Srebrenik of Vladimir

In our previous article, we talked about the beautiful
Byzantine golden solid . Today's story is about the ruler of Kievan Rus, who adopted Christianity as the state religion, Vladimir the Great, and about the beginning of the coinage of Kievan Rus. After the death of Prince Svyatoslav, the territory of Kievan Rus was under the control of his three sons. During the war between them, the eldest, Vladimir, who relied on the military power of the Varangians, won. In 988, Vladimir declared Christianity the state religion of Kievan Rus. Soon the minting of coins was started, before that, on the lands of Russia, Umayyad, Abbasid and Samanid dirhams were in circulation.
Let's take a closer look at the coin. It largely repeats the traditional design of Byzantine coins of that period. On the obverse - the figure of the ruler (prince) on the reverse - Christ the Almighty. The obverse is of particular interest to us. The portrait image on the coins is the only relatively realistic one. A decisive break with the Scandinavians is expressed in the fact that the prince is depicted without a beard (which is traditional for the Varangians), but with a mustache according to the tradition of Russia (this is how John Tzimiskes described his father Svyatoslav). And although the prince has a staff with a cross in his hands, his headdress retains pre-Christian features. And of course, the trident is perfectly visible on the coin, which after 1000 years became the coat of arms of independent Ukraine. You can replenish your collection with numismatic artifacts of Kievan Rus and thereby preserve them for future generations in the corresponding section
Violity.