Museum island part 4 (Byzantine sculpture and coins)

Byzantine ivory art had almost always the same artistic theme. Pictures from significant religious events of christianity.

Ivory was a precious material that was used by Byzantine artists up to the 7th century when the empire started to gradually decline. 

A triptych. A three part case like picture which closes and consists of three parts.

Προσθήκη λεζάντας

Mother Mary crowns a Byzantine emperor

The early Byzantine artwork shows that Eastern influences that would be obvious in Byzantine iconography were still nonexistent.

Ivory artwork was also used for decoration of wealthy Byzantine houses

Ivory sculpture that shows Jesus' life.

Roman statues were more detailed and bigger than their greek counterparts. Roman investments on art and abundance of money were the key factors.

Two peacocks drinking from a spring

There were many warrior saints in Christendom and most of them were deeply revered.

Early Byzantine sculpture was almost similar to Roman sculpture.

A sculpture that shows an event at the Byzantine  hippodrome

A bust of a Byzantine emperor.

Early Byzantine emperors were depicted in sculptures just like their older Roman emperors of the past.

A sculpture that shows a scene of the apocalypse.

A sculpture that shows the patriarch of the Medici family. The famous bankers of Medieval Florence.

Byzantine currency showed mostly the emperor who was the head of the state most of the times with jesus christ on his side.

Byzantine currency circulated all around the Mediterranean especially until the age of Emperor Justinian.

Perseus. The last king of Macedon before the Roman conquest.

Olympias, The mother of Alexander the Great

Philip the father of Alexander the Great.

Alexander the Great.

Emperor Leo II

Emperor Basiliscus

Emperor Alexander of the Byzantine empire

Emperor Constantine VII

Emperor John Tzimiskes

Emperor Constantine VIII

Emperor Michael V (Kalaphates)

Empress Theodora

One of the most famous coins of ancient Greece. The Athenean drachma with the owl. Nowadays the Greek 1 euro coin shows the same owl.