Theodora - the empress, who returned the veneration of icons, and the solidus of the period of her regency

Dear Readers! In our previous article, we talked about solidus of Michael III. In this article we will also present another Michael III solid (Fig. 5,6,7). But our main story will be about Empress Theodora and her regency under the minor emperor Michael III.

Theodora was the wife of Theophilus (the iconoclast emperor Theophilus). Theodora herself came from a family where the tradition of worshiping icons was preserved. After the death of the emperor in 842, Theodora headed the regency council under the minor Michael III. The main directions of Theodora's activity were the restoration of veneration of icons and the fight against the attack of the Arabs and Bulgarians. The war with the Bulgarians was especially successful: as a result, the Bulgarians agreed to convert to Christianity.

The main act of Theodora was the return of the veneration of icons and the condemnation of iconoclasm. For this act, the Orthodox Church canonized. Thus, the coin gives us a rare opportunity to see a realistic portrait of a Christian saint.

With her reasonable management, Theodora left a large reserve in the treasury of the empire, about which she reported during the transfer of power to her son in 856. The images of Christ on coins became the numismatic legacy of the restoration of icon veneration. The coin of the independent reign of Michael III is shown in Fig. 4, 5, 6.

And, of course, we remind you that you can buy gold coins of Byzantium in this section.

Empress Theodora. Miniature from Minology of Vasily II, late XX - early XI centuries.
Obverse. Portrait of Theodora on the solidus of the regency period
Reverse. Portrait of the juvenile emperor Michael III and his sister Thekla