Coins of the Eastern Roman empire from the collection of the Chinese Numismatic Museum

Ethnic and cultural processes in Eurasia at the turn of Antiquity and Middle Ages are reflected in various types of artifacts. Coins belong to one of the most accurately dated varieties of inventory. Despite the fact that about a hundred coins of the Eastern Roman Empire have been found in the People ’s Republic of China (including copies and imitations of various qualities, the so-called “bracteates” and “indications”), the chronological framework of Byzantine coins in China is still unclear. Coins have been primarily found in Northwest China (Xinjiang-Uighur and Ningxia-Hui Autonomous Regions), as well as Central China, and even in the southeastern Zhejiang Province. According to the results of excavations since the late 19 th century, it can be confidently established that genuine solidi of emperors from Theodosius II (402-450 AD) to Constantine V (741-775 AD) reached the Western Regions (Xiyu) and Huanghe Valley, and subsequently served as models for numerous copies and imitations which have been discovered in China and Mongolia. However, a significant number of museum exhibits with the unknown context of discovery expand the period mentioned above twice to the time from Emperor Flavius Gratianus (367-383 AD) to Michael VII Doukas (1071-1078 AD). For the first time in Russian scholarship, the data on twenty-three Eastern Roman coins from the Chinese Museum of Numismatics (Beijing) is presented in this article.