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| follis | |
|---|---|
| Name | Follis |
| Introduced | Late Roman Empire |
| Discontinued | Byzantine period (varied) |
| Denomination | Bronze coin |
| Country | Roman Empire, Byzantine Empire, medieval successor states |
| Composition | Bronze, copper-alloy, occasionally silvered |
follis
The follis was a bronze coin denomination used in the later Roman Empire and the Byzantine Empire and continued in various forms across medieval Europe and the Near East. It served as a low-value unit of account and medium of exchange in municipal and imperial monetary systems, circulating alongside gold and silver issues such as the solidus and the denarius. Numismatists, archaeologists, and economic historians study its iconography, metallurgy, and hoard contexts to understand fiscal policy under emperors like Diocletian and Constantine I.
Scholars trace the term to late Latin usage and medieval numismatic practice, with links in contemporary medieval chronicles and mint records tied to figures such as Procopius and Theophanes the Confessor. The name appears in legal and fiscal texts associated with reforms under Diocletian and later under Justinian I. Later medieval references connect the denomination to municipal minting in cities like Venice, Florence, and Constantinople and to treaties involving Charlemagne and Louis the Pious.
The follis emerged during monetary reform episodes in the late 3rd and early 4th centuries, notably the coinage restructuring associated with Diocletian and the tetrarchic administration of Maximian and Galerius. It functioned in parallel with gold issues like the solidus introduced by Constantine I and the silver denominations circulating since the Republican era such as the denarius. Imperial mints at Rome, Antioch, Alexandria, and Sirmium struck large bronze pieces intended for pay and tax disbursement, while fiscal documents preserved in the Codex Theodosianus and papyri from Oxyrhynchus reflect their accounting role.
In the Byzantine period, the denomination evolved under administrations of emperors including Anastasius I, Heraclius, and Leo III as bronze coinage adjusted to changing fiscal pressures from conflicts with the Sassanian Empire and later the Umayyad Caliphate and Bulgarian Empire. Mint reforms at Constantinople, Thessaloniki, and provincial mints produced issues serving urban markets and military pay. The term and coin form influenced medieval Western minting practices in Italian communes such as Pisa and Genoa and in Balkan polities including Zeta and Duklja, as well as in Islamic minting centers like Damascus where cross-cultural monetary exchange occurred during crusading contacts such as the First Crusade.
Folles were struck in bronze or copper-alloy and sometimes received a silver wash; metallurgical composition shifted under emperors such as Diocletian and Constantine X Doukas in response to bullion availability and fiscal reform. Typical dies bore imperial portraits, monograms, and legends referencing rulers like Theodosius I and Basil II alongside Christian symbols such as the Chi-Rho or the cross introduced after Constantine. Production took place at imperial mints including Constantinople Mint and provincial facilities employing die-cutters, flans, and hammer or screw presses; archaeological excavations at sites like Ephesus and Leptis Magna have uncovered coin blanks, dies, and refinery slags that illuminate workshop techniques.
As a low-denomination medium, the follis facilitated local market transactions, municipal salaries, and troop payments under emperors such as Septimius Severus and administrators in provinces like Syria and Egypt. Its value relationship to the solidus and silver coins governed price lists, tolls, and tax schedules recorded in documents from Ravenna and papyri from Oxyrhynchus. Debasement episodes and reform initiatives — for example under Constantius II and later under Nikephoros I — altered public confidence and prompted hoarding; numismatic evidence from hoards deposited during crises such as the Herulian invasion and the Fourth Crusade helps reconstruct monetary stability and market integration.
Significant hoards and finds featuring folles include municipal caches from Ravenna, shipwreck assemblages in the Adriatic Sea associated with trading routes to Venice, and stratified excavations at Constantinople and Antioch. Notable individual specimens bear portraits of rulers such as Constantine I and Justinian I and special types commemorating events like the reconquest campaigns of Belisarius; these pieces appear in major collections at institutions including the British Museum, the Hermitage Museum, and the Bibliothèque nationale de France. Studies combining typology, metallography, and provenance analysis continue to refine chronologies and trace regional mint networks across Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages.
Category:Coins of the Roman Empire Category:Byzantine coins