A four keratia “Imperial” glass weight of the Byzantine Period (17 mm in diameter, weighing 0.62 g), used for weighing gold coins. The obverse depicts a haloed Imperial bust above a cross-shaped monogram flanked by two smaller busts. The monogram reads EΥΘAΛIOΝ (‘of Euthalios’ in Greek). Archaeologist have discovered various glass weights weighing either a nomisma (24 keratia), a semissis (12 keratia) or a tremissis (8 keratia), some of them bearing the monogram of the same Euthalios. This is the only example known of a four-keration denomination glass weight.

Weights of this type have been described as ‘Imperial’ due to the presence of one or more imperial busts. The name Euthalios apparently refers to a high-ranking Byzantine official under whose authority the weights were manufactured.


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