Discussion identifies an authentic Byzantine bronze tessera linked to charitable activities in 6th-century Jerusalem.
The present contribution discusses a Byzantine bronze tessera from a private collection that shows a frontal bust of Christ on the obverse, and a cruciform monogram on the reverse. There are no reasons to doubts its authenticity. Using a parallel from Munich that cites patriarch Ephraim (526-546), it is suggested that the monogram refers to Makarios, patriarch of Jerusalem in 552 and again from 563/4 to 574. The production of bronze tesserae by Byzantine patriarchs in the 6th century seems to have been of limited scope. While the Munich specimen apparently served for the distribution of a piece of clothing, the example presented here does not explicitly state its purpose. By comparison with other tesserae , also here a use in the context of charitable activities is likely.
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Nikolaus Curt Schindel (2025) studied this question.
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