A Few Remarks on the Money Market in the Byzantine Empire in the Sixth Century

Abstract

The aim of this article in the describe the money market in the Byzantine Empire in the sixth century. At its basis were the fiscal reforms implemented at the end of the fifth and the beginning of the sixth century by Emperor Anastasius. As a result of these, the “heavy follis” was introduced, a monetary unit intended to improve everyday retail trade, which in the second half of the fifth century had been “flooded” by small bronze coins, 5 to 10 millimeters in diameter (so­ ‑called minimi). An objective insight into the nature of the money market of that time is not given by written (literary) texts, but by the contents of contemporary stores of coins and monitoring of the contemporary coin market. Analysis confirms that besides the so­­­­­­‑called heavy follis (worth 40 nummia) and its parts, that is coins worth 30, 20, 10, and 5 nummia, the everyday retail market was dominated by coins of intermediate value, that is, ½ 1, 1½, 2, 3, 6, 12, 16, and even 33 nummia. An analysis of stores of coins in the sixth and seventh centuries on the territory of the contemporary Byzantine Empire also confirms that so­ ‑called clipped coins were also in common use. In other words, the issuing authority, that is, the imperial mint, did not meet the demands of small­­­­­­‑scale transactions; bronze coins of a value of less than 5 nummia and the intermediary values noted above were necessary.