Byzantine coinage
Overview
 
Byzantine currency, money used in the Eastern Roman Empire after the fall of the West, consisted of mainly two types of coin
Coin
A coin is a piece of hard material that is standardized in weight, is produced in large quantities in order to facilitate trade, and primarily can be used as a legal tender token for commerce in the designated country, region, or territory....

s: the gold
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...

 solidus
Solidus (coin)
The solidus was originally a gold coin issued by the Romans, and a weight measure for gold more generally, corresponding to 4.5 grams.-Roman and Byzantine coinage:...

 and a variety of clearly valued bronze
Bronze
Bronze is a metal alloy consisting primarily of copper, usually with tin as the main additive. It is hard and brittle, and it was particularly significant in antiquity, so much so that the Bronze Age was named after the metal...

 coins. By the end of the empire the currency was issued only in silver stavrata
Stavraton
The stavraton or stauraton was a type of silver coin used during the last century of the Byzantine Empire.The name first appears in the mid-11th century for a gold histamenon showing the emperor holding a cross-shaped scepter, but in its more specific sense, it denotes the large silver coins...

 and minor copper coins with no gold issue.
Early Byzantine coins continue the late Roman conventions: on the obverse
Obverse and reverse
Obverse and its opposite, reverse, refer to the two flat faces of coins and some other two-sided objects, including paper money, flags , seals, medals, drawings, old master prints and other works of art, and printed fabrics. In this usage, obverse means the front face of the object and reverse...

 the head of the Emperor, now full face rather than in profile, and on the reverse, usually a Christian symbol such as the cross, or a Victory or an angel (the two tending to merge into one another).
 
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