Everything about Byzantine Coinage totally explained
Byzantine currency, money used in the
Eastern Roman Empire after the fall of the West, consisted of mainly two types of
coins: the
gold solidus and a variety of clearly valued
bronze coins. By the end of the empire the currency was issued only in silver stavraton and minor copper coins with no gold issue
which was inconvenient because a large number of them were required even for small transactions.
The new bronze coins called a
follis weighed at 8.5 grs and were made from the multiple versions of this coin such as the 40
nummi (follis), 20 nummi, 10 nummi, and 5 nummi coins (other denominations were occasionally produced). The obverse (front) of these coins featured a highly stylized portrait of the emperor while the reverse (back) featured the value of the denomination represented according to the
Greek numbering system (M=40,K=20,I=10,E=5). Silver coins were rarely produced.
The only (semi)regularly issued silver coin was the
Miliaresion issued be
Leo III sometime between 717 and 741, and its double
Hexagram first issued by
Heraclius in
615 which lasted till the end of the 6th century, minted in varying fineness with a weight generally between 7.5 and 8.5 grams. The Miliaresion was minted as early as the
6th century, but seems most common in the seventh through ninth centuries. Small transactions were conducted with bronze coinage throughout this period.
The golden
solidus remained a standard of international commerce until the eleventh century, when it began to be debased under successive emperors beginning in the
1030s under the emperor
Romanos Argyros (
1028–
1034). Until that time, the fineness of the gold remained consistent at about .955-.980.
The Byzantine monetary system changed during the 7th century when the 40 nummi (also known as the
follis), now significantly smaller, became the only bronze coin to be regularly issued. Although
Justinian II (
685–
695 and
705–
711) attempted a restoration of the follis size of
Justinian I, the follis continued to slowly decrease in size.
In the early ninth century, a three-fourths-weight solidus was issued in parallel with a full-weight solidus, both preserving the standard of fineness, under a failed plan to force the market to accept the underweight coins at the value of the full weight coins. The three-fourths weight coin was called a
Tetarteron (a
Greek comparative adjective, literally "fourth-er"), and the full weight solidus was called the
Histamenon. The tetarteron was unpopular and was only sporadically reissued during the tenth century. The full weight solidus was struct at 72 to the Roman pound, roughly 4.48 grams in weight. There were also solidi of weight reduced by one siliqua issued for trade with the Near East. These reduced solidi, with a star both on obverse and reverse, weighed about 4.25 g.
Abd al-Malik reformed the Islamic
Dinar in
693, and issued gold coins of 4.25 g weight.
Alexius I reforms
By the time of the Emperor
Romanos Diogenis (
1067–
1071) the solidus had been debased to only roughly 15% gold content. Under
Alexius I Comnenus (
1081–
1118) the debased solidus was discontinued and a gold coinage of higher fineness (generally .900-.950) was established, commonly called the
hyperpyron at 4.45 grs.
The hyperpyron was slightly smaller than the solidus. It was introduced along with the electrum
aspron trachy worth a third of a hyperpyron and about 25% gold and 75% silver, the
billon aspron trachy or
stamenon valued at 48 to the hyperpyron and with 7% silver wash and the copper
tetarteron and
Noummion worth 18 and 36 to the billon aspron trachy
Andronicus II reforms
During
Andronicus II reign he institued a some new coinage based on the hyperpyron. They were the silver miliaresion or basilika at 12 to the hyperpyron and the billon politika at 96 per hyperpyron
along with the copper assaria, tournesia and follara
The basilicon was a copy of the
Venetian Ducat and circulated since 1304 for fifty years.
The hyperpyron remained in regular issue and circulation until the end of the Byzantine Empire in
1453, though after the second half of the fourteenth century it was also frequently debased. After 1400, Byzantine coinage became insignificant, as Italian money became the predominant circulating coinage.
These
scyphate (cup-shaped) coins known as trachy were issued in both
electrum (debased gold) and
billon (debased silver). The exact reason for such coins isn't known, although it's usually theorized that they were shaped for easier stacking.
1367 reform
During this last phase of Byzantine coinage gold issues were discontinued and a regular silver issue was commensed. The denomination was the Stavraton issued in 1, a half, an eighth
and a 16th of its value
Relative values
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