1.
Aes grave
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Standard weights for the as were 272,327, or 341 grams, depending upon the issuing authority. The main Roman cast coins had these marks and images, Main series were from Rome, Ariminum, Iguvium, Tuder, Ausculum, Firmum, Hatria - Hadria, Luceria, and Latin central Italy. Roman Republican coinage Aes rude Aes signatum Haeberlin, Ernst, Aes Grave, Das Schwergeld Roms und Mittelitaliens einschließlich der ihm vorausgehenden Rohbronzewährung, head, Barclay V. Historia Nummorum, a Manual of Greek Numismatic, London,19112. Sear, David, Roman Coins and Their Values, Volume I, sydenham, Edward A. Aes Grave A Study of the Cast Coinages of Rome and Central Italy. A descriptive catalogue of the cast coinage of Rome and Italy, hard bound in quarto format,84 pages,90 plates. ISBN 978-0-9575784-0-1 Digital Historia Nummorum Cast Greek & Roman Coins The Aes Grave of Central Italy by J. G. Milne
2.
Ancient Greek
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Ancient Greek includes the forms of Greek used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around the 9th century BC to the 6th century AD. It is often divided into the Archaic period, Classical period. It is antedated in the second millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek, the language of the Hellenistic phase is known as Koine. Koine is regarded as a historical stage of its own, although in its earliest form it closely resembled Attic Greek. Prior to the Koine period, Greek of the classic and earlier periods included several regional dialects, Ancient Greek was the language of Homer and of fifth-century Athenian historians, playwrights, and philosophers. It has contributed many words to English vocabulary and has been a subject of study in educational institutions of the Western world since the Renaissance. This article primarily contains information about the Epic and Classical phases of the language, Ancient Greek was a pluricentric language, divided into many dialects. The main dialect groups are Attic and Ionic, Aeolic, Arcadocypriot, some dialects are found in standardized literary forms used in literature, while others are attested only in inscriptions. There are also several historical forms, homeric Greek is a literary form of Archaic Greek used in the epic poems, the Iliad and Odyssey, and in later poems by other authors. Homeric Greek had significant differences in grammar and pronunciation from Classical Attic, the origins, early form and development of the Hellenic language family are not well understood because of a lack of contemporaneous evidence. Several theories exist about what Hellenic dialect groups may have existed between the divergence of early Greek-like speech from the common Proto-Indo-European language and the Classical period and they have the same general outline, but differ in some of the detail. The invasion would not be Dorian unless the invaders had some relationship to the historical Dorians. The invasion is known to have displaced population to the later Attic-Ionic regions, the Greeks of this period believed there were three major divisions of all Greek people—Dorians, Aeolians, and Ionians, each with their own defining and distinctive dialects. Often non-west is called East Greek, Arcadocypriot apparently descended more closely from the Mycenaean Greek of the Bronze Age. Boeotian had come under a strong Northwest Greek influence, and can in some respects be considered a transitional dialect, thessalian likewise had come under Northwest Greek influence, though to a lesser degree. Most of the dialect sub-groups listed above had further subdivisions, generally equivalent to a city-state and its surrounding territory, Doric notably had several intermediate divisions as well, into Island Doric, Southern Peloponnesus Doric, and Northern Peloponnesus Doric. The Lesbian dialect was Aeolic Greek and this dialect slowly replaced most of the older dialects, although Doric dialect has survived in the Tsakonian language, which is spoken in the region of modern Sparta. Doric has also passed down its aorist terminations into most verbs of Demotic Greek, by about the 6th century AD, the Koine had slowly metamorphosized into Medieval Greek
3.
Bronze
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These additions produce a range of alloys that may be harder than copper alone, or have other useful properties, such as stiffness, ductility, or machinability. The archeological period where bronze was the hardest metal in use is known as the Bronze Age. In the ancient Near East this began with the rise of Sumer in the 4th millennium BC, with India and China starting to use bronze around the same time, everywhere it gradually spread across regions. The Bronze Age was followed by the Iron Age starting from about 1300 BC and reaching most of Eurasia by about 500 BC, the discovery of bronze enabled people to create metal objects which were harder and more durable than previously possible. Bronze tools, weapons, armor, and building such as decorative tiles were harder and more durable than their stone. It was only later that tin was used, becoming the major ingredient of bronze in the late 3rd millennium BC. Tin bronze was superior to arsenic bronze in that the process could be more easily controlled. Also, unlike arsenic, metallic tin and fumes from tin refining are not toxic, the earliest tin-alloy bronze dates to 4500 BCE in a Vinča culture site in Pločnik. Other early examples date to the late 4th millennium BC in Africa, Susa and some ancient sites in China, Luristan, ores of copper and the far rarer tin are not often found together, so serious bronze work has always involved trade. Tin sources and trade in ancient times had a influence on the development of cultures. In Europe, a source of tin was the British deposits of ore in Cornwall. In many parts of the world, large hoards of bronze artefacts are found, suggesting that bronze also represented a store of value, in Europe, large hoards of bronze tools, typically socketed axes, are found, which mostly show no signs of wear. With Chinese ritual bronzes, which are documented in the inscriptions they carry and from other sources and these were made in enormous quantities for elite burials, and also used by the living for ritual offerings. Pure iron is soft, and the process of beating and folding sponge iron to wrought iron removes from the metal carbon. Careful control of the alloying and tempering eventually allowed for wrought iron with properties comparable to modern steel, Bronze was still used during the Iron Age, and has continued in use for many purposes to the modern day. Among other advantages, it does not rust, the weaker wrought iron was found to be sufficiently strong for many uses. Archaeologists suspect that a disruption of the tin trade precipitated the transition. The population migrations around 1200–1100 BC reduced the shipping of tin around the Mediterranean, limiting supplies, there are many different bronze alloys, but typically modern bronze is 88% copper and 12% tin
4.
Copper
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Copper is a chemical element with symbol Cu and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of copper has a reddish-orange color. Copper is one of the few metals that occur in nature in directly usable metallic form as opposed to needing extraction from an ore and this led to very early human use, from c.8000 BC. Copper used in buildings, usually for roofing, oxidizes to form a green verdigris, Copper is sometimes used in decorative art, both in its elemental metal form and in compounds as pigments. Copper compounds are used as agents, fungicides, and wood preservatives. Copper is essential to all living organisms as a trace dietary mineral because it is a key constituent of the enzyme complex cytochrome c oxidase. In molluscs and crustaceans, copper is a constituent of the blood pigment hemocyanin, replaced by the hemoglobin in fish. In humans, copper is found mainly in the liver, muscle, the adult body contains between 1.4 and 2.1 mg of copper per kilogram of body weight. The filled d-shells in these elements contribute little to interatomic interactions, unlike metals with incomplete d-shells, metallic bonds in copper are lacking a covalent character and are relatively weak. This observation explains the low hardness and high ductility of single crystals of copper, at the macroscopic scale, introduction of extended defects to the crystal lattice, such as grain boundaries, hinders flow of the material under applied stress, thereby increasing its hardness. For this reason, copper is supplied in a fine-grained polycrystalline form. The softness of copper partly explains its high conductivity and high thermal conductivity. The maximum permissible current density of copper in open air is approximately 3. 1×106 A/m2 of cross-sectional area, Copper is one of a few metallic elements with a natural color other than gray or silver. Pure copper is orange-red and acquires a reddish tarnish when exposed to air, as with other metals, if copper is put in contact with another metal, galvanic corrosion will occur. A green layer of verdigris can often be seen on old structures, such as the roofing of many older buildings. Copper tarnishes when exposed to sulfur compounds, with which it reacts to form various copper sulfides. There are 29 isotopes of copper, 63Cu and 65Cu are stable, with 63Cu comprising approximately 69% of naturally occurring copper, both have a spin of 3⁄2
5.
Coin
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A coin is a small, flat, round piece of metal or plastic used primarily as a medium of exchange or legal tender. They are standardized in weight, and produced in quantities at a mint in order to facilitate trade. They are most often issued by a government, Coins are usually metal or alloy, or sometimes made of synthetic materials. Coins made of metal are stored in large quantities as bullion coins. Other coins are used as money in transactions, circulating alongside banknotes. Usually the highest value coin in circulation is less than the lowest-value note. In the last hundred years, the value of circulation coins has occasionally been lower than the value of the metal they contain. Exceptions to the rule of face value being higher than content value also occur for some bullion coins made of copper, silver, or gold, while the Eagle, Maple Leaf, and Sovereign coins have nominal face values, the Krugerrand does not. The first coins were developed independently in Iron Age Anatolia and Archaic Greece, India, Coins spread rapidly in the 6th and 5th centuries BCE, throughout Greece and Persia, and further to the Balkans. Standardized Roman currency was used throughout the Roman Empire, important Roman gold and silver coins were continued into the Middle Ages. Fiat money first arose in medieval China, with the paper money. Early paper money was introduced in Europe in the later Middle Ages, the penny was minted as a silver coin until the 17th century. The first circulating United States coins were cents, produced in 1793, Coins were an evolution of currency systems of the Late Bronze Age, where standard-sized ingots, and tokens such as knife money, were used to store and transfer value. In the late Chinese Bronze Age, standardized cast tokens were made and these were replicas in bronze of earlier Chinese currency, cowrie shells, so they were named Bronze Shell. According to Aristotle and Pollux, the first issuer of coins was Hermodike of Kyme The earliest coins are associated with Iron Age Anatolia. Early electrum coins were not standardized in weight, and in their earliest stage may have been ritual objects, such as badges or medals, issued by priests. The first Lydian coins were made of electrum, a naturally occurring alloy of silver, most of the early Lydian coins include no writing, only an image of a symbolic animal. Anatolian Artemis was the Πὀτνια Θηρῶν, whose symbol was the stag, a small percentage of early Lydian/Greek coins have a legend
6.
Roman Republic
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It was during this period that Romes control expanded from the citys immediate surroundings to hegemony over the entire Mediterranean world. During the first two centuries of its existence, the Roman Republic expanded through a combination of conquest and alliance, by the following century, it included North Africa, most of the Iberian Peninsula, and what is now southern France. Two centuries after that, towards the end of the 1st century BC, it included the rest of modern France, Greece, and much of the eastern Mediterranean. By this time, internal tensions led to a series of wars, culminating with the assassination of Julius Caesar. The exact date of transition can be a matter of interpretation, Roman government was headed by two consuls, elected annually by the citizens and advised by a senate composed of appointed magistrates. Over time, the laws that gave exclusive rights to Romes highest offices were repealed or weakened. The leaders of the Republic developed a tradition and morality requiring public service and patronage in peace and war, making military. Many of Romes legal and legislative structures can still be observed throughout Europe and much of the world in modern nation states, the exact causes and motivations for Romes military conflicts and expansions during the republic are subject to wide debate. While they can be seen as motivated by outright aggression and imperialism and they argue that Romes expansion was driven by short-term defensive and inter-state factors, and the new contingencies that these decisions created. In its early history, as Rome successfully defended itself against foreign threats in central and then northern Italy, with some important exceptions, successful wars in early republican Rome generally led not to annexation or military occupation, but to the restoration of the way things were. But the defeated city would be weakened and thus able to resist Romanizing influences. It was also able to defend itself against its non-Roman enemies. It was, therefore, more likely to seek an alliance of protection with Rome and this growing coalition expanded the potential enemies that Rome might face, and moved Rome closer to confrontation with major powers. The result was more alliance-seeking, on the part of both the Roman confederacy and city-states seeking membership within that confederacy. While there were exceptions to this, it was not until after the Second Punic War that these alliances started to harden into something more like an empire and this shift mainly took place in parts of the west, such as the southern Italian towns that sided with Hannibal. In contrast, Roman expansion into Spain and Gaul occurred as a mix of alliance-seeking, in the 2nd century BC, Roman involvement in the Greek east remained a matter of alliance-seeking, but this time in the face of major powers that could rival Rome. This had some important similarities to the events in Italy centuries earlier, with some major exceptions of outright military rule, the Roman Republic remained an alliance of independent city-states and kingdoms until it transitioned into the Roman Empire. It was not until the time of the Roman Empire that the entire Roman world was organized into provinces under explicit Roman control
7.
Roman Empire
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Civil wars and executions continued, culminating in the victory of Octavian, Caesars adopted son, over Mark Antony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC and the annexation of Egypt. Octavians power was then unassailable and in 27 BC the Roman Senate formally granted him overarching power, the imperial period of Rome lasted approximately 1,500 years compared to the 500 years of the Republican era. The first two centuries of the empires existence were a period of unprecedented political stability and prosperity known as the Pax Romana, following Octavians victory, the size of the empire was dramatically increased. After the assassination of Caligula in 41, the senate briefly considered restoring the republic, under Claudius, the empire invaded Britannia, its first major expansion since Augustus. Vespasian emerged triumphant in 69, establishing the Flavian dynasty, before being succeeded by his son Titus and his short reign was followed by the long reign of his brother Domitian, who was eventually assassinated. The senate then appointed the first of the Five Good Emperors, the empire reached its greatest extent under Trajan, the second in this line. A period of increasing trouble and decline began with the reign of Commodus, Commodus assassination in 192 triggered the Year of the Five Emperors, of which Septimius Severus emerged victorious. The assassination of Alexander Severus in 235 led to the Crisis of the Third Century in which 26 men were declared emperor by the Roman Senate over a time span. It was not until the reign of Diocletian that the empire was fully stabilized with the introduction of the Tetrarchy, which saw four emperors rule the empire at once. This arrangement was unsuccessful, leading to a civil war that was finally ended by Constantine I. Constantine subsequently shifted the capital to Byzantium, which was renamed Constantinople in his honour and it remained the capital of the east until its demise. Constantine also adopted Christianity which later became the state religion of the empire. However, Augustulus was never recognized by his Eastern colleague, and separate rule in the Western part of the empire ceased to exist upon the death of Julius Nepos. The Eastern Roman Empire endured for another millennium, eventually falling to the Ottoman Turks in 1453, the Roman Empire was among the most powerful economic, cultural, political and military forces in the world of its time. It was one of the largest empires in world history, at its height under Trajan, it covered 5 million square kilometres. It held sway over an estimated 70 million people, at that time 21% of the entire population. Throughout the European medieval period, attempts were made to establish successors to the Roman Empire, including the Empire of Romania, a Crusader state. Rome had begun expanding shortly after the founding of the republic in the 6th century BC, then, it was an empire long before it had an emperor
8.
Aes rude
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Aes rude was a nugget of bronze used as a sort of proto-currency in ancient Italy during the gradual transition from bartering to the use of round coinage made from precious metals. The Italian economy of the time was based on a bronze standard, the earliest surviving piece of aes rude dates from the early 8th century BC and as late as the late 4th century BC, and was cast in central Italy. It is, simply, bronze, shaped vaguely like a lumpy ingot, only later on did it become usual to mark these lumps and, eventually, make them into a standard shape. A History of Ancient Greece, Oxford,1999, Blackwell Publishers, London, Spink,1926 Head Barclay V. Historia Nummorum, a Manual of Greek Numismatic, London,1911 Gaius Plinius Secundus, Naturalis Historia, XXXIII, XIII,43. A descriptive catalogue of the cast coinage of Rome and Italy, Hard bound in quarto format,84 pages,92 plates. ISBN 978-0-9575784-0-1 Hard bound in quarto format,72 pages,87 plates, ISBN 978-0-9575784-0-1 A new edition of Italian Cast Coinage compiled by Italo Vecchi which summarises the research into Italy’s cast bronze coinage since 1885. It lists 327 types from the aes rude and currency bars of early 1st millennium Italy to the issues during the Second Punic War. The book also includes an account of the cast coinages of Rome, Etruria, Umbria, North-East and Central Italy, at the end of the book there are 87 plates illustrating almost all the types in the catalogue. The book is indexed for ease of reference
9.
Casting (metalworking)
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In metalworking, casting means a process, in which liquid metal is poured into a mold, that contains a hollow cavity of the desired shape, and is then allowed to cool and solidify. The solidified part is known as a casting, which is ejected or broken out of the mold to complete the process. Casting is most often used for making complex shapes that would be difficult or uneconomical to make by other methods, Casting processes have been known for thousands of years, and widely used for sculpture, especially in bronze, jewellery in precious metals, and weapons and tools. Traditional techniques include casting, plaster mold casting and sand casting. The modern casting process is subdivided into two categories, expendable and non-expendable casting. It is further broken down by the material, such as sand or metal. Expendable mold casting is a classification that includes sand, plastic, shell, plaster. This method of mold casting involves the use of temporary, non-reusable molds, sand casting is one of the most popular and simplest types of casting, and has been used for centuries. Sand casting allows for smaller batches than permanent mold casting and at a reasonable cost. Not only does this method allow manufacturers to create products at a low cost, from castings that fit in the palm of your hand to train beds, it can all be done with sand casting. Sand casting also allows most metals to be cast depending on the type of sand used for the molds, sand casting requires a lead time of days, or even weeks sometimes, for production at high output rates and is unsurpassed for large-part production. Green sand has almost no weight limit, whereas dry sand has a practical part mass limit of 2. Minimum part weight ranges from 0. 075–0.1 kg, the sand is bonded together using clays, chemical binders, or polymerized oils. Sand can be recycled many times in most operations and requires little maintenance, plaster casting is similar to sand casting except that plaster of paris is substituted for sand as a mold material. Plaster casting is an alternative to other molding processes for complex parts due to the low cost of the plaster. The biggest disadvantage is that it can only be used with low melting point non-ferrous materials, such as aluminium, copper, magnesium, and zinc. Shell molding is similar to casting, but the molding cavity is formed by a hardened shell of sand instead of a flask filled with sand. The sand used is finer than sand casting sand and is mixed with a resin so that it can be heated by the pattern, because of the resin and finer sand, it gives a much finer surface finish
10.
Semis
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The semis literally meaning half was a small Roman bronze coin that was valued at half an as. During the Roman Republic, the semis was distinguished by an S or 6 dots, some of the coins featured a bust of Saturn on the obverse, and the prow of a ship on the reverse. Initially a cast coin, like the rest of Roman Republican bronzes, the coin was issued infrequently during the Roman Empire, and ceased to be issued by the time of Hadrian 117-138 AD. Roman currency
11.
Quincunx (Roman coin)
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The quincunx was an ancient Roman bronze coin produced during the Roman Republic. It was not part of the standard Roman monetary system and it was only produced during the Second Punic War, by mints at Luceria, Teate, Larinum, and northern Apulia. A coin with the value was minted in Capua, during the Second Punic War. The word quincunx comes from Latin quinque which means five and uncia which means one twelfth and its value was sometimes represented by a pattern of five dots arranged like the points of a die, so this pattern also came to be called quincunx
12.
Quadrans
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The quadrans or teruncius was a low-value Roman bronze coin worth one quarter of an as. The quadrans was issued from the beginning of cast bronze coins during the Roman Republic with three pellets representing three unciae as a mark of value, the obverse type, after some early variations, featured the bust of Hercules, while the reverse featured the prow of a galley. Coins with the value were issued from other cities in Central Italy. After ca.90 BC, when coinage was reduced to the semuncial standard. It was produced sporadically until the time of Antoninus Pius, unlike other coins during the Roman Empire, the quadrans rarely bore the image of the emperor. The Greek word for the quadrans was κοδράντης, which was translated in the King James Version of the Bible as farthing, in the New Testament a coin equal to one half the Attic chalcus was worth about 3/8 of a cent. In Marks gospel, when a poor widow gave two mites or λεπτα to the Temple Treasury, the writer noted that this amounted to one quadrans. Roman currency Semis Media related to quadrans at Wikimedia Commons
13.
Uncia (coin)
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The uncia was a Roman currency worth 1/12 of an as. By derivation, it was also the name of a coin valued at one-twelfth of an as produced during the Roman Republic. Obverse types of the include a knucklebone, a barleycorn. In imperial times the uncia was briefly revived under Trajan and Hadrian and this coin was about 11–14 mm in diameter and weighed about 0. 8–1.2 grams. It featured the bust of the emperor on the obverse with no inscription, if this issue belonged to the imperial system, meaning it was not a provincial piece, it would be an uncia. This issue may have made only for circulation in the East. Duella Roman currency Roman Republican coinage
14.
Semuncia
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The semuncia, symbol
15.
Dupondius
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The dupondius was a brass coin used during the Roman Empire and Roman Republic valued at 2 aes. The dupondius was introduced during the Roman Republic as a bronze cast coin. The initial coins featured the bust of Roma on the obverse, however, some dupondii were made entirely from copper under Augustus, while under subsequent Nero some aes were made from both orichalcum and copper, instead of only copper for aes coined until then. Therefore, the latter can only be distinguished from dupondii by their smaller size instead of by also the appearance of the metal. The dupondius was normally further distinguished from the similarly sized as with the addition of a crown to the bust of the emperor in 66 AD during the reign of Nero. Using a radiate crown to indicate double value was also used on the antoninianus introduced by Caracalla. An extremely rare dupondius from the reign of Marcus Aurelius, dated to 154 or 155 and in excellent condition, was discovered in 2007 at the site in Drapers Gardens
16.
Sestertius
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The sestertius, or sesterce, was an ancient Roman coin. During the Roman Republic it was a small, silver coin issued only on rare occasions, during the Roman Empire it was a large brass coin. The name is derived from semis, half and tertius, third, in which third refers to the third as, the sestertius was introduced c.211 BC as a small silver coin valued at one-quarter of a denarius. A silver denarius was supposed to weigh about 4.5 grams, valued at ten grams, in practice, the coins were usually underweight. When the denarius was retariffed to sixteen asses, the sestertius was accordingly revalued to four asses and it was produced sporadically, far less often than the denarius, through 44 BC. In or about 23 BC, with the reform of Augustus. Augustus tariffed the value of the sestertius as 1/100 Aureus, the sestertius was produced as the largest brass denomination until the late 3rd century AD. Most were struck in the mint of Rome but from AD64 during the reign of Nero and Vespasian, Lyon sestertii can be recognised by a small globe, or legend stop, beneath the bust. The brass sestertius typically weighs in the region of 25 to 28 grammes, is around 32–34 mm in diameter, the distinction between bronze and brass was important to the Romans. Their name for brass was orichalcum, also spelled aurichalcum, meaning gold-copper, because of its shiny, orichalcum was considered, by weight, to be about double the value of copper. This is why the half-sestertius, the dupondius, was around the size and weight as the bronze as. Sestertii continued to be struck until the late 3rd century, although there was a deterioration in the quality of the metal used. Later emperors increasingly relied on melting down older sestertii, a process led to the zinc component being gradually lost as it burned off in the high temperatures needed to melt copper. The shortfall was made up with bronze and even lead, later sestertii tend to be darker in appearance as a result and are made from more crudely prepared blanks. The gradual impact of inflation caused by debasement of the currency meant that the purchasing power of the sestertius and smaller denominations like the dupondius. In the 1st century AD, everyday small change was dominated by the dupondius and as, but in the 2nd century, as inflation bit, in the 3rd century silver coinage contained less and less silver, and more and more copper or bronze. By the 260s and 270s the main unit was the double-denarius, the Antoninianus, although these coins were theoretically worth eight sestertii, the average sestertius was worth far more in plain terms of the metal it contained. Some of the last sestertii were struck by Aurelian, the double sestertius was distinguished from the sestertius by the radiate crown worn by the emperor, a device used to distinguish the dupondius from the as and the Antoninianus from the denarius
17.
Denarius
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In the Roman currency system, the dēnārius, plural, dēnāriī was a small silver coin first minted about 211 BC during the Second Punic War. It is the origin of modern words such as the currency name dinar, it is also the origin for the common noun for money in Italian denaro, in Portuguese dinheiro. Its symbol is X̶, a x with stroke. A predecessor of the denarius was first struck in 267 BC, five years before the first Punic War with a weight of 6.81 grams. Contact with the Greeks prompted a need for coinage in addition to the bronze currency that the Romans were using during that time. The predecessor of the denarius was a Greek-styled silver coin, very similar to the didrachm and drachma struck in Metapontion and these coins were inscribed for Rome but closely resemble their Greek counterparts. They were most likely used for purposes and were seldom used in Rome. The first distinctively Roman silver coin appeared around 226 BC, Rome overhauled its coinage around 211 BC and introduced the denarius alongside a short-lived denomination called the victoriatus. This denarius contained an average 4.5 grams, or 1⁄72 of a Roman pound of silver and it formed the backbone of Roman currency throughout the Roman republic. The denarius began to undergo slow debasement toward the end of the republican period, under the rule of Augustus, its silver content fell to 3.9 grams. It remained at nearly this weight until the time of Nero, debasement of the coins silver content continued after Nero. Later Roman emperors reduced its content to 3 grams around the third century. The value at its introduction was 10 asses, giving the denarius its name, in about 141 BC, it was re-tariffed at 16 asses, to reflect the decrease in weight of the as. The denarius continued to be the coin of the Roman Empire until it was replaced by the antoninianus in the middle of the third century. The last issuance of this occurred in bronze form by Aurelian. For more details, see Denarius, in A Dictionary of Ancient Roman Coins, the denarius has a link from the Roman times to the British penny and US1 cent piece. It is difficult to give even rough comparative values for money from before the 20th century, as the range of products and services available for purchase was different. Classical historians often say that in the late Roman Republic and early Roman Empire the daily wage for an unskilled laborer and common soldier was 1 denarius or about US$2. 8$ in bread
18.
Punic Wars
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The Punic Wars were a series of three wars fought between Rome and Carthage from 264 BC to 146 BC. At the time, they were probably the largest wars that had taken place. The term Punic comes from the Latin word Punicus, meaning Carthaginian, the main cause of the Punic Wars was the conflicts of interest between the existing Carthaginian Empire and the expanding Roman Republic. The Romans were initially interested in expansion via Sicily, part of which lay under Carthaginian control, at the start of the first Punic War, Carthage was the dominant power of the Western Mediterranean, with an extensive maritime empire. Rome was a rapidly ascending power in Italy, but it lacked the power of Carthage. The Roman victories over Carthage in these wars gave Rome a preeminent status it would retain until the 5th century AD, during the mid-3rd century BC, Carthage was a large city located on the coast of modern Tunisia. Founded by the Phoenicians in the mid-9th century BC, it was a powerful thalassocratic city-state with a vast commercial network, of the great city-states in the western Mediterranean, only Rome rivaled it in power, wealth, and population. While Carthages navy was the largest in the ancient world at the time, it did not maintain a large, permanent, instead, Carthage relied mostly on mercenaries, especially the indigenous Numidians, to fight its wars. However, most of the officers who commanded the armies were Carthaginian citizens, in 200 BC, the Roman Republic had gained control of the Italian peninsula south of the Po river. Unlike Carthage, Rome had large disciplined armed forces, on the other hand, at the start of the First Punic War, the Romans had no navy, and were thus at a disadvantage until they began to construct their own large fleets during the war. The First Punic War was fought partly on land in Sicily and Africa and it began as a local conflict in Sicily between Hiero II of Syracuse and the Mamertines of Messina. The Mamertines enlisted the aid of the Carthaginian navy, and then subsequently betrayed them by entreating the Roman Senate for aid against Carthage, the Romans sent a garrison to secure Messina, so the outraged Carthaginians then lent aid to Syracuse. With the two powers now embroiled in the conflict, tensions escalated into a full-scale war between Carthage and Rome for the control of Sicily. In 260 BC, they defeated the fledgling Roman navy at the Battle of the Lipari Islands, Rome responded by drastically expanding its navy in a very short time. Within two months, the Romans had a fleet of one hundred warships. Because they knew that they could not defeat the Carthaginians in the tactics of ramming and sinking enemy ships, the Romans added the corvus. The hinged bridge would swing onto enemy vessels with a sharp spike, Roman legionaries could then board and capture Carthaginian ships. This innovative Roman tactic reduced the Carthaginian navys advantage in ship-to-ship engagements, however, the corvus was also cumbersome and dangerous, and was eventually phased out as the Roman navy became more experienced and tactically proficient
19.
Janus (mythology)
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In ancient Roman religion and myth, Janus is the god of beginnings, gates, transitions, time, duality, doorways, passages, and endings. He is usually depicted as having two faces, since he looks to the future and to the past and it is conventionally thought that the month of January is named for Janus, but according to ancient Roman farmers almanacs Juno was the tutelary deity of the month. Janus presided over the beginning and ending of conflict, and hence war, the doors of his temple were open in time of war, and closed to mark the peace. Janus had no flamen or specialised priest assigned to him, Janus had a ubiquitous presence in religious ceremonies throughout the year, and was ritually invoked at the beginning of each one, regardless of the main deity honored on any particular occasion. The ancient Greeks had no equivalent to Janus, whom the Romans claimed as distinctively their own, three etymologies were proposed by ancient erudites, each of them bearing implications about the nature of the god. The first one is based on the definition of Chaos given by Paul the Deacon, hiantem, hiare, be open, in this etymology the notion of Chaos would define the primordial nature of the god. Another etymology proposed by Nigidius Figulus is related by Macrobius, Ianus would be Apollo and Diana Iana and this explanation has been accepted by A. B. It supports all the assimilations of Janus to the sky, the sun. It supposes a former *Dianus, formed on *dia- < *dy-eð2 from Indo-European root *dey- shine represented in Latin by dies day, Diovis, however the form Dianus postulated by Nigidius is not attested. Modern scholars have conjectured that it derives from the Indo-European root meaning transitional movement, iānus would then be an action name expressing the idea of going, passing, formed on the root *yā- < *y-eð2- theme II of the root *ey- go from which eō, ειμι. Other modern scholars object to an Indo-European etymology either from Dianus or from root *yā-, from Ianus derived ianua, and hence the English word janitor. Almost all of modern explanations were originally formulated by the ancients. The function god of beginnings has been expressed in numerous ancient sources, among them most notably Cicero, Ovid. As a god of motion, Janus looks after passages, causes actions to start, since movement and change are interconnected, he has a double nature, symbolised in his two headed image. He has under his tutelage the stepping in and out of the door of homes, the ianua, which took its name from him and he is also present at the Sororium Tigillum, where he guards the terminus of the ways into Rome from Latium. He has an altar, later a temple near the Porta Carmentalis, where the leading to Veii ended, as well as being present on the Janiculum. The connection of the notions of beginning, movement, transition, in general, Janus is at the origin of time as the guardian of the gates of Heaven, Jupiter himself can move forth and back because of Januss working. In one of his temples, probably that of Forum Holitorium, Janus frequently symbolized change and transitions such as the progress of past to future, from one condition to another, from one vision to another, and young peoples growth to adulthood
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Galley
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A galley is a type of ship that is propelled mainly by rowing. The galley is characterized by its long, slender hull, shallow draft, virtually all types of galleys had sails that could be used in favorable winds, but human strength was always the primary method of propulsion. This allowed galleys to navigate independently of winds and currents, Galleys were the warships used by the early Mediterranean naval powers, including the Greeks, Phoenicians and Romans. They remained the dominant types of vessels used for war and piracy in the Mediterranean Sea until the last decades of the 16th century and they were the first ships to effectively use heavy cannons as anti-ship weapons. As highly efficient gun platforms they forced changes in the design of medieval seaside fortresses as well as refinement of sailing warships. The zenith of galley usage in warfare came in the late 16th century with battles like that at Lepanto in 1571, by the 17th century, however, sailing ships and hybrid ships like the xebec displaced galleys in naval warfare. From the mid-16th century galleys were in intermittent use in the Baltic Sea, with its short distances, there was a minor revival of galley warfare in the 18th century in the wars between Russia, Sweden and Denmark. The term galley derives from the medieval Greek galea, a version of the dromon. The origin of the Greek word is unclear but could possibly be related to galeos, the word galley has been attested in English from c. It was only from the 16th century that a unified galley concept came in use, before that, particularly in antiquity, there was a wide variety of terms used for different types of galleys. Ancient galleys were named according to the number of oars, the number of banks of oars or lines of rowers, the terms are based on contemporary language use combined with more recent compounds of Greek and Latin words. The earliest Greek single-banked galleys are called triaconters and penteconters, for later galleys with more than one row of oars, the terminology is based on Latin numerals with the suffix -reme from rēmus, oar. A monoreme has one bank of oars, a two and a trireme three. Since the maximum banks of oars was three, any expansion above that did not refer to additional banks of oars, but of additional rowers for every oar. Quinquereme was literally a five-oar, but actually meant that there were several rowers to certain banks of oars which made up five lines of oar handlers, for simplicity, they have by many modern scholars been referred to as fives, sixes, eights, elevens, etc. Anything above six or seven rows of rowers was not common, any galley with more than three or four lines of rowers is often referred to as a polyreme. Oared military vessels built on the British Isles in the 11th to 13th centuries were based on Scandinavian designs, many of them were similar to birlinns, close relatives of longship types like the snekkja. By the 14th century, they were replaced with balingers in southern Britain while longship-type Irish galleys remained in use throughout the Middle Ages in northern Britain, Medieval and early modern galleys used a different terminology than their ancient predecessors
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Coinage reform of Augustus
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The coinage reform of Augustus refers to the reform of Roman currency undertaken by Augustus in 23 BC. Augustus brought the minting of gold and silver coins, the aureus and denarius, the gold aureus, weighing about one-quarter ounce, was worth twenty-five silver denarii, weighing about one-seventh of an ounce. Augustus more comprehensively reformed denominations below the denarius, new ratios were fixed among the currencies, the sestertius was now minted from about an ounce of orichalcum, an alloy of copper and zinc, rather than silver, and fixed at a quarter of a denarius. The dupondius, formerly a two-pound bronze coin, was now orichalcum, valued at half a sesterius and weighing half as much. The half-ounce as, worth half a dupondius, the semis, worth half an as, and the quadrans, worth half a semis, were the first pure copper coins minted in Rome since 84 BC
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Numismatics
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Numismatics is the study or collection of currency, including coins, tokens, paper money, and related objects. Early money used by people is referred to as Odd and Curious, the Kyrgyz people used horses as the principal currency unit and gave small change in lambskins, the lambskins may be suitable for numismatic study, but the horse is not. Many objects have been used for centuries, such as shells, precious metals, cocoa beans, large stones. Today, most transactions take place by a form of payment with either inherent, standardized, Numismatic value may be used to refer to the value in excess of the monetary value conferred by law, which is known as the collector value. Economic and historical studies of use and development are an integral part of the numismatists study of moneys physical embodiment. First attested in English 1829, the word comes from the adjective numismatic. It was borrowed in 1792 from French numismatiques, itself a derivation from Late Latin numismatis, genitive of numisma, throughout its history, money itself has been made to be a scarce good, although it does not have to be. Many materials have been used to form money, from naturally scarce precious metals and cowry shells through cigarettes to entirely artificial money, called fiat money, many complementary currencies use time as a unit of measure, using mutual credit accounting that keeps the balance of money intact. Modern money is essentially a token – an abstraction, paper currency is perhaps the most common type of physical money today. However, goods such as gold or silver retain many of the properties of money, such as volatility. However, these goods are not controlled by one single authority, coin collecting may have existed in ancient times. Caesar Augustus gave coins of every device, including old pieces of the kings, petrarch, who wrote in a letter that he was often approached by vinediggers with old coins asking him to buy or to identify the ruler, is credited as the first Renaissance collector. Petrarch presented a collection of Roman coins to Emperor Charles IV in 1355, the first book on coins was De Asse et Partibus by Guillaume Budé. During the early Renaissance ancient coins were collected by European royalty and nobility, Numismatics is called the Hobby of Kings, due to its most esteemed founders. Professional societies organized in the 19th century, the Royal Numismatic Society was founded in 1836 and immediately began publishing the journal that became the Numismatic Chronicle. The American Numismatic Society was founded in 1858 and began publishing the American Journal of Numismatics in 1866, in 1931 the British Academy launched the Sylloge Nummorum Graecorum publishing collections of Ancient Greek coinage. The first volume of Sylloge of Coins of the British Isles was published in 1958, after World War II in Germany a project, Fundmünzen der Antike was launched, to register every coin found within Germany. This idea found successors in many countries, in the United States, the US mint established a coin Cabinet in 1838 when chief coiner Adam Eckfeldt donated his personal collection
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Orichalcum
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Orichalcum or aurichalcum is a metal mentioned in several ancient writings, including the story of Atlantis in the Critias of Plato. Orichalcum may have been a metal such as platinum, as it was supposed to be mined. In 2015, metal ingots were found in an ancient shipwreck in Gela, in numismatics, orichalcum is the golden-colored bronze alloy used by the Roman Empire for their sestertius and dupondius coins. The name derives from the Greek ὀρείχαλκος, oreikhalkos, meaning literally mountain copper, the Romans transliterated orichalcum as aurichalcum, which was thought to literally mean gold copper. It is known from the writings of Cicero that the metal they called orichalcum, Orichalcum has variously been held to be a gold/copper alloy, a copper-tin or copper-zinc brass, or a metal no longer known. However, in Virgils Aeneid the breastplate of Turnus is described as stiff with gold, in later years, orichalcum was used to describe the sulfide mineral chalcopyrite and to describe brass. Joseph Needham notes that the 18th century Bishop Richard Watson, a professor of chemistry, Needham also suggests that the Greeks may not have known how orichalcum was made, and that they might even have had an imitation of the original. In 2015, a number of believed to be orichalcum were discovered in a sunken vessel. Orichalcum is first mentioned in the 7th century BC by Hesiod, the interior walls, pillars and floors of the temple were completely covered in orichalcum, and the roof was variegated with gold, silver, and orichalcum. In the center of the temple stood a pillar of orichalcum, on which the laws of Poseidon, Orichalcum is also mentioned in the Antiquities of the Jews - Book VIII, sect. 88 by Josephus, who stated that the vessels in the Temple of Solomon were made of orichalcum, pliny the Elder points out that the metal had lost currency due to the mines being exhausted. In numismatics, the term orichalcum is used to refer to the bronze alloy used for the sestertius and dupondius coins. It is considered more valuable than copper, of which the as coin was made, media related to Orichalcum coins at Wikimedia Commons
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Marcus Aurelius
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Marcus Aurelius was Emperor of Rome from 161 to 180. He ruled with Lucius Verus as co-emperor from 161 until Verus death in 169, Marcus Aurelius was the last of the so-called Five Good Emperors. He was a practitioner of Stoicism, and his untitled writing, during his reign, the Roman Empire defeated a revitalized Parthian Empire in the East, Aurelius general Avidius Cassius sacked the capital Ctesiphon in 164. A revolt in the East led by Avidius Cassius failed to gain momentum and was suppressed immediately, the major sources for the life and rule of Marcus Aurelius are patchy and frequently unreliable. For Marcus life and rule, the biographies of Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, Marcus and Lucius Verus are largely reliable, a body of correspondence between Marcus tutor Fronto and various Antonine officials survives in a series of patchy manuscripts, covering the period from c.138 to 166. Marcus own Meditations offer a window on his life, but are largely undateable. The main narrative source for the period is Cassius Dio, a Greek senator from Bithynian Nicaea who wrote a history of Rome from its founding to 229 in eighty books. Dio is vital for the history of the period, but his senatorial prejudices. Inscriptions and coin finds supplement the literary sources, Marcus family originated in Ucubi, a small town southeast of Córdoba in Iberian Baetica. Verus elder son—Marcus Aurelius father—Marcus Annius Verus married Domitia Lucilla, Lucilla was the daughter of the patrician P. Calvisius Tullus Ruso and the elder Domitia Lucilla. The elder Domitia Lucilla had inherited a fortune from her maternal grandfather and her paternal grandfather by adoption. Lucilla and Verus had two children, a son, Marcus, born on 26 April 121 AD, and a daughter, Annia Cornificia Faustina, Verus probably died in 124 AD, during his praetorship, when Marcus was only three years old. Though he can hardly have known him, Marcus Aurelius wrote in his Meditations that he had learned modesty and manliness from his memories of his father, Lucilla, following prevailing aristocratic customs, probably did not spend much time with her son. Marcus was in the care of nurses, even so, Marcus credits his mother with teaching him religious piety, simplicity in diet and how to avoid the ways of the rich. In his letters, Marcus makes frequent and affectionate reference to her, he was grateful that, although she was fated to die young, yet she spent her last years with me. After his fathers death, Aurelius was raised by his paternal grandfather Marcus Annius Verus who, technically this was not an adoption, since an adoption would be the legal creation of a new and different patria potestas. Another man, Lucius Catilius Severus, also participated in his upbringing, Severus is described as Marcus maternal great-grandfather, he is probably the stepfather of the elder Lucilla. Marcus was raised in his parents home on the Caelian Hill and it was an upscale region, with few public buildings but many aristocratic villas
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Gospel of Matthew
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The Gospel According to Matthew is the first book of the New Testament. The narrative tells how the Messiah, Jesus, rejected by Israel, most scholars believe the Gospel of Matthew was composed between AD80 and 90, with a range of possibility between AD70 to 110. The title Son of David identifies Jesus as the healing and miracle-working Messiah of Israel, as Son of Man he will return to judge the world, an expectation which his disciples recognise but of which his enemies are unaware. As Son of God he is God revealing himself through his son, the gospel reflects the struggles and conflicts between the evangelists community and the other Jews, particularly with its sharp criticism of the scribes and Pharisees. The original versions of the Gospel of Matthew and the gospels are lost. The oldest relatively complete extant manuscripts of the Bible are the Codex Vaticanus and the Codex Sinaiticus, besides these, there exist manuscript fragments ranging from a few verses to whole chapters. P104 and P67 are notable fragments of Matthew, in the process of recopying, variations slipped in, different regional manuscript traditions emerged, and corrections and adjustments were made. The Gospel of Matthew is anonymous, the author is not named within the text, the consensus is that Papias does not describe the Gospel of Matthew as we know it, and it is generally accepted that Matthew was written in Greek, not in Aramaic or Hebrew. The majority view of scholars is that Mark was the first gospel to be composed. The author of Matthew did not, however, simply copy Mark, an additional 220 verses, shared by Matthew and Luke but not found in Mark, from a second source, a hypothetical collection of sayings to which scholars give the name Quelle, or the Q source. The author also had at his disposal the Greek scriptures, both as book-scrolls and in the form of collections, and, if Papias is correct. The majority view among scholars is that Matthew was a product of the last quarter of the 1st century, the Christian community to which Matthew belonged, like many 1st-century Christians, were still part of the larger Jewish community, hence the designation Jewish Christian to describe them. The author of Matthew wrote for a community of Greek-speaking Jewish Christians located probably in Syria, Matthew, alone among the gospels, alternates five blocks of narrative with five of discourse, marking each off with the phrase When Jesus had finished. The Gospel of Matthew begins with the words The Book of Genealogy of Jesus Christ, John baptizes Jesus, and the Holy Spirit descends upon him. Jesus prays and meditates in the wilderness for forty days, and is tempted by Satan and his early ministry by word and deed in Galilee meets with much success, and leads to the Sermon on the Mount, the first of the discourses. The sermon presents the ethics of the kingdom of God, introduced by the Beatitudes and it concludes with a reminder that the response to the kingdom will have eternal consequences, and the crowds amazed response leads into the next narrative block. From the authoritative words of Jesus the gospel turns to three sets of three miracles interwoven with two sets of two stories, followed by a discourse on mission and suffering. Opposition to Jesus comes to a head with accusations that his deeds are done through the power of Satan, Jesus in turn accuses his opponents of blaspheming the Holy Spirit
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Jesus
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In Christology, the Person of Christ refers to the study of the human and divine natures of Jesus Christ as they co-exist within one person. There is no discussion in the New Testament regarding the dual nature of the Person of Christ as both divine and human. Hence, since the days of Christianity theologians have debated various approaches to the understanding of these natures. In the period following the Apostolic Age, specific beliefs such as Arianism and Docetism were criticized. On the other end of the spectrum, Docetism argued that Jesus physical body was an illusion, docetic teachings were attacked by St. Ignatius of Antioch and were eventually abandoned by proto-orthodox Christians. However, after the First Council of Nicaea in 325 the Logos, historically in the Alexandrian school of christology, Jesus Christ is the eternal Logos paradoxically humanized in history, a divine Person who became enfleshed, uniting himself to the human nature. The views of these schools can be summarized as follows, Alexandria, Antioch, Logos assumes a specific human being The First Council of Ephesus in 431 debated a number of views regarding the Person of Christ. At the same gathering the council debated the doctrines of monophysitism or miaphysitism. The council rejected Nestorianism and adopted the term hypostatic union, referring to divine, the language used in the 431 declaration was further refined at the 451 Council of Chalcedon. However, the Chalcedon creed was not accepted by all Christians, because Saint Augustine died in 430 he did not participate in the Council of Ephesus in 431 or Chalcedon in 451, but his ideas had some impact on both councils. On the other hand, the major theological figure of the Middle Ages. The Third Council of Constantinople in 680 held that both divine and human wills exist in Jesus, with the divine will having precedence, leading and guiding the human will. John Calvin maintained that there was no element in the Person of Christ which could be separated from the person of The Word. Calvin also emphasized the importance of the Work of Christ in any attempt at understanding the Person of Christ, the study of the Person of Christ continued into the 20th century, with modern theologians such as Karl Rahner and Hans von Balthasar. Balthasar argued that the union of the human and divine natures of Christ was achieved not by the absorption of human attributes, thus in his view the divine nature of Christ was not affected by the human attributes and remained forever divine
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Penny
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A penny is a coin or a unit of currency in various countries. Borrowed from the Carolingian denarius, it is usually the smallest denomination within a currency system, presently, it is the formal name of the British penny and the informal name of one American cent as well as the informal Irish designation of 1 cent euro coin. It is the name of the cent unit of account in Canada. The name is used in reference to various historical currencies also derived from the Carolingian system, such as the French denier. It may also be used to refer to any similar smallest-denomination coin. The Carolingian penny was originally a. 940-fine silver coin weighing 1/240 pound, the British penny remained a silver coin until the expense of the Napoleonic Wars prompted the use of base metals in 1797. Despite the decimalization of currencies in the United States and, later, throughout the British Commonwealth, no penny is currently formally subdivided, although farthings, halfpennies, and half cents have previously been minted and the mill remains in use as a unit of account in some contexts. Penny is first attested in a 1394 Scots text, a variant of Old English peni, a development of numerous variations including pennig, penning, and pending. The etymology of the penny is uncertain, although cognates are common across almost all Germanic languages and suggest a base *pan-, *pann-. Recently, it has proposed that it may represent an early borrowing of Punic PN. Following decimalization, the British and Irish coins were marked new penny until 1982 and 1985, the regular plural pennies fell out of use in England from the 16th century, except in reference to coins considered individually. The informal name for the American cent seems to have spread from New York, in British English, prior to decimalization, values from two to eleven pence and of twenty pence are often written and spoken as a single word, as twopence, threepence, &c. Where a single coin represented a number of pence, it was treated as a single noun, thus, a threepence would be single coin of that value whereas three pence would be its value and three pennies would be three penny coins. In British English, divisions of a penny were added to such combinations without a conjunction, as sixpence-farthing, adjectival use of such coins used the ending -penny, as sixpenny. The British abbreviation d. derived from the Latin denarius and it followed the amount after a space. It has been replaced since decimalization by p, usually written without a space or period, from this abbreviation, it is common to speak of pennies and values in pence as p. In North America, it is common to abbreviate cents with the currency symbol ¢, elsewhere, it is usually written with a simple c. The medieval silver penny was modeled on similar coins in antiquity, such as the Greek drachma, the Carthaginian shekel, forms of these seem to have reached as far as Norway and Sweden
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Halfpenny (British pre-decimal coin)
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The British pre-decimal halfpenny coin, usually simply known as a halfpenny, was a unit of currency that equalled half of a penny or 1/480th of a pound sterling. Originally the halfpenny was minted in copper, but after 1860 it was minted in bronze and it ceased to be legal tender in 1969, in the run-up to decimalisation. The halfpenny featured two different designs on its reverse during its years in circulation, from 1672 until 1936 the image of Britannia appeared on the reverse, and from 1937 onwards the image of the Golden Hind appeared. Like all British coinage, it bore the portrait of the monarch on the obverse, halfpenny was colloquially written ha’penny, and 1½d was spoken as a penny ha’penny /əˈpɛniˈheɪpni/ or three hapence /θriːˈheɪpəns/. Before Decimal Day in 1971 there were 240 pence in one pound sterling, twelve pence made a shilling, and twenty shillings made a pound. Values of less than a shilling were simply written in pence, the original reverse of the bronze version of the coin, designed by Leonard Charles Wyon, is a seated Britannia, holding a trident, with the words HALF PENNY to either side. Issues before 1895 also feature a lighthouse to Britannias left and a ship to her right, various minor adjustments to the level of the sea depicted around Britannia, and the angle of her trident were also made over the years. Some issues feature toothed edges, while others feature beading, over the years, various different obverses were used. Edward VII, George V, George VI and Elizabeth II each had a single obverse for halfpennies produced during their respective reigns. Over the long reign of Queen Victoria two different obverses were used, but the reign of Edward VIII meant no halfpennies bearing his likeness were ever issued. During Victoria’s reign, the halfpenny was first issued with the so-called ‘bun head’, the inscription around the bust read VICTORIA D G BRITT REG F D. This was replaced in 1895 by the ‘old head’, or ‘veiled bust’, the inscription on these coins read VICTORIA DEI GRA BRITT REGINA FID DEF IND IMP. Coins issued during the reign of Edward VII feature his likeness, similarly, those issued during the reign of George V feature his likeness and bear the inscription GEORGIVS V DEI GRA BRITT OMN REX FID DEF IND IMP. The obverse shows a portrait of the king, the inscription on the obverse is EDWARDVS VIII D G BR OMN REX F D IND IMP. The pattern coin of Edward VIII and regular issue halfpennies of George VI, George VI issue coins feature the inscription GEORGIVS VI D G BR OMN REX F D IND IMP before 1949, and GEORGIVS VI D G BR OMN REX FIDEI DEF thereafter. Wikt, haporth, Northern British English, from British English half-penny’s worth, British Coins – information about British coins Collection of copper & bronze pennies of Great Britain
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Farthing (British coin)
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The British farthing coin, from fourthing, was a unit of currency of one quarter of a penny, or one nine hundred and sixtieth of a pound sterling. It was minted in bronze, and replaced the earlier copper farthings and it was used during the reign of six monarchs, Victoria, Edward VII, George V, Edward VIII, George VI and Elizabeth II, ceasing to be legal tender in 1960. It featured two different designs on its reverse during its one hundred years in circulation, from 1860 until 1936, the image of Britannia, and from 1937 onwards, like all British coinage, it bore the portrait of the monarch on the obverse. Before Decimal Day in 1971, there were two hundred and forty pence in one pound sterling, there were four farthings in a penny, twelve pence made a shilling, and twenty shillings made a pound. Values less than a pound were usually written in terms of shillings and pence, values of less than a shilling were simply written in terms of pence, e. g. 8d, pronounced eightpence. A price with a farthing in it would be written like this, pronounced nineteen, as of 2014, the purchasing power of a farthing in 1960 ranged between 2p and 7p. The original reverse of the coin, designed by Leonard Charles Wyon, is a seated Britannia, holding a trident, issues before 1895 also feature a lighthouse to Britannias left and a ship to her right. Various minor adjustments to the level of the sea depicted around Britannia, some issues feature toothed edges, while others feature beading. Over the years, seven different obverses were used, Edward VII, George V, George VI and Elizabeth II each had a single obverse for farthings produced during their respective reigns. Over the long reign of Queen Victoria two different obverses were used, and the reign of Edward VIII meant that no farthings bearing his likeness were ever issued. The farthing was first issued with the so-called bun head, or draped bust of Queen Victoria on the obverse, the inscription around the bust read VICTORIA D G BRITT REG F D. This was replaced in 1895 by the old head, or veiled bust, the inscription on these coins read VICTORIA DEI GRA BRITT REGINA FID DEF IND IMP. Coins issued during the reign of Edward VII feature his likeness, similarly, those issued during the reign of George V feature his likeness and bear the inscription GEORGIVS V DEI GRA BRITT OMN REX FID DEF IND IMP. The obverse shows a portrait of the king, the inscription on the obverse is EDWARDVS VIII D G BR OMN REX F D IND IMP. The pattern coin of Edward VIII and regular-issue farthings of George VI and Elizabeth II feature a redesigned reverse displaying the wren, one of Britains smallest birds. George VI issue coins feature the inscription GEORGIVS VI D G BR OMN REX F D IND IMP before 1949, and GEORGIVS VI D G BR OMN REX FIDEI DEF thereafter
30.
Gospel of Luke
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The Gospel According to Luke, also called the Gospel of Luke, or simply Luke, is the third of the four canonical Gospels. It tells of the origins, birth, ministry, death, resurrection, Luke is the second-longest of the four gospels, and together with Acts of the Apostles, the pair make up a two-volume work from the same pen, called Luke–Acts. The cornerstone of Luke-Acts theology is salvation history, the understanding that Gods purpose is seen in the way he has acted. The gospels sources are the Gospel of Mark, the collection called the Q source, and a collection of material called the L source. Luke-Acts does not name its author, the most probable date for its composition is around 80–100 AD, and there is evidence that it was still being revised well into the 2nd century. Autographs of Luke and the other Gospels have not been preserved, as is typical for ancient documents, the gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles make up a two-volume work which scholars call Luke–Acts. The author is not named in either volume and he admired Paul, but his theology was significantly different from Pauls on key points and he does not represent Pauls views accurately. The eclipse of the attribution to Luke the companion of Paul has meant that an early date for the gospel is now rarely put forward. Luke-Acts is a history of the Founder of the church and his successors. All three authors anchor the histories of their respective peoples by dating the births of the founders and narrate the stories of the founders births from God, each founder taught authoritatively, appeared to witnesses after death, and ascended to heaven. Crucial aspects of the teaching of all three concerned the relationship between rich and poor and the question of whether foreigners were to be received into the people. The author used as his sources the gospel of Mark, the collection called the Q source. Mark, written around 70 AD, provided the narrative outline, for these Luke turned to Q, which consisted mostly, although not exclusively, of sayings. Mark and Q account for about 64% of Luke, the remaining material, known as the L source, is of unknown origin and date. Most Q and L-source material is grouped in two clusters, Luke 6, 17-8,3 and 9, 51-18,14, Luke was written to be read aloud to a group of Jesus-followers gathered in a house to share the Lords supper. The author assumes an educated Greek-speaking audience, but directs his attention to specifically Christian concerns rather than to the Greco-Roman world at large. He begins his gospel with a preface addressed to Theophilus, the name means Lover of God, here he informs Theophilus of his intention, which is to lead his reader to certainty through an orderly account of the events that have been fulfilled among us. He did not, however, intend to provide Theophilus with a justification of the Christian faith – did it happen
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Andronikos II Palaiologos
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Andronikos II Palaiologos, usually Latinized as Andronicus II Palaeologus, was Byzantine emperor from 11 December 1282 to 23 or 24 May 1328. Andronikos II was born Andronikos Doukas Angelos Komnenos Palaiologos at Nicaea and he was the eldest surviving son of Michael VIII Palaiologos and Theodora Palaiologina, grandniece of John III Doukas Vatatzes. Andronikos was acclaimed co-emperor in 1261, after his father Michael VIII recovered Constantinople from the Latin Empire, Andronikos II was also plagued by economic difficulties. During his reign the value of the Byzantine hyperpyron depreciated precipitously, in 1291, he hired 50–60 Genoese ships, but the Byzantine weakness resulting from the lack of a navy became painfully apparent in the two wars with Venice in 1296–1302 and 1306–10. Later, in 1320, he tried to resurrect the navy by constructing 20 galleys, Andronikos II Palaiologos sought to resolve some of the problems facing the Byzantine Empire through diplomacy. After the death of his first wife Anne of Hungary, he married Yolanda of Montferrat, another marriage alliance attempted to resolve the potential conflict with Serbia in Macedonia, as Andronikos II married off his five-year-old daughter Simonis to King Stefan Milutin in 1298. Andronikos II had resettled those Cretans in the region of Meander river, in spite of some successes, the Catalans were unable to secure lasting gains. There they conquered the Duchy of Athens and Thebes, the Turks continued to penetrate the Byzantine possessions, and Prusa fell in 1326. By the end of Andronikos IIs reign, much of Bithynia was in the hands of the Ottoman Turks of Osman I and his son and heir Orhan. Also, Karasids conquered Mysia-region with Paleokastron after 1296, Germiyan conquered Simav in 1328, Saruhan captured Magnesia in 1313, the Empires problems were exploited by Theodore Svetoslav of Bulgaria, who defeated Michael IX and conquered much of northeastern Thrace in c. The conflict ended with yet another marriage, between Michael IXs daughter Theodora and the Bulgarian emperor. The conflict precipitated Bulgarian involvement, and Michael Asen III of Bulgaria attempted to capture Andronikos II under the guise of sending him military support, in 1328 Andronikos III entered Constantinople in triumph and Andronikos II was forced to abdicate. Andronikos II died as a monk at Constantinople in 1332, on 8 November 1273 Andronikos II married as his first wife Anna of Hungary, daughter of Stephen V of Hungary and Elizabeth the Cuman, with whom he had two sons, Michael IX Palaiologos. Constantine was forced to become a monk by his nephew Andronikos III Palaiologos, Anna died in 1281, and in 1284 Andronikos married Yolanda, a daughter of William VII of Montferrat, with whom he had, John Palaiologos, despotes. Simonis Palaiologina, who married King Stefan Milutin of Serbia, the Late Byzantine Army, Arms and Society 1204–1453. The Late Medieval Balkans, A Critical Survey from the Late Twelfth Century to the Ottoman Conquest, ann Arbor, University of Michigan Press. Kazhdan, Alexander, ed. Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium, laiou, Angeliki E. Constantinople and the Latins, The Foreign Policy of Andronicus II, 1282–1328. Η εσωτερική πολιτική του Ανδρονίκου Β΄ Παλαιολόγου, the Last Centuries of Byzantium, 1261–1453
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Gram
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The gram is a metric system unit of mass. Originally defined as the weight of a volume of pure water equal to the cube of the hundredth part of a metre. The only unit symbol for gram that is recognised by the International System of Units is g following the numeric value with a space, the SI does not support the use of abbreviations such as gr, gm or Gm. The word gramme was adopted by the French National Convention in its 1795 decree revising the system as replacing the gravet introduced in 1793. Its definition remained that of the weight of a centimetre of water. French gramme was taken from the Late Latin term gramma and this word, ultimately from Greek γράμμα letter had adopted a specialised meaning in Late Antiquity of one twenty-fourth part of an ounce, corresponding to about 1.14 grams. This use of the term is found in the carmen de ponderibus et mensuris composed around 400 AD, the gram was the fundamental unit of mass in the 19th-century centimetre–gram–second system of units. The gram is today the most widely used unit of measurement for non-liquid ingredients in cooking and grocery shopping worldwide. 1 gram =15.4323583529 grains 1 grain =0.06479891 grams 1 avoirdupois ounce =28.349523125 grams 1 troy ounce =31.1034768 grams 100 grams =3.527396195 ounces 1 gram =5 carats 1 gram =8. 1 gram is roughly equal to 1 small paper clip or pen cap, the Japanese 1 yen coin has a mass of one gram. Conversion of units Duella Gold gram Orders of magnitude Gram at Encyclopædia Britannica
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Byzantine coinage
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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 stavrata, the gold coins of Justinian II departed from these stable conventions by putting a bust of Christ on the obverse, and a half or full-length portrait of the Emperor on the reverse. This was then used on nearly all Islamic coinage until the modern period, the type of Justinian II was revived after the end of Iconoclasm, and with variations remained the norm until the end of the Empire. In the 10th century, so-called anonymous folles were struck instead of the coins depicting the emperor. Late Byzantine gold coins became thin wafers that could be bent by hand, the Byzantine coinage had a prestige that lasted until near the end of the Empire. European rulers, once again started issuing their own coins, tended to follow a simplified version of Byzantine patterns. New bronze coins, multiples of the nummus were introduced, such as the 40 nummi,20 nummi,10 nummi, and 5 nummi coins. The obverse of these featured a highly stylized portrait of the emperor while the reverse featured the value of the denomination represented according to the Greek numbering system. It was succeeded by the initially ceremonial miliaresion established by Leo III the Isaurian in ca,720, which became standard issue from ca.830 on and until the late 11th century, when it was discontinued after being severely debased. Small transactions were conducted with bronze coinage throughout this period, 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, now significantly smaller, although Justinian II attempted a restoration of the follis size of Justinian I, the follis continued to slowly decrease in size. The 11⁄12 weight coin was called a tetarteron, 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, 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, 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 name for the symbol of a roundel. Former money changer Michael IV the Paphlagonian assumed the throne of Byzantium in 1034, the debasement was gradual at first, but then accelerated rapidly. Under Alexius I Comnenus the debased solidus was discontinued and a coinage of higher fineness was established. The hyperpyron was slightly smaller than the solidus, during Andronicus IIs reign he instituted a some new coinage based on the hyperpyron
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Hyperpyron
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The hyperpyron was a Byzantine coin in use during the late Middle Ages, replacing the solidus as the Byzantine Empires gold coinage. The traditional gold currency of the Byzantine Empire had been the solidus or nomisma, whose gold content had remained steady at 24 carats for seven centuries and was consequently highly prized. From the 1030s, however, the coin was debased, until in the 1080s, following the military disasters and civil wars of the previous decade. Consequently, in 1092, Emperor Alexios I Komnenos undertook a drastic overhaul of the Byzantine coinage system and introduced a new gold coin and this was of the same standard weight as the solidus, but of less gold content due to the recycling of earlier debased coins. The hyperpyron remained the gold coin until gold coins ceased to be minted by the Byzantines in the mid-14th century. At the same time, the quality of the coins declined as well, the last hyperpyra, and thus the last Byzantine gold coins, were struck by Emperor John VI Kantakouzenos. The name remained in use thereafter solely as a money of account, the name was adopted in various forms by Western Europeans and the Slavic countries of the Balkans designating various coins, usually silver, as well as moneys of account. More often in the West the hyperpyron was called the bezant, in the 14th century, the hyperpyron equalled 12 of the new silver basilika,96 tournesia,384 copper trachea and 768 copper assaria. Medieval Bulgarian coinage Ragusan perpera Serbian perper Grierson, Philip, new York and Oxford, Oxford University Press. The Economy, Fiscal Administration and Coinage of Byzantium, studies in the Byzantine Monetary Economy c
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Tornesel
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The tornesel, tornesol, or tornese was a silver coin of Europe in the late Middle Ages and the early modern era. It took its name from the denier Tournois, the denier of Tours, marco Polo referred to the tornesel in recounts of his travels to East Asia when describing the currencies of the Yuan Empire. His descriptions were based on the conversion of 1 bezant =20 groats =133 1/3 tornesel, the tornese was a subunit of the Neapolitan, Sicilian, and Two Sicilies ducats
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Follis
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The follis was a type of coin in the Roman and Byzantine traditions. The Roman follis was a bronze coin introduced in about 294 with the coinage reform of Diocletian. It weighed about 10 grams and was about 4% silver, mostly as a layer on the surface. The word follis means bag in Latin, and there is evidence that this term was used in antiquity for a bag containing a specific amount of coins. The follis of Diocletian, despite efforts to enforce prices with the Edict on Maximum Prices, was revalued and reduced, by the time of Constantine, the follis was smaller and barely contained any silver. A series of Constantinian bronzes was introduced in the century, although the specific denominations are unclear and debated by historians. They are referred to as AE1, AE2, AE3 and AE4, with the former being the largest, namely, Fourth century folles represent the largest category of coin finds in the United Kingdom. The follis was reintroduced as a bronze coin in 498, with the coinage reform of Anastasius. A40 nummi coin of Anastasius is depicted on the obverse of the Macedonian 50 denars banknote, the fals was a bronze coin issued by the Umayyad and Abbasid caliphates beginning in the late 8th century, initially as imitations of the Byzantine follis. Trifollaro, a coin worth 3 folles Grierson, Philip, Byzantine coinage, Dumbarton Oaks, ISBN 978-0-88402-274-9, archived from the original on 13 June 2010 Hendy
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Roman currency
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Roman currency for most of Roman history consisted of gold, silver, bronze, orichalcum and copper coinage. From its introduction to the Republic, during the third century BC, well into Imperial times, Roman currency saw many changes in form, denomination, a persistent feature was the inflationary debasement and replacement of coins over the centuries. Notable examples of this followed the reforms of Diocletian and this trend continued into Byzantine times. The manufacture of coins in the Roman culture, dating from about the 4th century BC, the origin of the word mint is ascribed to the manufacture of silver coin at Rome in 269 BC at the temple of Juno Moneta. This goddess became the personification of money, and her name was applied both to money and to its place of manufacture, Roman mints were spread widely across the Empire, and were sometimes used for propaganda purposes. The populace often learned of a new Roman Emperor when coins appeared with the new Emperors portrait. The Romans cast their larger copper coins in clay moulds carrying distinctive markings, not because they knew nothing of striking, Roman adoption of metallic commodity money was a late development in monetary history. Bullion bars and ingots were used as money in Mesopotamia since the 7th millennium BC, coinage proper was only introduced by the Roman Republican government c.300 BC. For these reasons, the Romans would have known about coinage systems long before their government actually introduced them. The reason behind Romes adoption of coinage was likely cultural, the Romans had no pressing economic need, but they wanted to emulate Greek culture, and they considered the institution of minted money a significant feature of that culture. However, Roman coinage initially saw limited use. The type of money introduced by Rome was unlike that found elsewhere in the ancient Mediterranean and it combined a number of uncommon elements. One example is the large bronze bullion, the aes signatum and it measured about 160 by 90 millimetres and weighed around 1,500 to 1,600 grams, being made out of a highly leaded tin bronze. Although similar metal bars had been produced in Italy and northern Etruscan areas, these had been made of Aes grave. Along with the aes signatum, the Roman state also issued a series of bronze, produced using the manner of manufacture then utilised in Greek Naples, the designs of these early coins were also heavily influenced by Hellenic designs. The designs on the coinage of the Republican period displayed a solid conservatism, usually illustrating mythical scenes or personifications of various gods, in 27 BC, the Roman Republic came to an end as Augustus ascended to the throne as the first emperor. Taking autocratic power, it became recognized that there was a link between the emperors sovereignty and the production of coinage. The imagery on coins took an important step when Julius Caesar issued coins bearing his own portrait, while moneyers had earlier issued coins with portraits of ancestors, Caesars was the first Roman coinage to feature the portrait of a living individual
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Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium
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The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium is a three volume historical dictionary published by the English Oxford University Press. It contains comprehensive information in English on topics relating to the Byzantine Empire and it was edited by Dr. Alexander Kazhdan, and was first published in 1991. Kazhdan was a professor at Princeton University who became a Senior Research Associate at Dumbarton Oaks, Washington and he contributed to many of the articles in the Dictionary and always signed his initials A. K. at the end of the article to indicate his contribution. The dictionary is available in printed and e-reference text versions from Oxford Reference Online and it covers the main historical events of Byzantium, as well as important social and religious events. It also includes biographies of eminent political and literary personalities and describes in detail religious, cultural topics include music, theology and the arts
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International Standard Book Number
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The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an e-book, a paperback and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, the method of assigning an ISBN is nation-based and varies from country to country, often depending on how large the publishing industry is within a country. The initial ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering created in 1966, the 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108. Occasionally, a book may appear without a printed ISBN if it is printed privately or the author does not follow the usual ISBN procedure, however, this can be rectified later. Another identifier, the International Standard Serial Number, identifies periodical publications such as magazines, the ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 in the United Kingdom by David Whitaker and in 1968 in the US by Emery Koltay. The 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108, the United Kingdom continued to use the 9-digit SBN code until 1974. The ISO on-line facility only refers back to 1978, an SBN may be converted to an ISBN by prefixing the digit 0. For example, the edition of Mr. J. G. Reeder Returns, published by Hodder in 1965, has SBN340013818 -340 indicating the publisher,01381 their serial number. This can be converted to ISBN 0-340-01381-8, the check digit does not need to be re-calculated, since 1 January 2007, ISBNs have contained 13 digits, a format that is compatible with Bookland European Article Number EAN-13s. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an ebook, a paperback, and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, a 13-digit ISBN can be separated into its parts, and when this is done it is customary to separate the parts with hyphens or spaces. Separating the parts of a 10-digit ISBN is also done with either hyphens or spaces, figuring out how to correctly separate a given ISBN number is complicated, because most of the parts do not use a fixed number of digits. ISBN issuance is country-specific, in that ISBNs are issued by the ISBN registration agency that is responsible for country or territory regardless of the publication language. Some ISBN registration agencies are based in national libraries or within ministries of culture, in other cases, the ISBN registration service is provided by organisations such as bibliographic data providers that are not government funded. In Canada, ISBNs are issued at no cost with the purpose of encouraging Canadian culture. In the United Kingdom, United States, and some countries, where the service is provided by non-government-funded organisations. Australia, ISBNs are issued by the library services agency Thorpe-Bowker
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Byzantine Empire
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It survived the fragmentation and fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD and continued to exist for an additional thousand years until it fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1453. During most of its existence, the empire was the most powerful economic, cultural, several signal events from the 4th to 6th centuries mark the period of transition during which the Roman Empires Greek East and Latin West divided. Constantine I reorganised the empire, made Constantinople the new capital, under Theodosius I, Christianity became the Empires official state religion and other religious practices were proscribed. Finally, under the reign of Heraclius, the Empires military, the borders of the Empire evolved significantly over its existence, as it went through several cycles of decline and recovery. During the reign of Maurice, the Empires eastern frontier was expanded, in a matter of years the Empire lost its richest provinces, Egypt and Syria, to the Arabs. This battle opened the way for the Turks to settle in Anatolia, the Empire recovered again during the Komnenian restoration, such that by the 12th century Constantinople was the largest and wealthiest European city. Despite the eventual recovery of Constantinople in 1261, the Byzantine Empire remained only one of several small states in the area for the final two centuries of its existence. Its remaining territories were annexed by the Ottomans over the 15th century. The Fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 finally ended the Byzantine Empire, the term comes from Byzantium, the name of the city of Constantinople before it became Constantines capital. This older name of the city would rarely be used from this point onward except in historical or poetic contexts. The publication in 1648 of the Byzantine du Louvre, and in 1680 of Du Canges Historia Byzantina further popularised the use of Byzantine among French authors, however, it was not until the mid-19th century that the term came into general use in the Western world. The Byzantine Empire was known to its inhabitants as the Roman Empire, the Empire of the Romans, Romania, the Roman Republic, Graikia, and also as Rhōmais. The inhabitants called themselves Romaioi and Graikoi, and even as late as the 19th century Greeks typically referred to modern Greek as Romaika and Graikika. The authority of the Byzantine emperor as the legitimate Roman emperor was challenged by the coronation of Charlemagne as Imperator Augustus by Pope Leo III in the year 800. No such distinction existed in the Islamic and Slavic worlds, where the Empire was more seen as the continuation of the Roman Empire. In the Islamic world, the Roman Empire was known primarily as Rûm, the Roman army succeeded in conquering many territories covering the entire Mediterranean region and coastal regions in southwestern Europe and north Africa. These territories were home to different cultural groups, both urban populations and rural populations. The West also suffered heavily from the instability of the 3rd century AD
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Solidus (coin)
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The solidus, nomisma, or bezant was originally a relatively pure gold coin issued in the Late Roman Empire. Under Constantine, who introduced it on a scale, it had a weight of about 4.5 grams. The Byzantine solidus also inspired the originally slightly less pure Arabian dinar, in late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, the solidus also functioned as a unit of weight equal to 1/72 of a pound. The solidus was introduced by Diocletian in AD301 as a replacement of the aureus, composed of solid gold. His minting was on a scale, however, and the coin only entered widespread circulation under Constantine I after AD312. Constantines solidus was struck at a rate of 72 to a Roman pound of gold, each coin weighed 24 Greco-Roman carats. By this time, the solidus was worth 275,000 increasingly debased denarii, with the exception of the early issues of Constantine the Great and the odd usurpers the Solidus today is a much more affordable Gold Roman Coin to collect compared to the Older Aureus. Especially those of Valens Honorius and later Byzantine issues, the solidus was maintained essentially unaltered in weight, dimensions and purity until the 10th century. During the 6th and 7th centuries lightweight solidi of 20,22 or 23 siliquae were struck along with the weight issues. Many of these coins have been found in Europe, Russia and Georgia. The lightweight solidi were distinguished by different markings on the coin, usually in the exergue for the 20 and 22 siliquae coins and by stars in the field for the 23 siliquae coins. In theory the solidus was struck from pure gold, but because of the limits of refining techniques, in the Greek-speaking world during the Roman period, and then in the Byzantine economy, the solidus was known as the νόμισμα nomisma. Initially it was difficult to distinguish the two coins, as they had the design, dimensions and purity, and there were no marks of value to distinguish the denominations. The only difference was the weight, the tetarteron nomisma was a lighter coin, about 4.05 grams, but the histamenon nomisma maintained the traditional weight of 4.5 grams. To eliminate confusion between the two, from the reign of Basil II the solidus was struck as a coin with a larger diameter. From the middle of the 11th century the larger diameter histamenon nomisma was struck on a concave flan, former money changer Michael IV the Paphlagonian assumed the throne of Byzantium in 1034 and began the slow process of debasing both the tetarteron nomisma and the histamenon nomisma. Alexius reformed the coinage in 1092 and eliminated the solidus altogether, in its place he introduced a new gold coin called the hyperpyron nomisma at about 20. 5k fine. The weight, dimensions and purity of the hyperpyron nomisma remained stable until the fall of Constantinople to the Crusaders in 1204, after that time the exiled Empire of Nicea continued to strike a debased hyperpyron nomisma
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Hexagram (currency)
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The hexagram was a large silver coin of the Byzantine Empire issued primarily during the 7th century AD. Only under Emperor Heraclius, in 615, were new silver coins minted to cover the needs of the war with Sassanid Persia, the material for these coins came chiefly from the confiscation of church plate. They were named after their weight of six grammata, and probably valued at 12 to the gold solidus, the Hexagrams uniquely carried the inscription of Deus adiuta Romanis or May God help the Romans, It is believed that this shows the desperation of the empire at this time. In 720 Emperor Leo III the Isaurian issued a new silver coin, the miliaresion
