Un prodigioso filatterio monetale nella Costantinopoli del XII secolo. L'epistola 33 di Michele Italico

Michael Italikos, teacher, rhetorician, cleric and physician in Constantinople in the early twelfth century, wrote a long letter to the attuarios of Constantinople (Ep. 33), to accompany the gift of a gold coin necklace. Italikos claims that the coin set in the medallion is of Constantine I. It bears on one side the figure of Constantine, “the most imperial, the most pious, and the best of emperors”, together with Helena, and on the other side an image of Christ in “Roman” guise. The type of the coin also incorporates a cross, and its surrounding inscription is in Latin characters. Italikos further describes the coin as “an imperial nomisma invested with an ineffable power,” which is effective against “all evils” but particularly against disease. As the nomisma of Italikos can’t be a coin of Costantine for numismatic reasons, the essay discusses the real nature of it: late Roman coin?; Byzantine coin?; brattea?; talismanic medal? The most credible hypothesis is that the coin was a nomisma of Justinian II minted in 705-711 AD. Then the author compares the written description of the necklace with coin jewels of Roman and Byzantine times. Thanks to this comparison she is able to suggest an ideal reconstruction of the necklace and of its coin pendant. Afterwards, the paper considers the supernatural powers of the coin coming, Italikos says, not simply from the cross graved on it but from the coin itself. The last part gives some explanatory examples of the amuletic use of coins in ancient and modern times. The Appendix provides a new translation of the letter of Italikos by C. M. Mazzucchi.