Gold dinar in the context of "Modern gold dinar"

The solidus (Latin 'solid'; pl.: solidi) or nomisma (Greek: νόμισμα, romanized: nómisma, lit. 'coin') was a highly pure gold coin issued in the Later Roman Empire and Byzantine Empire. It was introduced in the early 4th century, replacing the aureus, and its weight of about 4.45 grams remained relatively constant for seven centuries.

In the Byzantine Empire, the solidus or nomisma remained a highly pure gold coin until the 11th century, when several Byzantine emperors began to strike the coin with less and less gold. The nomisma was finally abolished by Alexios I Komnenos in 1092, who replaced it with the hyperpyron, which also came to be known as a "bezant". The Byzantine solidus also inspired the zolotnik in the Kievan Rus' and the originally slightly less pure gold dinar first issued by the Umayyad Caliphate beginning in 697.

A gold coin is a coin that is made mostly or entirely of gold. Most gold coins minted since 1800 are 900–920 ‰ gold (22‑karat), while most of today's gold bullion coins are pure gold, such as the Britannia, Canadian Maple Leaf, and American Buffalo. Alloyed gold coins, like the American Gold Eagle and South African Krugerrand, are typically 917 ‰ gold by weight, with the remainder being silver and copper.

Until about the 1930s, gold coins were circulation coins, including coin-like bracteates and dinars. Since then, gold coins have mainly been produced as bullion coins for investors and as commemorative coins for collectors. While modern gold coins are still legal tender, they are not used in everyday financial transactions, as the metal value invariably exceeds the nominal value. For example, the quarter-ounce American Gold Eagle has a denomination of $10, but a metal value of approximately $500 (as of January 2024).

The history of coins stretches back to the first millennium BC/BCE. Notable early examples of coins include the Lydian lion coins, Persian daric and siglos, Tong Bei, the dirham and gold dinar.

Coins are a major archaeological source of history. Coins convey information about language, administration, religion, economic conditions, and the ruler who minted those coins.

In the Middle Ages, the term bezant (Old French: besant, from Latin bizantius aureus) was used in Western Europe to describe several gold coins of the east, all derived ultimately from the Roman solidus. The word itself comes from the Greek Byzantion, the ancient name of Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire.

The original "bezants" were the gold coins produced by the government of the Byzantine Empire, first the nomisma and from the 11th century the hyperpyron. Later, the term was used to cover the gold dinars produced by Islamic governments. In turn, the gold coins minted in the Kingdom of Jerusalem and County of Tripoli were termed "Saracen bezants" (besantius saracenatus), or "fake dinars" (dīnār ṣūrī), since they were modelled on the Fatimid dinar. A completely different electrum coin based on Byzantine trachea was minted in the Kingdom of Cyprus and called the "white bezant".

Abu al-Misk Kafur (Arabic: أبو المسك كافور) (905–968), also called al-Laithi, al-Suri, al-Labi was a dominant personality of Ikhshidid Egypt and Syria. Originally a black slave, from Abyssinya or Nubia, he was made vizier of Egypt, becoming its de facto ruler from 946 after the death of his master, Muhammad bin Tughj. Thereafter, he ruled the Ikshidid domains—Egypt and southern Syria (including Damascus)—until his death in 968.

Fatimid coinage comes from the Fatimid Caliphate, an Isma'ili Shi'a empire that ruled large parts of North Africa, western Arabia, and the Levant, first from Tunisia (Ifriqiya) and then from Egypt. The coinage was minted after the typical pattern of Islamic coinage. The Fatimids were particularly known for the consistently high quality of their gold dinars, which proved a potent political tool in their conquest of Egypt and led to them being widely imitated by the Crusader states in the 12th century. Fatimid silver coinage (dirhams) on the other hand, although widely issued, declined in quality with the weakening of the Fatimid state, and has been mostly ignored in modern times. The Fatimids minted almost no copper coinage. Starting from designs imitating Abbasid coinage, adapted merely with slogans befitting the new regime and the names of the Fatimid caliphs, from the reign of Caliph al-Mu'izz on, Fatimid coinage included overtly Shi'a formulas and achieved a distinctive look, with concentric inscribed bands, that was maintained until the end of the dynasty.

After the early Muslim conquests brought the nascent caliphate into contact with the numismatic traditions of the Byzantine Empire and the Sasanian Empire, whose lands they took over, the Islamic world developed its own, distinctive tradition of coinage. Islamic currency consisted of gold (dinars), silver (dirhams), and copper or bronze (fals) coins, as well as their fractions and multiples. Initially these coins followed pre-Islamic patterns in iconography, but under Caliph Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan, a distinctive Islamic dinar type was created that eschewed images and carried the Islamic profession of faith. In the eastern parts of the caliphate, silver Arab–Sasanian coinage continued to be minted into the 9th century, before it was also replaced by Islamic patterns. The right to mint coins in one's own name became one of the chief attributes of sovereignty in Islam, and as autonomous and independent dynasties multiplied with the break-up of the Abbasid Caliphate in the 10th century, distinctive styles and sub-currencies emerged in the various states and regions as they sought to differentiate themselves from the Abbasid standard (e.g. Fatimid coinage). The typical Islamic coinage came to an end in the 19th and 20th centuries, as Muslim states adopted Western-style coinage practices and motifs.