c. 969–976

John I Tzimiskes-era Christ coinage

A bronze follis is compared with facial features on the Shroud.

The coin is material evidence for Byzantine iconography. Resemblance is an interpretation and does not prove the engraver saw the Turin cloth.

Coins from the reign of John I Tzimiskes (969–976) belong to a period when Christ’s image had become a familiar component of Byzantine visual culture. The coinage places religious imagery alongside imperial titles and authority, in a compact medium used across the empire. Specific coin types are datable objects and can be compared against other Byzantine representations.¹

What the surviving source says

A resemblance between a coin portrait and the face on the Shroud is an art-historical argument, not a description of the coin’s model. Byzantine artists used repeated conventions for hair, beard, eyes and frontal pose; similarities may result from shared visual types rather than direct access to a particular textile.¹²

Historical significance and limits

The coin is evidence for the history of Christ iconography. It cannot independently date the Shroud or demonstrate that the image on the coin was copied from it.²³

Sources and further reading

1. Mark Guscin, The Tradition of the Image of Edessa (source study). Consult the cited passage in the full source and its transmission context; the article distinguishes the source’s wording from later interpretation.
2. Otangelo Grasso, The Image That Should Not Exist: A Scientific Investigation of the Shroud of Turin (2026), ch. 2, “Origins and Historical Record,” pp. 23–31, and ch. 17, “The Mandylion, Art, and the Historical Record,” pp. 232–243. Author synthesis; not an independent witness.
3. Otangelo Grasso, From Forensics to Faith (2026), ch. 2, “Pre-1355 History,” pp. 32–125, and ch. 3, “6th to 14th Century History,” pp. 126–194. The book advances a proposed reconstruction; claims are assessed here against the primary texts.
4. Otangelo Grasso, Chronological List of Pre-1356 Literature Mentioning the Shroud and Christ’s Burial Cloth (20 July 2025), pp. 1–9. Prepared with AI assistance and used as a research checklist; its identifications and confidence labels are not treated as verified facts.
5. Andrea Nicolotti, From the Mandylion of Edessa to the Shroud of Turin (critical study). Further reading or contextual source retained from this event’s earlier bibliography.