The oldest Russian coins, in gold (slatnik) or silver (srebrenik), date back to the end of the century. 10th or at the beginning of the following. The gold and most of the silver coins were minted by Grand Duke Vladimir I of Kiev; other silver issues are due to the grand dukes Svyatopolk (1015 / 1016-1018) and Jaroslav the Wise. Vladimir’s gold and silver coins belonging to the so-called first type (there are four types in all) bear the effigy of the prince on the obverse and the depiction of the Pantocrator on the reverse. The silver coins of the other types bear the image of the Grand Duke on the throne, while those of the Grand Duke Jaroslav depict St. George half-length on the obverse and a trident – coat of arms of the Rjurikidi family – on the reverse (those of Prince Svyatopolk have instead the bident). The close commercial, political and cultural contacts between the Byzantine Empire and the medieval Russia, and the conversion of the latter to Christianity, left a significant imprint on the ancient Russian coinage, so much so that until the early century. 19th the ancient coins were exchanged for Byzantine issues. In fact, the image of the Pantocrator on Russian coins is similar to that on the Byzantine solids of Basil II (976-1025) and Constantine VIII (1025-1028), while many details of the effigy of the prince seated on the throne find similarities in the Constantinopolitan coins: this applies in particular to the throne in the silver coins of the third type or to the flat headdress-coat of arms in some silver coins of the fourth type. The ancient Russian coins, however, differ from the Byzantine ones for the lesser relief of the images represented, for the almost absence of spatial depth and for the disproportion of the hands and legs. On the other hand, the elongated face of the Grand Duke, the long hanging mustache, the hands crossed on the chest (silver coins of the third type), the robe, now in the guise of a cloak closed with a fibula, now of a metal mesh, testify to the aspiration of the cone carvers to make the portrait plausible. The large silver coins of Jaroslav are distinguished from the previous ones for their refined composition, for the volume and the refinement of the design; these characters are probably explained by the influence exerted on the executor of the coin by the images of Byzantine sphragistics. The minting of the oldest coins was followed by a long period of interruption of the Russian coinage and local issues reappeared in Russia only in the second half of the century. 14th, following the victory in the liberation struggle against the Tatar-Mongol yoke and the strengthening of the Russian duchies. The main coins were the silver dengà and, starting from 1534, the silver kopeck, worth two dengas; in the sec. 15th in many cities copper pul was minted. The silver coins had a diameter of 25-28 mm, the dengà and the kopeck usually did not exceed 15-16 mm and sometimes had even smaller sizes. Despite the limited surface of the round, the creativity of the conî engravers is expressed in the variety and often in the complexity of the mythological, religious and profane subjects: in fact, on the coins there are dragons, centaurs, griffins, various birds, hunting scenes with falcon, bear hunting, knights with rod or bow, warriors with shields and broadswords. Representations of the labors of Hercules appear on the coins of the grand duchy of Tver ‘: Hercules tearing the jaws of the Nemean lion, killing the hydra of Lerna, or hitting the birds of the Stymphalus swamp with his arrows; the first work of Hercules also appears on the coins of numerous other Russian duchies. The ascent into heaven of Alexander I of Macedon, known in Byzantine sphragistics, is reflected in the subject depicted on the dengà by Boris Aleksandrovic Tverskij (1425-1461).Numerous representations on the coins recall the subjects of the reliefs and sculptural decorations of the cathedral of St. Demetrius in Kiev. On the coins of the Grand Duchy of Rostov and some other duchies the image of a man with an ax and a human head appears in front of him: it is the depiction of St. John the Baptist, which has its roots in Byzantine illustrations of evangelical subjects and which is often found in Russian sphragistics. On the obverse of the Novgorod coins of the years 1420-1477 / 1478 there is a composition of two human figures, susceptible to different interpretations: according to some scholars, the composition was born thanks to the knowledge that in Eastern Europe there were Venetian duchies depicting St. Mark and the doge kneeling.
