Constantine I introduced the solidus, a gold coin struck at 72 to the Roman pound, creating a stable high-value denomination that became the backbone of Byzantine gold currency for centuries.
In 498, Anastasius I introduced a new, large bronze coinage system (notably the 40-nummi follis, marked with a large M), improving the usability and accounting of everyday transactions across the empire.
Under Tiberius II (r. 578–582), the cross—especially the cross potent on steps—was adopted as a major reverse type on gold coinage, signaling an increasingly explicit Christian imperial iconography.
In 615, Heraclius introduced the silver hexagram, a major new silver denomination associated with wartime fiscal needs and notable for its distinctive religious/political messaging (e.g., Deus adiuta Romanis).
Between 692–695, Justinian II issued gold solidi bearing a frontal image of Christ Pantokrator—a landmark moment in Byzantine material culture and numismatic iconography.
Around 720, Leo III initiated the miliaresion, a silver coinage reform that re-established a regular silver denomination within the Byzantine monetary system after earlier disruption in silver issues.
In the 960s, Nikephoros II Phokas introduced the tetarteron nomisma, a slightly lighter gold coin. The traditional full-weight piece was thereafter distinguished as the histamenon.
From 976–1028 (commonly attributed to Basil II and Constantine VIII), large bronze anonymous folles prominently displayed Christ rather than a named ruler—an important shift in how authority and sanctity were expressed on low-value coinage.
By the mid-11th century, the histamenon increasingly appeared on a concave (scyphate) flan, a notable change in Byzantine coin fabric that affected both appearance and production practices.
After taking power in 1034, Michael IV initiated a gradual debasement of the gold histamenon and tetarteron, a process that accelerated later in the 11th century and undermined the solidus’s long-standing reliability.
In 1092, Alexios I Komnenos carried out a major reform: he discontinued the debased gold coinage and introduced the hyperpyron, restoring a higher-fineness gold standard and restructuring related electrum, billon, and copper denominations.
During the Empire of Nicaea (1204–1261), the hyperpyron’s gold content declined (commonly summarized as falling to about 18 carats across the period), reflecting strained fiscal conditions and changing monetary realities after 1204.
Under Michael VIII Palaiologos (r. 1259–1282), the hyperpyron continued to lose gold content (often summarized as dropping to about 15 carats), mirroring late-Byzantine pressures on precious-metal currency.
In the reign of Andronikos II Palaiologos (1282–1328), sources commonly describe the hyperpyron’s fineness falling to about 12 carats, alongside declining fabric quality—evidence of the empire’s eroding ability to sustain high-grade gold coinage.
The last Byzantine gold coins (hyperpyra) are generally placed in the joint-reign era of John VI Kantakouzenos (mid-14th century), marking the effective end of imperial gold coinage and the transition to gold’s role primarily as a unit of account.
Byzantine Coinage: From Solidus to Hyperpyron (4th–15th centuries)
