Page:The age of Justinian and Theodora (Volume 1).djvu/147

 actual use, approximately quarter-farthings, and less even than continental centimes, etc. The money of old Byzantium was generally figured with a crescent and a star, or with a dolphin contorted round a trident, but the Imperial coinage of Constantinople is stamped on the obverse with the bust of the reigning emperor, and on the reverse, in the case of gold or silver pieces, with a figure of Victory bearing a cross and a crown or some similar device. On the reverse of copper coins, with accompanying crosses and even crescents, we find a large letter—M, K, I, or E—indicating that they contain 40, 20, 10, or 5 nummia respectively. As specimens of art the coinage of this epoch appears degraded to the most uncritical eye.

The population of Constantinople in the sixth century is*