European historical evidence of the supernova of AD 1054 coins of Constantine IX and SN 1054

TL;DR

This study examines 11th-century coins from the Eastern Roman Empire to find possible visual evidence of the supernova of AD 1054, linking historical numismatic artifacts with astronomical and religious symbolism.

Contribution

It proposes a novel interpretation of Constantine IX coins as depicting the SN 1054 supernova and explores the cultural and religious context influencing their design.

Findings

Coins likely minted in 1054 show symbolic representations of the supernova and celestial bodies.

The coin imagery may reflect the political and religious tensions during the Great Schism.

No exact dating of coins, but most probably from the last six months of 1054.

Abstract

We investigate a possible depiction of the famous SN 1054 event in specially minted coins produced in the Eastern Roman Empire in 1054 A.D. On these coins, we investigate if the head of the Emperor, Constantine IX, might represent the Sun with a bright 'star' on either side - Venus in the east and SN 1054 in the west, perhaps also representing the newly split Christian churches. We explore the idea that the eastern star represents the stable and well-known Venus and the Eastern Orthodox Church, while the western star represents the short-lived 'new star' and the 'fading' Western Catholic church. We examined 36 coins of this rare Constantine IX Class IV batch. While no exact date could be associated to any of these coins, they most likely were minted during the last six months of Constantine IX's rule in 1054. We hypothesise that the stance of the church concerning the order of the Universe, as well as the chaos surrounding the Great Schism, played a crucial role in stopping the official reporting of an obvious event in the sky, yet a dangerous omen. A temporal coincidence of all these events could be a reasonable explanation as well.