Byzantine coins were prolific for that. I think it was Emperor Justinian II (who lost his nose) that begin the practice of having Jesus on Byzantine coins. Unfortunately, he did not heed the teachings of Christ, he was quite brutal.
Great OP-addition, panzerdawg (sweet coin) Ummm, all I have from that cool century (the 11th century AD) are these two AE examples ... Anonymous Folles, Basil II & Constantine VIII 1020-1028 AD Byzantine, Anonymous AE Follis Class G 1068-1071 AD ... not quite as shiny, but still pretty cool, eh?
It was during the reign of Monomachus that the schism between Catholic and Orthodox took place. Was it not for some few weeks ago the Pope and the Patriarch meet in Cuba? I hope they can solve it. It is after all an invisible man they are fighting over. Nice portraits of Jesus. I say that as an atheist (or soft Christian) which of course may come as a bit of surprise giving my interest in Byzantine coinage. My very crappy Class D anonymous during the reign of Monomachus. You should see a whole Jesus on throne: Then a very nice portrait of Jesus in my Michael VII Doukas follis:
The Michael VII follis is in remarkable quality. Nice coins, I truly believe the copper coinage from Byzantines is really tough to get in good quality.
I am a total atheist. But i admire religious art, and I think every ancient coin collector should have a Byzantine Christ portrait in their collection.
I don't collect Byzantine (have to have a cut off point somehwere), but there are several on this forum I would make an exception for.
