Justinian, 527-565. Pentanummium

Justinian I, Pentanummium, AE, AD 527–565, 3.84 g, 16 mm; Constantinople.

Obverse: D N IVSTINIANVS PP AVG; diademed, draped, and cuirassed bust right. Reverse: Large E surmounted by cross, mark of value for five nummi. Struck in bronze on a small-module flan characteristic of the denomination. Reference: Sear Byzantine 170.

This five-nummi bronze belongs to the post-498 Byzantine fiduciary system established after Anastasius’s reform, retained and expanded under Justinian I. The large E serves as an explicit denomination mark, while the cross reflects the state’s Christian identity in official iconography. Constantinople, the primary imperial mint, produced such small change in substantial quantities to facilitate everyday transactions in the capital during Justinian’s long reign.