On Pilgrimage: To See a Pilgrim: Contemporary Coinage Portraits of St Helena

Dr Craig Barclay's video is available via the IMEMS Facebook Page.

Abstract

The empress Helena – wife of Constantius Chlorus and mother of Constantine the Great – is sometimes described as the first pilgrim to the Holy Land. It is certainly the case that she travelled to Palestine and other eastern provinces in around AD 326-28 as representative of Constantine. According to Eusebius, whilst there she established a Christian basilica in Bethlehem and embarked upon the construction of a new church on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem.

In the wake of Helena’s journey, numerous legends grew up around her piety and holy deeds and, by the latter part of the 4th century AD, she was widely regarded as having been the discoverer of the True Cross.

Helena’s image is frequently to be found decorating coins issued by both her son and her grandsons. This short illustrated presentation will explore how these representations developed during her lifetime and how portraits of the empress a continued to appear on coins in the centuries after her death.

Biography

Dr Craig Barclay is Head of Museums, Galleries and Exhibitions at Durham University. He has a long-standing interest in Roman coinage and teaches on the subject at BA and MA level within the Department of Archaeology

Suggested Readings

Abdy, R. 2012. “The Tetrarchy & the House of Constantine”, in Metcalf, W.E. (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Greek & Roman Coinage. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Bruun, P. 1966. The Roman Imperial Coinage, Vol. VII, Constantine and Licinius A.D. 313 - 337. London: Spink.

Carson, R.A.G. 1981. The Principal Coins of the Romans III: The Dominate, AD 294-498. London: British Museum Publications.

Hartley, E., Hawkes, J., Henig, M., and Mee, F. 2006. Constantine the Great: York’s Roman Emperor. Aldershot: Lund Humphries