This is the Monomachus Crown, though itโs not a crown in the usual sense.
Itโs made of 7 gold plaques with small holes around the edges, which suggests they were stitched on cloth or leather band rather than forming a solid metal circle.
Scholars still debate exactly how it was worn and what its precise function was.
The plates depict different figures: the Byzantine Emperor Constantine IX Monomachus in the center, flanked by Empress Zoe (his wife) and her sister Empress Theodora, plus 2 female dancers and 2 figures usually interpreted as Modesty and Truth.
Made in Constantinople around 1042, the set was discovered in 1860 by a farmer plowing a field near what is now Ivanka pri Nitre in Slovakia (then part of the Kingdom of Hungary).
๐ Hungarian National Museum, Budapest
