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The Collections | Coins | In Focus | Byzantine Coins | Gold, Silver and Copper
Byzantine Coins
The gold solidus replaced the Roman gold aureus, and was part of the currency reform introduced by Constantine I. In fifth- to seventh-century Western Europe, the Byzantine gold solidus represented the ‘dollar of the Middle Ages’, enjoying absolute dominance. But even after the mid-seventh century, when the denier, a single silver denomination was introduced in the West, the Byzantine solidus continued playing an important role as a unit of exchange in Europe and the Mediterranean.Silver coins were produced until the early seventh century AD mainly as ceremonial issues, while between the seventh and eleventh centuries they became a regular part of the currency. In the monetary reform of Alexius I (1092 AD) concave coins of gold and silver (electrum trachea) and of silver and copper (billon trachea) were produced. The silver currency was revived in the fourteenth century, when the Byzantines ceased to strike gold.
The introduction of the large copper follis and its denominations had been the great innovation of Anastasius I in 498 AD. Copper coins became an indispensable part of everyday transactions, and their presence or absence from an archaeological site are good indicators of the scale of the monetary economy. In the eleventh-century currency reform the folles were replaced by small copper tetartera, which in their turn gave way in the thirteenth century to copper coins known as assaria, tournesia and follara.