The Cult of the Saints and Roman Communities under the Theodosians: Social and Religious Memory on Early Christian Tesserae

This contribution focuses on an extremely rare series of Roman bronze tesserae issued under the Theodosians, which constitute the earliest Christian bronze tokens known to date. In addition to the imperial portraits of Arcadius and Honorius, this limited series of tesserae show depictions referring to the cult of saints. These depictions are variations of experimental motifs in early Christian iconography, not otherwise known on coins or coin-like objects from the Roman period. In addition to the presentation of the material, this article discusses the iconographic and technical connections between tokens, official coinage, and Roman contorniate medallions. It also explores the relationship between the imagery portrayed on these tokens and some of the new pictorial schemes that emerged in early Christian art. These pseudo-monetae enhance our understanding of the techniques used in the manufacture of tokens and monetiform objects throughout the Roman imperial period, and also shed light on otherwise unseen intersections in the development of both early Christian iconography and the cult of saints at the turn of the fourth and fifth centuries AD.