of divinities and virtuous personifications to provide figural types also resulted in a
far greater concentration in the fourth century on the emperors shown in various
poses, mostly military and triumphant, than was the case in earlier centuries.
It is one of the paradoxes of Roman history that veneration for the image of
the emperor was in some senses at its most intense in the fourth centuryad after
the emperors themselves had disavowed emperor worship. This was certainly the
moment when the image of the emperor came to dominate both sides of the coinage
more pervasively than at any other time, whether before or subsequently when, in
the fifth century, a range of more explicitly Christian symbols began to take over on
the reverse. Much later, in the early eighth century, Christian iconography moved
onto the obverse, when, under Justinian II (reigned 685 – 95 and 704 –11), the image
of Christ displaced the emperor onto the reverse (fig. 11.43), a fashion which became
standard after the restoration of the icons in 843.162 Jonathan WilliamsFigure 11.40 Base-metal coin, ad326, showing Fausta, wife of Constantine I, and an
image of the goddess Salus. 20 mm.
Figure 11.42 Base-metal coin, c. ad430, with a simple cross motif. 14 mm.
Figure 11.43 Gold solidus, ad704 –11, with the image of Christ on the obverse and the
emperor Justinian II with his son Tiberius displaced onto the reverse. 19 mm.
Figure 11.41 Base-metal coin, c. ad388, showing Victory dragging a bound captive.
14 mm.