The
solidus (the
Latin word
for
solid) 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
The solidus was first introduced by
Diocletian around 301 CE, struck at 60 to the
Roman pound of pure gold (c. 5.3g) and
with an initial value equal to 1000
denarii. However, Diocletian's solidus was
only struck in small quantities, and thus had only minimal economic
impact.
The solidus was re-introduced by
Constantine I in 312 CE, permanently
replacing the
aureus as the imperial gold
coin of the Roman Empire. The solidus was struck at a rate of 72
from a
Roman pound of pure gold, each
coin weighing twenty-four Roman/Greek
carats, or
about 4.5 grams of gold per coin. By this time, the solidus was
worth 275,000 increasingly debased denarii.
The solidus maintained essentially unaltered in weight and purity
until the 10th century, though in the Greek-speaking world during
the Roman period and then in the
Byzantine economy it was known as the
nomisma (plural
nomismata). Whenever the coin was
taken in by the treasury, it was melted down and reissued. This
maintained the evenness of the weight of the circulating solidi,
since the coin did not tend to be in circulation for long enough to
become worn.
Minting of the gold coin - unlike the base-metal coins of the time
- had no permanently established minting facility. Due to the
requirement that taxes were paid in gold, solidus minting
operations tended to follow the emperor and his court.
For example, solidi
were minted in Milan
in 353, and
in Ravenna
after
402. Each of these locations were imperial residences at
those times.
Although merchants were forbidden to use solidi outside the
Byzantine empire, there was sufficient trade in these coins outside
the empire that they became a desirable circulating currency in
Arabic countries. Since the solidi circulating outside the empire
were not used to pay the taxes to the emperor they did not get
re-minted, and the soft pure gold coins quickly became worn.
Through the end of the 7th century, Arabic copies of solidi -
dinars minted by the caliph
Abd al-Malik who had access to supplies of gold
from the
upper Nile - began to circulate
in areas outside the Byzantine empire. These corresponded in weight
to only 20 carats, but matched with the weight of the worn solidi
that were circulating in those areas at the time. The two coins
circulated together in these areas for a time.
Except in special cases, the solidus was not marked with any face
value throughout its seven-century manufacture and circulation
.Solidi were wider and thinner than the
Aureus , with the exception of some lower quality
issues from the Byzantine Empire . Fractions of the solidus known
as
semissis (half-solidi) and
tremissis
(one-third solidi) were also produced .
The word
soldier is ultimately derived from
solidus, referring to the solidi with which soldiers were
paid.
Impact on world currencies
In medieval Europe, when the only coin in circulation was the
silver penny (denarius), the 'solidus' was used as a unit of
account equal to 12 denarii. Variations on the word
solidus in the local language gave rise to a number of
currency units:
France
To this day, in French around the world,
solde means the
balance of an account or invoice.
Sou is
also used as slang for a small coin of little value, as in
sans
sous. "I'm broke", "without money". In Québec
sou is
also by far the most commonly employed term for the
Canadian cent (standard French,
cent, rarely used in Québec). Interestingly, quarter
dollars in Québec are often called
trente sous (thirty
cents) because after the English conquest of Québec in 1759, 25
English pennies were the equivalent of 30 French
sous and
French money continued to circulate there for many years.
200 px
Italy
The name of the medieval Italian
soldo (plural
soldi) was derived from
solidus.This word is
still in common use today in Italy in its plural
soldi
with the same meaning as the English equivalent
money.
Spain and Peru
As with
soldier in English, the Spanish equivalent is
soldago. The name of the medieval
Spanish sueldo (which also
means salary) was derived from
solidus, which is also used
in the Philippines as
Suweldo.
Some have suggested that the Peruvian unit of currency, the
sol is derived from
solidus, but the standard
unit of Peruvian currency was the
real up until 1863.
Throughout the Spanish world the dollar equivalent was 8 reales
("pieces of eight"), which circulated legally in the United States
until 1857. We hear echoes of that time in the expression "two
bits" for a quarter dollar, and the
real was last used for
accounting in the US stock market, which traded in 1/8 dollars
until 2001.
The Peruvian
sol was introduced at a rate of 5.25 per
British Pound, or just under four shillings (the legacy
soldus). The term
soles de oro was introduced in
1933, three years after Peru had actually abandoned the gold
standard. In 1985 the Peruvian sol was replaced at 1000 to 1 by the
inti, representing the sun god of the Incas. By 1991 it
had to be replaced with a new
sol at a million to 1, after
which it remained reasonably stable.
United Kingdom
Until
decimalisation in the United Kingdom
in 1971, the abbreviation s., from
solidus, was used to represent shillings, just as d. and £, from denarius
and Libra, were
respectively used to represent pence and
pounds, leading to the abbreviation
"£sd".
References
See also
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