Abstract: | In Byzantium, images on coins were a means to disseminate information about the state widely and quickly. Portraits of emperors were standard; empresses also sometimes appeared. Between 324 and 802, imperial women served as important ideological resources, and their portraits on coins always served as symbols of state well‐being and especially of legitimacy for the current ruling family. Changes in the coin imagery demonstrate how the mints used images of imperial women to respond to specific political situations, but also allow us to chart broader shifts in Byzantine gender strategies. |