Gold solidus of Justinian I, reverse VICTORIA AVGGG with Victory holding a Christogram staff
A gold solidus: the obverse is the emperor's frontal helmeted bust holding a cross-topped orb, the reverse a winged Victory carrying a staff topped with the Christogram and a cross-topped orb, above the mint mark CONOB. The legend VICTORIA AVGGG states victory of the emperors as a standing fact on every coin, and the Christian symbols in Victory's hands attach divine sanction to it.
- Date
- 0538
- Period
- Pre-1914
- Made by
- Byzantine imperial mint at Constantinople, under Emperor Justinian I
- Region
- Middle East and North Africa
- Country
- Byzantine Empire
- Medium
- Banknotes and coins
- Issuer type
- State
- Regime
- Justinian Regime
- Leader
- Justinian I
- Audience
- Mixed
- Purpose
- Reassure
- Themes
- War and the military, Religion
- Techniques
- TransferGlittering generalities
- Source
- Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- Source
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art (Open Access), retrieved September 29, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain (The Met Open Access, CC0; isPublicDomain true in the Met API; object about 1,500 years old)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Bequest of Joseph H. Durkee, 1898 (99.35.7406), Open Access
Text on the object
Obverse: D N IVSTINI[ANVS] P P AVG Reverse: VICTORI[A AVGGG] Ǝ CONOB
Obverse: Our Lord Justinian, Perpetual Augustus. Reverse: Victory of the Augusti [emperors]. [workshop letter]. CONOB (mint mark: Constantinople, gold standard).
Letters in square brackets are worn or partly off the flan and are restored from the standard legend of the type. The final letter after the legend looks like a reversed E on the photograph and is a workshop mark. CONOB is a mint-and-fineness mark, not a word.
