Byzantine Portrait of Christ

Constantine "The Great", the first Christian Roman Emperor, re-founded the city of Byzantium as Constantinople in the year 330 AD. He was able to establish a harmony of church and state that endured, and helped maintain the Eastern Roman Empire even after the collapse of Rome in the 5th Century. There was an entire culture centered around Christianity that endured for hundreds of years, and it is reflectively referred to as the Byzantine Empire. Reliquary crosses are made of bronze, and as the name indicates, were used to hold a "holy relic" inside, like an ancient locket. To the people of the Byzantine Empire, a relic could have been something as precious as a splinter of wood from the original cross that held Christ, a fragment of bone of a saint, or some small representative sacred item. The crosses were often two sided, hinged back to back (which are extremely rare to find today intact), and on one side, they feature Jesus Christ Crucified, with his arms outstretched, and the other side shows Christ ascending to heaven, with his elbows bent.