Follis
The follis (plural: folles ) is a Roman coin that was introduced around 294 as part of Diocletian's currency reforms . The coin of 1/32 of a Roman pound (Libra), i.e. approx. 10 grams, was minted from bronze and covered with a thin silver film. The name Follis means bag and probably goes back to an expression for a sealed bag, which in ancient times contained a certain number of coins and thus had a fixed value. However, the ancient name of the nominal in question is not documented, the term "Follis" originated much later. Numismatists often believe that the ancient name of the currency was "Nummus".
When it was introduced, the Follis had a value of 12.5 dc ( denarii communes, "bill denare"), and during the currency reform of September 1, 301, it was revalued to 25 dc. Under Constantine I , the Folles were again reevaluated, reduced in size and no longer contained any silver.
In the coin reform of 348, Flavius Julius Constans replaced the follis with the maiorina , a medium bronze lightly alloyed with silver, and the centenionalis as a sub-nominal to the maiorina with half value.
Around 498, the Folles were reintroduced as a large bronze coin in the currency reform of Anastasius . During this time, a large My can be seen on the value side of the Folles. In Greek numerals, this letter stands for the number 40 and indicates the value of a follis as 40 nummi . The other common denominations are half-fulls (indicated by a large kappa), quarter-fulls (indicated by a large iota) and eighth-fulls (indicated by a large epsilon).
The follis lived in the Middle Ages and lives on as a term in some nominal names up to our time ( fils (currency unit) , fr: rock (monnaie tunisienne) , en: fals , fulus (coin) ).
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ "The Vocabulary of Classical Numismatics - Part 6" , accessed December 6, 2013
- ^ "Diocletian's Monetary Reform," accessed December 6, 2013
- ^ The Roman Imperial Coinage VIII, s. P. 61, Billon maiorina coinage , pp. 348-354