Origin: Eastern Mediterranean
Circa: 527 AD to 565 AD
Collection: Coin Jewelry
Style: Byzantine Coin Rings
Medium: Gold
This genuine Ancient Byzantine gold coin has been set in a modern 18 karat gold ring.The reign of Justinian was a turning point in Late Antiquity. It is the period when paganism finally lost its long struggle to survive, and when the schism in Christianity between the Monophysite east and the Chalcedonian west became insurmountable. From a military viewpoint, it marked the last time that the Roman Empire could go on the offensive with hope of success. Africa and Italy were recovered, and a foothold was established in Spain. When Justinian died, the frontiers were still intact although the Balkans had been devastated by a series of raids and the Italian economy was in ruins. His extensive building program has left us the most celebrated example of Byzantine ecclesiastical architecture that still survives: the Hagia Sophia in modern Istanbul. His reign was a period when classical culture was in sharp decline and yet it had a last flowering, with historians such as Procopius and Agathias working within the tradition inherited from Herodotus and Thucydides, and poets such as Paul the Silentiary who wrote some of the most sensuous poems that the classical tradition has ever produced. The Codex Justinianus, the Institutes and the Digest of Roman jurisprudence, all commissioned by Justinian, are monuments to the past achievements of Roman legal heritage. Justinian's reign sums up the past. It also provides a matrix for the future. In particular, there was the bubonic plague, which appeared in Constantinople in 542, for the first time in Europe, and then traveled round the empire in search of victims, returning to the capital for a new crop in 558. The plague ended a period of economic growth and initiated one of overstrained resources.This stunning ring evokes the glory and beauty of the early Christian era and its flowering. The gold of the ring and the gold of the coin both complement each other. Together, the two hues merge into a lustrous splendor of precious metal. The course of Europe and the world would forever change due to the efforts of Justinian I. There is an eternal splendor to this ring, a beauty that radiates from within the coin and envelopes the gold setting. To wear this ring is to evoke the spirit of change. For although time changes and worlds evolve, true beauty and elegance as defined by this ring are eternal and immune to the fancies and whims of individual tastes. - (FJ.6615)

Antiquities
Ancient Jewelry