Copper alloy weight of King Theoderic of the Ostrogoths
subject: 493-526 (early Byzantine), made in Rome, copper alloy and silver, 25.7x25.4 mm, Harvard Art Museums
description: Copper alloy weight of Theoderic, square with convex profile; inscribed on the face and sides; inlaid with silver, some missing; on the base a herring-bone wreath enclosing denominational mark; four-lobed motif in each corner. Inscriptions Inscription type: denominational mark Inscription position: base Inscription language: Greek Inscription script: Greek Inscription note: 1 oz Inscription type: inscription Inscription position: face Inscription language: Latin Inscription content: DN Theoderici Inscription transliteration: Dominus Noster Theoderici Inscription type: inscription Inscription position: side Inscription language: Latin Inscription content: CATV| LINVS | VC.ET | INL.PFV Inscription transliteration: Catulinus vir clarrisimus et inlustris praefectus urbi

Empress Bust Weight, Steelyard, and Collar with Chains (4)
source: https://iiif.harvardartmuseums.org/manifests/object/320164

Empress Bust Weight, Steelyard, and Collar with Chains (3)
source: https://iiif.harvardartmuseums.org/manifests/object/320164

Empress Bust Weight, Steelyard, and Collar with Chains (2)
source: https://iiif.harvardartmuseums.org/manifests/object/320164

Empress Bust Weight, Steelyard, and Collar with Chains (1)
subject: 5th-7th century (early Byzantine); mixed copper alloy w/ lead and iron fill in bust, cast and hammered Dimensions A. weight: 13.6 x 6 x 4.7 cm (5 3/8 x 2 3/8 x 1 7/8 in.) 1441 g B. chains and hooks: 44 x 5.7 cm (17 5/16 x 2 1/4 in.) C. crossbeam with hooks: 39.2 x 1 cm (15 7/16 x 3/8 in.) Harvard Art Museums
description: Published Catalogue Text: Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Bronzes at the Harvard Art Museums This fifth- to seventh-century steelyard weight in the shape of an empress represents the most common type of weight used with early Byzantine steelyard scales (1). Earlier scholarship proposed that each weight represented a specific Byzantine empress, but that theory has been overturned in favor of an interpretation of the crowned women as a generic imperial type, perhaps linked to the symbolism of official personifications. The crude outline of the bulky crown is similar to headgear worn by early Byzantine empresses depicted on consular diptychs and marble statuary. She wears a tunic covered by a heavy cloak with deeply grooved folds. Her right hand rests on the edge of the cloak, while her left hand clutches an object variously identified as a scroll or a mappa. As is typical of weights from this time, the bronze is crudely modeled with no modeling on the reverse. This figure was hollow cast with its surface roughly modeled in wax, and then its interior was filled with lead. An iron pin is visible in the base. The steelyard still has two copper alloy chains terminating in large hooks. These hooks extend from a loop with a swiveling mechanism that slides over the steelyard’s crossbeam. The crossbeam has three incised scales and three suspension points (two of which still have hooks). The three sides would have corresponded to three distinct ranges of measurement. The scale corresponding to the innermost suspension point is subdivided into 12 sections, each between 1.8 and 2 cm long and inscribed with three dots. The middle scale is more or less regularly subdivided into 25 sections, each between 0.7 cm and 1 cm long. Most of these sections (or sometimes a larger, double section) are inscribed with three dots. The border between the eleventh and twelfth section is marked by the letter K; the border between the twenty-first and twenty-second by V or Λ (Greek upsilon o…
source: https://iiif.harvardartmuseums.org/manifests/object/320164

Byzantine Three-Ounce Weight with Imperial Busts of Justin II, Sophia and Justinian(?) (3)
source: https://iiif.harvardartmuseums.org/manifests/object/191384

Byzantine Three-Ounce Weight with Imperial Busts of Justin II, Sophia and Justinian(?) (2)
source: https://iiif.harvardartmuseums.org/manifests/object/191384

Byzantine Three-Ounce Weight with Imperial Busts of Justin II, Sophia and Justinian(?) (1)
subject: 16 March 575 CE (early Byzantine), Mixed copper alloy, Cast, lost-wax process h. 4 x w. 4 x d. 0.4 cm (1 9/16 x 1 9/16 x 3/16 in.) 78.46 g Harvard Art Museum
description: Technical Observations: The patina is dark green with spots of red. White accretions are also present in the inscribed lines. All edges are smooth from handling. The incised lines have been roughly cleaned, making it difficult to see the nature of the surfaces and ascertain how the lines were made. Gouges at the back may be from finishing the back surface or from use. The object was probably cast from a directly formed wax model. The inscribed lines and decoration were probably made in the wax model, but the object is not in good enough condition to be sure. Henry Lie (submitted 2005) inscription: in Greek, in five lines: ΓΟ / Γ [three ounces] ΕΠΙ ΤΟV ΠΑΝΕV/ΦΗΜΟV ΚΑΙ ΕVΦ/VΟϹΤΑΤΟV ϹΤΡΑΤ/ΗΛΑΤΟV ΙΟVΛΙΑΝOV ΦΑΜΕΝW ΘΚ. ΙΝΔ Η. [Translation: in the time of the wholly blessed and best disposed (of men) Iulianos, stratelates, on the twentieth of Phamenoth, eighth indiction.] [Note that the omicron and upsilon at the end of the fourth line are in ligature.]
source: https://iiif.harvardartmuseums.org/manifests/object/191384

Silver ingot with stamps of Emperor Honorius (AD 395-423)
subject: 4thC(late)-5thC(early), found at Tower of London, silver, 353.4 g, British Museum
description: Silver ingots like this were used to pay soldiers and civil servants in the Late Roman Empire. The stamped inscription reads EX OFFE HONORINI, which translates 'from the workshop of Honorinus'. It was found in 1777 with two gold coins of the emperor Arcadius (AD 395-408) and one of Honorius (AD 395-423), and dates to the end of the Roman period in Britain. The site, later to be occupied by the Norman Tower of London, lay inside the south-east corner of the Roman city wall, and it is possible that it had been a late Roman military stronghold.

Gold ingot, late 4th century, found in Romania, Braşov (county), and Braşov (city)
subject: 4th c (late), Sirmium, gold, 476.2 g, British Museum
description: Gold currency-bar stamped four times with a rectangular stamp recording the name of the procurator, Flavianus and once with the name of the assayer, Lucianus. This is one of a hoard of fifteen such bars found in a Carpathian mountain pass in the 19th century. To ensure the continued purity of the gold coinage, in about AD 367 the emperors ordered all gold coins paid in tax to be melted down into bars before being turned back into coin (Codex Theodosianus 12.6.2), although the presence of gold bars in the late third century Aboukir (Egypt) Hoard suggests that the practice had been in place since at least Tetrarchic times. It was easier to test a smaller number of large bars than millions of individual coins for forgeries to ensure that they were of pure refined gold (obryzium; abbreviated to OB on the coinage at this time and OBR on this bar). Such gold bars represent the intermediate form the gold took after melting and before it was turned back into coins. They are marked with stamps of the assayers Flavianus and Lucianus, to demonstrate the quality of the metal, in this case - as other examples from the hoard attest - from a testing centre at Sirmium (Sremska Mitrovica) near the Danube. Inscription: FL FLAVIANVS PRO●SIG AD DIGMA (branch) LVCIANVS OBR●I●SIG (Christogram)