Speaker
Description
During the Early Byzantine period (498—720) silver was by far the least used metal for minting coins. As a result, most studies and reference works have focused on gold and copper coinage. In the year 615, however, the hexagram was introduced, reviving silver as a day-to-day currency in the East. To this day this denomination is little understood. Moreover, thanks to the coin trade and hoards, even more previously unknown silver coins have been discovered. While examining these developments, even the highly regarded Moneta Imperii Byzantini Vol. III. (1981) has proven to be partially outdated. A detailed study regarding the imperial silver coinage from 610—720 is therefore warranted. For the sake of brevity, this presentation will focus on the reign of Emperor Constans II (641—668) whose silver coinage has proven to be significantly more extensive than previously thought.
