The hyperpyron (Greek: νόμισμα ὑπέρπυρον, nómisma hypérpyron lit. 'highly refined') was a Byzantine coin in use during the late Middle Ages, replacing the solidus as the Byzantine Empire's standard gold coinage in the 11th century. It was introduced by emperor Alexios I Komnenos.
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👉 Hyperpyron in the context of Solidi
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.
In this Dossier
Hyperpyron in the context of Byzantine coinage
Byzantine currency, money used in the Eastern Roman Empire after the fall of the West, consisted of mainly two types of coins: gold solidi and hyperpyra and a variety of clearly valued bronze coins. By the 15th century, the currency was issued only in debased silver stavrata and minor copper coins with no gold issue. The Byzantine Empire established and operated several mints throughout its history. Aside from the main metropolitan mint in the capital, Constantinople, a varying number of provincial mints were also established in other urban centres, especially during the 6th century.
Most provincial mints except for Syracuse were closed or lost to Arab Muslim invasions in the Mediterranean Region by the mid-7th century onwards. After the loss of Syracuse in 878, Constantinople became the sole mint for gold and silver coinage until the late 11th century, when major provincial mints began to re-appear. Many mints, both imperial and, as the Byzantine Empire fragmented, belonging to autonomous local rulers, were operated in the 12th to 14th centuries. Constantinople and Trebizond, capital of the independent Empire of Trebizond (1204–1461), survived until the invasion of Anatolia by the Ottoman Turks in the mid-15th century.
Hyperpyron in the context of Montenegrin perper
The perper (Serbian Cyrillic: Перпер; plural Перпери) was the currency of Montenegro between 1906 and 1918. Named after the Byzantine hyperpyron, it was divided into 100 para.
At the end of the 20th century, Montenegro contemplated issuing the perper again. However, it decided to unofficially adopt the Deutsche mark instead, and later followed the change to the euro.
Hyperpyron in the context of Bezant
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".