787 Byzantine Jesus Christ coin pendant

Although Byzantium was originally founded as a Greek colony in 667 BC and named after the Greek King ‘Byzas’, the Byzantine Empire is the term used to describe the East Roman Empire (or Nova Roma) of which the capital was named Constantinople in 330 AD after Constantine the Great. From this point on until the capturing of Constantinople in 1453 by the Ottomans, the synthesis of classical Greek, Roman and Christianized Roman culture created unrivalled achievements in art, important leaps in architecture and magnificent gold and silversmithing, that was extremely apparent  coins of the era.