NUMMUS: COIN OF BYZANTIUM
40 nummi (follis), 813-820: Byzantine Empire
Ruler: Leo V the Armenian — general of Armenian origin, who after the rebellion against Michael I Rangabe became emperor (813-820) and appointed his son Symbatios co-emperor under the name of Constantine.
☩: cross — a symbol of Christianity as the official religion of the Byzantine Empire; from Byzantium, Christianity spread to Transcaucasia and Eastern Europe (in particular, Kyivan Rus').
M: designation of the denomination of the coin — 40 nummi or follis.
XXX, NNN, A: probably /this information in numismatic catalogs is either absent or contradictory/ — Constantinople Mint mark, officina (workshop within Roman and Byzantine mints) and date.
LEON S CONST: the names of the co-rulers are indicated — Leo and Constantine.
Crowned monarchs depicted in the Byzantine style: beard Leo on left and beardless Constantine on right. Both wearing chlamys (a type of an ancient Greek cloak; by the time of the Byzantine Empire it was part of the state costume of the emperor and high officials) and don't holding akakia (cylindrical purple silk roll containing dust which was depicted in wall mosaics and on coinage as being held by Byzantine emperors during ceremonies; it symbolized the mortal nature of all men).
Although this coin can be found in almost every Byzantine coin catalog, it is not always easy to do so. The explanation is simple: there is a large-scale confusion with the identification of the depicted rulers and, accordingly, the dating of the issue. In a ratio of about 50/50 are indicated both "Leo V the Armenian with Constantine; 813-820 AD" (its my position too) and "Leo III the Isaurian with Constantine V; 717-741 AD". Moreover, often contradictions regarding this coin can be found in the same authoritative online catalogs (one page of the website may display a coin with the first description, while another shows the coin with the second). Photos of different copies, but with identical plots and legends. But the denomination (40 nummi or follis) and the place of issue (Constantinople) are indicated everywhere without error. A very strange situation...
- Copper: 22 mm - 4.24 g
- Reference price: 33$
COIN NUMMUS — WHERE & WHEN (coins catalog: by names & emitents)
- BYZANTINE EMPIRE (5th-9th centuries): nummus = 1/5 pentanummium = 1/10 decanummium = 1/40 follis
- ROMAN EMPIRE (3th-5th centuries): nummus
NUMMUS as coin name.
Nummus (plural: nummi) — copper or bronze coin of the late Roman Empire and Byzantium.
The term, as a rule, is used by numismatists to refer specifically to Byzantine coins of the 5th-9th centuries (although there is indisputable evidence of the issue of Roman nummi from the 3rd century).
In the Byzantine Empire, the nummus spread at the turn of the 5th-6th centuries during the reign of Anastasius I Dicorus (the Romans had such a coin two centuries earlier).
This small copper coin was 1/40th of a follis. Various denominations were produced: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 10, 20 and 40 nummi (the last coin was precisely a follis). Nummus of each mentioned denomination contained a large Greek letter designation (respectively A, B, Γ, Δ, E, I, K and M), as well as a portrait of the emperor. Under the letters was the Mint symbol.
In addition to the main "imperial" ones, there were also local, provincial, nummi: Alexandria, Carthage... They had other letter designations.
The cost, like the quality, of nummus was low. For a long time, 7200 nummi were equal to 1 gold solidus.
The name of this coin comes from the Latin term, which translates as "coin" (in a broad sense). It was formed from the Greek "νόμος" (nomos), which in a slightly modified form in ancient times was used in the lands of South of modern Italy to denote different coins.
