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Follis of Heraclius

613/614
Not on view
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.
The Byzantine Empire issued the gold solidus, or nomisma, used primarily for large transactions such as tax payments, and several denominations of copper coins, the money of daily business transactions. Mints in Antioch and Alexandria supplied the majority of the coinage circulated in the southern provinces. The newly established Arab government inherited an efficient monetary system and made few changes during its first decades. The earliest Islamic coins derive from Byzantine coinage, most frequently that of the early seventh century. The caliph ‘Abd al-Malik (r. 685–705) introduced several issues of distinctively Islamic coinage.
This coin was struck on the eve of the Persian capture of Jerusalem in 614.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Follis of Heraclius
  • Date: 613/614
  • Geography: Made in Jerusalem
  • Medium: Copper
  • Dimensions: Diam: 1 1/4 in. (3.2 cm); wt: 15.5g
  • Classification: Coins
  • Credit Line: Byzantine Collection, Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, D.C. (BZC.2001.5)
  • Curatorial Department: Medieval Art and The Cloisters