Semissis of Anastasius I

In the pictureAgainst a black background, the obverse of a single gold coin glows brightly. The emperor appears in profile facing right, wearing a diadem strung with pearls, with a large pearl ornament beside his ear and ties hanging behind his head. On his chest, armor and a cloak fastened at the shoulder can be seen. Latin letters run in a circle along the edge, and the outermost rim is lined with small dots. Because this is an enlarged photo of a coin a little over 14 mm across, and the original photo is small, the letters and contours look somewhat blurred.

BackgroundAnastasius I (r. 491–518) is known as the emperor who reorganized the copper coinage and left a well-stocked treasury, and his reform of around 498, which introduced the large copper coin called the follis, is especially famous. The dates the museum gives, 491–518, match his reign. The right-facing profile portrait is a long tradition of Roman coins, and later Byzantine coins gradually shifted to frontal portraits. It has the same weight unit as the semissis of Pulcheria that came in the same bequest, but differs in that the photo of that coin shows the reverse with a cross, while this one shows the obverse with the emperor's face.

Puzzle tipThe picture is simple, just a gold circle and a black background, so 24 pieces suits it. Fit the pieces of the emperor's face and pearl diadem first, and judge where the edge lettering pieces sit on the circle by the angle at which the letters tilt. Because the face points right, the pieces with ties hanging from the diadem go on the left, and the folds of the cloak at lower right serve as the reference for the bottom. Fill in the black background pieces last, going by shape alone.