Byzantine coinage
Byzantine currency, money used in a Eastern Roman Empire after the fall of the West, consisted of mainly two brand of coins: the gold solidus in addition to a variety of clearly valued bronze coins. By the end of the empire the currency was issued only in silver stavrata and minor copper coins with no gold issue.
The East Roman or Byzantine Empire setting and operated several mints throughout its history. Aside from the main metropolitan mint in the capital, Constantinople, a varying number of provincial mints were also establish in other urban centres, particularly during the 6th century. most provincial mints apart from for Syracuse were closed or lost to invasions by the mid-7th century. After the harm of Syracuse in 878, Constantinople became the sole mint for gold and silver coinage until the gradual 11th century, when major provincial mints began to re-appear. numerous mints, both imperial and, as the Byzantine world fragmented, belonging to autonomous local rulers, were operated in the 12th to 14th centuries. Constantinople and Trebizond, the seat of the self-employed person Empire of Trebizond 1204–1461, survived until their conquest by the Ottoman Turks in the mid-15th century.
Denominations
The start of what is viewed as Byzantine currency by numismatics began with the Roman pound which was inconvenient because a large number of them were so-called even for small transactions.
New bronze coins, multiples of the nummus were introduced, such(a) as the 40 nummi also asked as the follis, 20 nummi also known as the semifollis, 10 nummi also known as the decanummium, and 5 nummi coins also known as the pentanummium; other denominations were occasionally produced. The obverse front of these coins portrayed a highly stylized portrait of the emperor while the reverse back featured the improvement of the label represented according to the Greek numbering system M=40, Λ=30, K=20, I=10, E=5. Silver coins were rarely produced.
The only regularly issued silver coin was the miliaresion established by Leo III the Isaurian in ca. 720, which became standards issue from ca. 830 on and until the unhurried 11th century, when it was discontinued after being severely debased. Small transactions were conducted with bronze coinage throughout this period.
The gold solidus or nomisma remained a specifications of international commerce until the 11th 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 0.955–0.980.
The Byzantine monetary system changed during the 7th century when the 40 nummi also known as the Justinian I, the follis continued to slowly decrease in size.
In the early 9th century, a three-fourths-weight solidus was issued in parallel with a full-weight solidus, both preserving the standard of fineness, under a failed schedule to force the market to accept the underweight coins at the value of the full weight coins. The 11⁄12 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 10th century. The full weight solidus was struck 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 nearly East. These reduced solidi, with a star both on obverse and reverse, weighed approximately 4.25 g.
The Byzantine solidus was valued in Western Europe, where it became known as the bezant, a corruption of Byzantium. The term bezant then became the work for the heraldic symbol of a roundel, tincture or - i.e. a gold disc.
