Symbols of Early Christianity on Ancient Roman and Medieval Coins
Christianity spread originally in the ancient Roman empire. The emperor Constantine I, the Great had the First Council of Nicaea standardize Christianity circa 325 A.D.. Since those times, the symbols of Christianity were well wide-spread on ancient coinage. Certainly an interesting topic to collect and explore. This article puts many different topics relating to Christianity together for a quick guide to those topics on ancient coins. There may be more topics to explore, and I would like to add them to the list, if you should like to let me know about them. May this be helpful to you.
- Coins of Jerusalem are certainly another intersting topic to collect, that are connected with the "Holy Land"
- Tribute Penny coins were issued by Tiberius - Roman Emperor: 14-37 A.D. -
- Pontius Pilate - Known chiefly for the Trial and Crucifixion of Jesus Christ. His coins exist and are an interesting area to collect.
- Constantine I 'The Great' - Roman Emperor: 307-337 A.D. - is also known as saint Constantine, and are important for Christianity.
- Saint Helena, the mother of Constantine the Great
- Aelia Flacilla Roman Empress Theodosius I Wife 379-385 A.D., known as the Orthodox Saint Aelia Flacilla
-
Coins with the cross on them were mostly minted by emperors
Theodosius II and
Arcadius.
- Coins with the Chi-Rho,
which
was
a combination of the initials of Jesus Christ in Greek, the letters X and P. The
pronunciation of those two letters was actually Chi for X and Rho for the P.
This symbol was said "By this Sign I shall Conquer" used by
Constantine I 'The Great'. Notice how in the coin on the right, the emperor
holds a captive by the head, while holding the standard with the
Chi-Rho, called
the
labarum.
-
Ancient Roman coins depicting Angels, know in Roman times as Victory.
It is easy to establish a connection with the ancient Greek goddess
Nike
or
Victory
that was adopted by the early Christians and known nowadays as angels.
-
Jesus Christ on ancient/medieval Byzantine Coins
-
Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus Christ
-
Byzantine Coins depicting various saints.
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