The Emperor, the Palace and the Mint

Unlike what can be observed for medieval Western Europe, the minting of coinage in the Byzantine empire had always been an imperial prerogative. As such, there was a strong and direct connection between the mint and the palace: although the literary and archaeological evidence is scanty, it clearly indicates that the imperial mint of Constantinople was located within the premises of the Great Palace. Its products (mainly coins, but possibly also silver plates and bouloteria for imperial seals) formed an important component of court ceremony, while at the same time they conveyed the imperial ideology both within the boundaries of the empire, as well as beyond, by means of trade and diplomatic gifts.



On the basis of documentary and archaeological evidence, this paper investigates the physical and ideological connection between the palace and the mint, as well as the role of the latter’s products in court ceremony and the dissemination of imperial ideology.

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