Histamenone

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Histamenon of Constantine IX. Monomachus

Histamenon nomisma (Greek: ἱστάμενον νόμισμα) was a name for the nomisma (standard 24 carat or siliquae), the equivalent and continuation of the solidus, the Roman gold coin, in the Byzantine Empire .

It differs from the Tetarteron nomisma , which was issued at the same time, in the diameter and thickness of the coin. The histamenone developed from the reign of Nikophoros II. Phocas (963–969) into a larger and slimmer coin, while a developing type - the tetarteron - became smaller but thicker, but weighed 1/12 less with the same gold content. Both coins were initially iconographically identical, but also differed visually from the reign of Constantine VIII (1025–28). From the middle of the 11th century both coins devalued massively and reached their lowest point during the first decade of the reign of Alexios I Comnenus(1081-1118). The causes of this devaluation are historically controversial. This development culminated in a coin reform in which the histamenone and the tetarteron were replaced by the hyperpyron . The historical sources for the existence of both coins include letters about monetary claims and archaeological sources, including the chroniclers Johannes Zonaras and Georgios Kedrenos .

literature

  • Philip Grierson : The debasement of the Bezant in the eleventh century . In: Byzantinische Zeitschrift 47, 1954, pp. 379–394.
  • Michael F. Hendy : Light weight Solidi, Tetartera, and the book of the prefect. In: Byzantinische Zeitschrift 65, 1972, pp. 57-80.
  • Philip Grierson: Byzantine coins . Methuen et al. a., London a. a., 1982, ISBN 0-416-71360-2 .
  • Philip Grierson: Histamenon . In: The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium . Oxford University Press, New York / Oxford 1991, ISBN 0-19-504652-8 , p. 936.
  • Cécile Morrisson : Coinage and Money in Byzantine Typika. In: Dumbarton Oaks Papers 56, 2002, pp. 263-275.
  • Costas Kaplanis: The Debasement of the Dollar of the Middle Ages. In: The Journal of Economic History 63, 2003, pp. 768-801.
  • Andreas Urs Sommer : The coins of the Byzantine Empire 491–1453. With an appendix: The coins of the kingdom of Trebizond. Battenberg Verlag, Regenstauf 2010, ISBN 978-3-86646-061-4 .
  • Sophie Lavenne: Histamenon et tetarteron: la politique monétaire des empereurs macédoniens entre Nicéphore II (963–969) and Michel IV (1034–1041) (= Bibliothèque de Byzantion 11). Universa, Brussels 2010, ISBN 90-6281-009-8 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Philip Grierson: Histamenon . In: The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium . Oxford University Press, New York / Oxford 1991, ISBN 0-19-504652-8 , p. 936.
  2. ↑ Michael F. Hendy: Light weight SOLIDI, TETARTERA, and the book of zhe prefect. In: Byzantinische Zeitschrift 65, 1972, pp. 63, 64.
  3. ↑ Costas Kaplanis: The debasement of the dollar of the Middle Ages In: The Journal of Economic History 63, 2003, pp 771-774.
  4. ↑ Philip Grierson: The debasement of the bezant in the eleventh century . In: Byzantinische Zeitschrift 47, 1954, p. 386.
  5. ^ MF Hendy, Light weight Solidi, Tetartera, and the book of the prefect. In: Byzantinische Zeitschrift 65, 1972, pp. 63-69.