Timeless are pleased to offer a well preserved and intricately decorated Bronze Buckle, dating well over a thousand years old.
The Byzantine Empire, at its height stretching from modern-day Syria to Spanish Andalucía, was simply a continuation of the Roman Empire that collapsed in Western Europe in the fifth century A.D.
Following this collapse, the empire’s ruling city shifted from Rome to its eastern capital, Byzantium (in modern-day Turkey). This ‘Empire in the East’ was only termed Byzantium by scholars a thousand years later — at the time, its inhabitants referred to themselves as ‘Roman’, and Byzantium as ’New Rome’.
The decision to move the empire’s capital to Byzantium was made by Constantine I in May, 330 A.D. and it wasn’t long before Byzantium became known as the ‘City of Constantine’ or Constantinople — now modern-day Istanbul. Situated on a natural harbour, and defended by the legendary Theodosian Walls, Constantinople would remain unconquered for a further 1100 years until overwhelmed by the Ottomans in 1453 A.D.
This is an unusual and robust buckle displays a beautifully decorated oval frame, an offset, narrowed bar and a shouldered closed-loop pin. It dates between the 6th and 10th centuries A.D.
One of a large collection now available in the Timeless Galleries
DECORATED BYZANTINE BRONZE BUCKLE
Acquired by Timeless on the UK Antiquities Market, 2018, previously forming part of a private European collection formed prior to 1990.