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Dinar Grosso - Stefan Uroš II Milutin
| Issuer | Serbia (medieval) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1282-1321 |
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| Technique | Hammered |
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| Obverse description | Two standing figures depicted in full face on the obverse: at right, Saint Stephen, nimbate, robed in ecclesiastical vestments, holding the Gospel book in his left hand; at left, King Stefan Uroš II Milutin, standing facing, receiving from the saint a banner (labarum) inscribed REX. The figures are rendered in the characteristic flat, linear style of medieval Serbian hammered coinage. The legend, divided across the field, reads VROSIVS REX SSTEFAN, identifying the king and his royal title. |
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| Reverse description | Christ Pantocrator enthroned in majesty, depicted full-face, seated on a high-backed throne, wearing imperial robes and a cruciform nimbus. He holds the Gospel book with both hands before his chest in a formal, hieratic pose consistent with Byzantine iconographic tradition. The abbreviated Greek inscription IC XC flanks the figure in the left and right fields, identifying Jesus Christ. The overall composition reflects the strong Byzantine artistic influence prevalent in Serbian medieval coinage of the late 13th and early 14th centuries. |
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| Additional information |
Stefan Uroš II Milutin ruled Serbia for nearly four decades — an unusually long reign for the medieval Balkans — and his silver coinage reflects both his political ambitions and his close entanglement with Byzantine affairs. He seized the Macedonian towns of Štip, Veles, and Skopje from Byzantium around 1282, and the wealth extracted from newly acquired territories, including productive silver mines, funded a prolific minting program. His 1299 marriage to the five-year-old Byzantine princess Simonida, daughter of Andronikos II, came packaged with territorial concessions that further consolidated his holdings.
The dinar grosso type itself follows the Venetian grosso model that spread through Balkan minting in the late thirteenth century.