at Parma crowned by angels; at Pesaro, with Giovanni Sforza, seated on a throne; at Florence, with Francesco I, the Annunciation: ECCE ANCILLA DOMINI; at Venice the Virgin blessing the kneeling doge, etc.

Then there are the scenes from the life of Christ that appear sporadically on coins: in Ferrara, under Ercole I one finds Christ rising again and the adoration of the Magi; under Alfonso III d'Este the Calvary; under Ercole II the Magdalene at the foot of the Cross. In Reggio, Jesus carries the Cross and his blood fills the chalice (CUIUS CRUORE SANATI); in Camerino under Guidobaldo there is the resurrection of Christ (RESIDERE ET ADHUC TECUM SUM) and again Christ and St. Thomas (CREDERE TUTUS); in Florence on the shield of Ferdinando II is the Baptism of Jesus (PILIUS MEUS DILECTUS); in Mantua, on a shield of Francesco II, Jesus shown half-length emerges from the tomb behind which the Cross rises (SI LABORATIS EGO REFICIAM VOS). In Mirandola it is the resurrection of Christ among the disciples, etc.

Then the most popular saints still appear almost everywhere: St. Francis receiving the stigmata or kneeling at the foot of the Cross at Pesaro, Urbino, Mantua, Bardi, Mirandola, etc.; St. George on horseback piercing the dragon at Mantua, Mesocco, Ferrara, etc. At Mantua Francis II presents the archangel Raphael with the little Tobias and also St. Andrew receiving from St. Longinus the relic of the most precious Blood; at Pesaro there is St. Jerome in the desert with the lion crouching; at Lucca, together with the SANCTUS VULTUS DE LUCA, there is St. Peter standing or St. Martin on horseback with the beggar, etc. With the nineteenth century, and even earlier, modern coinage

Italian no longer draws its inspiration from the religion of the fathers, but, imitating the classical and paganizing style, it repeats forms and symbols that have lost their ancient meaning and value. - See plates CXXIV-CXXV.

Per l'età bizantina: J. Sabatier, Description générale des monnaies byzantines, 3 voll., Parigi 1862; W. Wroth, Study of byzantine numismatics, in Corolla numismatica, Oxford 1906, pp. 325-55; id., Catalogue of the byzantine coins in the Brit. Museum, 2 voll., Londra 1908; H. Goodacre, Notes on some rare byzantine coins, in Numismatic chronicle, 5e serie, 11 (1931), pp. 151-59; id., The Story of Constantine VII, ibid., 15 (1935), pp. 114-19; id., A numismatic of Andronicus III, Anna, and John V, ibid., pp. 232-40; id., The flat bronze coinage of Nicaea, ibid., 18 (1938), pp. 159-64; S. L. Cesano, La zecca di Costantinopoli, s. v. Costantinopoli, in Enc. Ital., XI, pp. 627-30.

For the Italian Middle Ages: A. Engel, Recherches sur la numismatique des Normands de la Sicile et d'Italie, Paris 1882; J. Friedländer, Die Münzen der Ostgothen, Berlin 1884; G. Bazzi-M. Santoni, Vademecum del raccoglitore italiano o Repertorio, Camerino 1886; M. Cagiati, Le monete del Reame delle due Sicilie da Carlo d'Angiò a Vittorio Emanuele II, Naples 1911-12; id., Supplemento, ibid. 1913-15; G. Sambon, Repertorio generale delle monete coniate in Italia dal sec. V al sec. XX, part 1e (476-1266 A.D.), Paris 1912; S. Ferraro, Le monete di Gaeta, Naples 1915; M. Cagiati, La zecca di Benevento, Milan 1916-17; U. Monneret de Villard, La moneta in Italia durante l'alto medioevo, offprint from Rivista ital. di numism., 1919-20; id., La monetazione nell'Italia barbarica, ibid., 1921; S. L. Cesano, L'oro in Italia nella età di mezzo e nell'evo moderno, in Atti e memorie dell'Istituto ital. di numismatica, 5 (1925), p. 113 ff.; M. Cagiati, I tipi monetali della zecca di Salerno, Naples 1925.

Secondina Lorenza Cesano