Hyperpyron
Encyclopedia
The hyperpyron was a Byzantine
Byzantine
Byzantine usually refers to the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages.Byzantine may also refer to:* A citizen of the Byzantine Empire, or native Greek during the Middle Ages...

 coin in use in the latter Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...

, replacing the 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:...

as the Empire's gold coinage.

The gold currency of the Byzantine Empire had been the solidus or nomisma
Nomisma
Nomisma was the ancient Greek word for "money" and is derived from nomos "anything assigned, a usage, custom, law, ordinance"....

, whose gold content had remained steady at 24 carats
Carat (purity)
The karat or carat is a unit of purity for gold alloys.- Measure :Karat purity is measured as 24 times the purity by mass:where...

 for seven centuries and was consequently highly-prized. From the 1030s however, the coin was increasingly debased, until in the 1080s, following the military disasters and civil wars of the previous decade, its gold content was reduced to almost zero. Consequently in 1092 Emperor Alexios I Komnenos
Alexios I Komnenos
Alexios I Komnenos, Latinized as Alexius I Comnenus , was Byzantine emperor from 1081 to 1118, and although he was not the founder of the Komnenian dynasty, it was during his reign that the Komnenos family came to full power. The title 'Nobilissimus' was given to senior army commanders,...

 (r. 1081–1118) undertook a drastic overhaul of the Byzantine coinage
Byzantine coinage
Byzantine currency, money used in the Eastern Roman Empire after the fall of the West, consisted of mainly two types of coins: the gold solidus and a variety of clearly valued bronze coins...

 system and introduced a new gold coin, the hyperpyron (meaning "super-refined"). This was of the same standard weight (4.45 gram
Gram
The gram is a metric system unit of mass....

s) as the solidus, but of less gold content (20.5 carats
Carat (purity)
The karat or carat is a unit of purity for gold alloys.- Measure :Karat purity is measured as 24 times the purity by mass:where...

 instead of 24) due to the recycling of earlier debased coins.

The hyperpyron remained the standard gold coin until gold coins ceased to be minted by the Byzantines in the mid-14th century. It too however was subject to gradual debasement: under the Empire of Nicaea
Empire of Nicaea
The Empire of Nicaea was the largest of the three Byzantine Greek successor states founded by the aristocracy of the Byzantine Empire that fled after Constantinople was occupied by Western European and Venetian forces during the Fourth Crusade...

, its gold content fell gradually to 18 carats, under Michael VIII Palaiologos
Michael VIII Palaiologos
Michael VIII Palaiologos or Palaeologus reigned as Byzantine Emperor 1259–1282. Michael VIII was the founder of the Palaiologan dynasty that would rule the Byzantine Empire until the Fall of Constantinople in 1453...

 (r. 1259–1282) to 15 and under his son and successor Andronikos II Palaiologos
Andronikos II Palaiologos
Andronikos II Palaiologos , Latinized as Andronicus II Palaeologus, was Byzantine emperor from 1282 to 1328. He was the eldest surviving son of Michael VIII Palaiologos and Theodora Doukaina Vatatzina, grandniece of John III Doukas Vatatzes...

 (r. 1282–1328) to 12 carats. At the same time, the quality of the coins declined as well, and in the 14th century, their weight was far from uniform. The last hyperpyra, and thus the last Byzantine gold coins, were struck by John VI Kantakouzenos
John VI Kantakouzenos
John VI Kantakouzenos or Cantacuzenus was the Byzantine emperor from 1347 to 1354.-Early life:Born in Constantinople, John Kantakouzenos was the son of a Michael Kantakouzenos, governor of the Morea. Through his mother Theodora Palaiologina Angelina, he was a descendant of the reigning house of...

 (r. 1347–1352). The name remained in use thereafter solely as a money of account, divided into 24 keratia.

The name was adopted in various forms by West Europeans and the Slavic countries of the Balkans
Balkans
The Balkans is a geopolitical and cultural region of southeastern Europe...

 (perper, iperpero, etc.) designating various coins, usually silver, as well as moneys of account.

In the early Komnenian period, the hyperpyron was the equivalent of three electrum
Electrum
Electrum is a naturally occurring alloy of gold and silver, with trace amounts of copper and other metals. It has also been produced artificially. The ancient Greeks called it 'gold' or 'white gold', as opposed to 'refined gold'. Its color ranges from pale to bright yellow, depending on the...

 trachea, 48 billon
Billon (alloy)
Billon is an alloy of a precious metal with a majority base metal content . It is used chiefly for making coins, medals, and token coins.The word comes from the French bille....

 trachea or 864 copper tetartera
Tetarteron
The tetarteron was a Byzantine term applied to two different coins, one gold circulating from the 960s to 1092 in parallel to the histamenon, and one copper used from 1092 to the second half of the 13th century.- Gold coin :...

, although with the debasement of the trachea it eventually came to rate 12 electrum trachea and 288 to 384 billon trachea. In the 14th century, the hyperpyron equalled 12 of the new silver basilika
Basilikon
The basilikon , commonly also referred to as the doukaton , was a widely circulated Byzantine silver coin of the first half of the 14th century...

, 96 tournesia, 384 copper trachea and 768 copper assaria.
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