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Herakleios, Herakleios Constantine, and Heraklonas (638–641)

 
 

Obverse

The Mother of God standing, wearing a chiton and maphorion, and holding Christ before her. A small cross potent at mid-level at left and right. Wreath border.

Reverse

Three emperors standing: in center, Herakleios, bearded; at left, Heraklonas, beardless; and at right, Herakleios Constantine, beardless. Each figure wears a crown with a cross and a chlamys and holds a globus cruciger in his right hand. Each emperor’s hair is worn long at the sides and curled; additionally, Herakleios’s hair is quite full, and his sidelocks are combed downward and outward. No inscription. Wreath border.

Obverse

The Mother of God standing, wearing a chiton and maphorion, and holding Christ before her. A small cross potent at mid-level at left and right. Wreath border.

Reverse

Three emperors standing: in center, Herakleios, bearded; at left, Heraklonas, beardless; and at right, Herakleios Constantine, beardless. Each figure wears a crown with a cross and a chlamys and holds a globus cruciger in his right hand. Each emperor’s hair is worn long at the sides and curled; additionally, Herakleios’s hair is quite full, and his sidelocks are combed downward and outward. No inscription. Wreath border.

Accession number BZS.1951.31.5.1630
Diameter 30.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 6, no. 17.9.

Credit Line Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of Thomas Whittemore.

Commentary

The empress Martina’s eldest surviving son, Heraklonas, who was born in Lazica in 625 or 626, was raised to the rank of caesar on 1 January 632 and became an augustus in July of 638.  Early coins depict a diminutive Heraklonas wearing a cap with a cross above his head.  The transition from cap to crown with cross is generally considered as signalling Heraklonas’s rise to augustus.  The increasing size of Heraklonas relative to Herakleios Constantine marks the passage of years.

The Mother of God’s face is oblong, and her right hand is held below Christ’s foot. In addition, her chiton widens below the waist.  Heraklonas is shown as slightly shorter than Herakleios Constantine.

Bibliography

  • Catalogue of Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Oaks and in the Fogg Museum of Art, Vol. 6, Emperors, Patriarchs of Constantinople, Addenda (Open in Zotero)