- Michaelaton
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Michaelaton (histamenon) of Michael VII.
The michaelaton (Greek: νόμισμα μιχαηλᾶτον, "coin of Michael"), in Latin michaelatus, was the colloquial name given to the gold Byzantine coins (nomismata) struck by any emperor called Michael.
In a more technical sense, it refers to the gold histamena issued by Emperor Michael IV the Paphlagonian (r. 1034–1041) and, in sources of the late 11th and the 12th centuries, for those of Emperor Michael VII Doukas (r. 1071–1078), whose gold coinage was the last to retain a reasonably high amount of gold (16 carats) before the massive debasement that followed under his successors. It was in widespread use in Italy, especially the south, because it was virtually equal to the popular Sicilian tarì.
Sources
- Kazhdan, Alexander, ed. (1991), Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium, Oxford University Press, p. 1368, ISBN 978-0-19-504652-6
Currencies of the Byzantine Empire First period
(498 – ca. 700)Gold: Solidus · Semissis · Tremissis – Silver: Hexagram (from 615) – Copper: Follis · Half-follis · Decanummium · Pentanummium · NummusSecond period
(ca. 700 – 1092)Gold: Solidus or Nomisma (later Histamenon) · Tetarteron (from 960s) – Silver: Miliaresion (from 720) – Copper: FollisThird period
(1092 – ca. 1300)Gold: Hyperpyron – Electrum: Nomisma trachy aspron (Trikephalon/Manouelaton) – Billon: Aspron trachy (Stamenon) – Copper: Tetarteron · Half-tetarteronFourth period
(ca. 1300 – 1350s)Fifth period
(1367 – 1453)Related topics Byzantine economy · Byzantine mintsByzantine Empire Portal · Numismatics Portal Categories: Gold coins | Coins of the Byzantine Empire | Currencies of Italy
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