VESTRE SLIDRE, Norway — More than a thousand years after it was minted in Constantinople, a small Byzantine gold coin bearing the image of Jesus Christ has surfaced in the mountains of Norway, offering a glimpse into the long-distance connections that linked the Byzantine Empire with the Scandinavian world. The coin was discovered by a metal detectorist in Vestre Slidre in 2023 and was later identified by archaeologists as a histamenon nomisma, a high-value Byzantine gold coin probably minted in Constantinople sometime between 977 and 1025.