Buckle with Embossed Head in Profile

This medallion of Christ is from a group of twelve that once surrounded an icon of the archangel Gabriel. Period: Middle Byzantine, circa: ca. 1100, Made in Constantinople, Materials: Gold, silver, and enamel worked in cloisonné. The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York) is one of the world’s largest and finest art museums. Its collection includes more than two million works of art spanning five thousand years of world culture, from prehistory to the present and from every part of the globe. Public Hours: 10:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m. Open seven days a week.

Gold Earrings, Period: Early Byzantine, circa: 6th century A.D. Made in: Constantinople, Materials: Gold. In the Istanbul Archaeological Museum collections, there are rich and very important works of art belonging to various civilizations from the regions from Africa to Balkans , from Anatolia and Mesopotamia to Arab Peninsula and Afghanistan that were in the borders of the Ottoman Empire.

Panel with St. Peter or St. Paul, Period: Early Byzantine circa: 500s, Made in Byzantine Egypt, Materials: Ivory. Dimensions: 9 1/8 x 4 1/8 x 5/16 in. (23.1 x 10.5 x 0.8 cm). On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 300. The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York) is one of the world’s largest and finest art museums. Its collection includes more than two million works of art spanning five thousand years of world culture, from prehistory to the present and from every part of the globe. Public Hours: 10:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m. Open seven days a week.

Paten with the Communion of the Apostles, Period: Early Byzantine (565-578 A.D.) Materials: silver, gilding and niello. The museum is open to the public Tuesday through Sunday, 11:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m., except for federal holidays.

Benediction Cross, Period: Late Byzantine, circa: 1200s-1400s. Materials: black schist, gold, silver. The Cleveland Art Museum Hours: Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays, Sundays 10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m. Wednesdays, Fridays 10:00 a.m.–9:00 p.m. Closed Mondays.

Ring of Leontios, Period: Middle Byzantine, circa: 1000, Materials: Gold, niello, Inscribed: “Lord help Leontius, Patrician and Count of imperial Obsikion guarded by God”. The ring came from Leontios of the district of Opsikion, in exactly what is currently northwestern Turkey. Patrikios as well as komes were Roman titles that moved in definition throughout the Byzantine period; it promises that Leontios was the guv of the district or an upper-level general. On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 303 . The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York) is one of the world’s largest and finest art museums. Its collection includes more than two million works of art spanning five thousand years of world culture, from prehistory to the present and from every part of the globe. Public Hours: 10:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m. Open seven days a week.

Heraldic Eagle. Decorated with a garnet and glass paste. Material: gold. Period: Early Byzantine; circa:  6th-7th century. The Benaki Museum of Greek Culture is housed in one of the most beautiful neoclassical-style buildings in Athens, near the National Garden and the Hellenic Parliament. It was converted into a museum in order to shelter the collections of Antonis Benakis and was donated to the Greek nation by himself and his three sisters, Alexandra, Penelope and Argine. Following its most recent refurbishment (1989–2000), the building houses a unique exhibition on Greek culture arranged diachronically from prehistory to the 20th century.

Earring; Period: Early Byzantine; circa: 6thC-7thC; Made in: Tharros. Materials: gold; with pearl and amethyst. Dimensions: Length: 35 millimetres. British Museum is closed 24, 25 and 26 December and 1 January, but is open every other day of the year. Fast facts about the British Museum: Founded: 1753, Collection size: 8 million objects, Oldest object in the collection: Stone chopping tool (nearly 2 million years old).

Fragment of a Floor Mosaic- Adam and Eve, Period: late 400s-early 500s, Early Byzantium, Northern Syria. The Cleveland Art Museum Hours: Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays, Sundays 10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m. Wednesdays, Fridays 10:00 a.m.–9:00 p.m. Closed Mondays.

Lamp for a Stand, Period: Early Byzantine. Material: Bronze.  Found: Egypt. In the shape of a peacock, with circular foot; the spout is at the end of the tail, and the hole for filling in the back is covered by a hinged leaf-shaped lid.

British Museum is closed 24, 25 and 26 December and 1 January, but is open every other day of the year. Fast facts about the British Museum: Founded: 1753, Collection size: 8 million objects, Oldest object in the collection: Stone chopping tool (nearly 2 million years old).

Plate of a buckle or brooch; gold; Period: 4th c., Late Roman/Early Byzantine. 3 hefty studs at the back, as well as tubes for a joint at one side. In the centrea a little nielloed medallion with a hefty pearled border consisting of the bust of a beardless nimbed emperor wearing a chlamys with big fibula. Over and also below are 3 almond-shaped lobes, each center one embossed to simulate a leaf. Found Place: Anatolia, Turkey (?)

British Museum is closed 24, 25 and 26 December and 1 January, but is open every other day of the year. Fast facts about the British Museum: Founded: 1753, Collection size: 8 million objects, Oldest object in the collection: Stone chopping tool (nearly 2 million years old).

Plate with David Slaying a Lion, Period: Early Byzantine, circa: 629–630, Materials: Silver, Made in Constantinople, The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York) is one of the world’s largest and finest art museums. Its collection includes more than two million works of art spanning five thousand years of world culture, from prehistory to the present and from every part of the globe. Public Hours: 10:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m. Open seven days a week.

Ring, Materials: Gold. Period: Early Byzantine; circa: 6th-7th c. Ring with busts of saints on the shank and a representation of the Annunciation on the bezel with details picked out in niello. The Benaki Museum of Greek Culture is housed in one of the most beautiful neoclassical-style buildings in Athens, near the National Garden and the Hellenic Parliament.

Solidus of Constans II, Period: Early Byzantine, circa: 651–654. Minted in: Constantinople. Material: Gold. The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston is open 7 days a week. Monday and Tuesday 10 am–5 pm, Wednesday–Friday 10 am–10 pm, Saturday and Sunday 10 am–5 pm.

Fragmentary Bracelet with Medallion of Emperor in a Chariot, Period: Early Byzantine, 6th century, Material: gold Found: Said to have been found at Latakia, Syria in 1948. The museum is open to the public Tuesday through Sunday, 11:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m., except for federal holidays.

Steelyard Weight with a Bust of a Byzantine Empress and a Hook. This Byzantine steelyard weight dates from the first half of the 5th century. The bronze hook would permit it to be suspended from and moved along a ruled steelyard to determine the weight of an item hung from the opposite end. The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York) is one of the world’s largest and finest art museums. Its collection includes more than two million works of art spanning five thousand years of world culture, from prehistory to the present and from every part of the globe. Public Hours: 10:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m. Open seven days a week.

Griffin’s Head Lamp, Period: Early Byzantine, circa 4th-5th century. Purchased from George Zacos (dealer), Istanbul by Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, DC, July 1962. The museum is open to the public Tuesday through Sunday, 11:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m., except for federal holidays.

Fragment of a Floor Mosaic with a Personification of Ktisis, Period: Early Byzantine circa: 500–550, with modern restoration. Materials: Marble and glass. The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York) is one of the world’s largest and finest art museums. Its collection includes more than two million works of art spanning five thousand years of world culture, from prehistory to the present and from every part of the globe. Public Hours: 10:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m. Open seven days a week.

Bowl; circular medallion with half-figure of a nimbed saint, St Sergios. Period: Early Byzantine; circa: 641-651; Materials: Silver.  Production place: Made in Tarsus, Anatolia (Modern Turkey). Found: Acheripoetos Monastery, Cyprus,Nicosia. British Museum is closed 24, 25 and 26 December and 1 January, but is open every other day of the year.

Fast facts about the British Museum: Founded: 1753, Collection size: 8 million objects, Oldest object in the collection: Stone chopping tool (nearly 2 million years old).

The Antioch Chalice, Period: Early Byzantine, circa: 500–550, Made in Antioch or Kaper Koraon, Materials: Silver, silver-gilt. On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 300. The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York) is one of the world’s largest and finest art museums. Its collection includes more than two million works of art spanning five thousand years of world culture, from prehistory to the present and from every part of the globe. Public Hours: 10:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m. Open seven days a week.