Latest research
Historical account researchBGU III 726 dates a loan to 19 October 481. Its principal is one gold solidus less four keratia; repayment is flax of the equivalent value at repayment, with wheat interest. This demonstrates an account valuation beyond simply counting an unchanged coin.
Sources and qualifications → Historical account researchP.Lond.V 1737 records a debt of 3⅓ gold nomismata/solidi by the local Syene standard, with interest stated in gold carats per solidus. It is dated 9 February 613.
Sources and qualifications → Earlier account evidenceOn 26December642 the amīr Abd Allah orders fodder for military personnel valued at three nomismata. The unit measures an obligation in goods under the new administration.
Sources and qualifications → Earlier account evidenceOn 29November643 a requisition to the fiscal administrator of Herakleopolis values fodder at fourteen nomismata; its endorsement repeats that value.
Sources and qualifications → Earlier account evidenceAn Egyptian debt register dated AH57 specifies dinars of the believers for repayment. The debt evidence is real; association with the broader local gold-account profile is qualified because the required issue’s interpretation remains debated. Association with the later continuous currency identity remains qualified.
Sources and qualifications → Earlier account evidenceP.Ness.46, 16July605, acknowledges nine imperial solidi less nine carats on the Gaza standard, with an express repayment obligation. This Palestinian observation is only a qualified regional association with the existing Egyptian solidus/nomisma profile. Association with the later continuous currency identity remains qualified.
Sources and qualifications → Earlier account evidenceThe bilingual release P.Ness.56, 18January687, describes one fifty-unit obligation as dinars in Arabic and solidi in Greek: thirty were repaid and twenty remitted. Their equivalence within this account is explicit; wider regional grouping remains qualified. Association with the later continuous currency identity remains qualified.
Sources and qualifications → Earlier account evidenceP.Ness.55 combines a tax receipt and a private acknowledgement of debt for the same 4⅓ nomismata. Its proposed 11 April 682 dating carries a question mark; the Palestinian association is also qualified. Association with the later continuous currency identity remains qualified.
Sources and qualifications → Earlier account evidencePSI IX 1074 orders payment of 4½⅓ solidi. Its corrected date is 15 October 400 CE; the fractional amount supplies account-unit evidence.
Sources and qualifications → Unit-of-account identity reviewContinue the Egyptian profile across the Arab conquest: inherited nomisma valuation remains in dated fiscal orders. Attach the Palestinian bilingual and loan evidence as explicitly qualified regional associations, without inventing a new unit solely from political rule or language.
Sources and qualifications → Gold accounting expands; older reckoning persistsBagnall and Bransbourg find gold dominant in larger Egyptian transactions after the mid-fourth century, while payments reckoned in drachmas, talents and denarii continue. Their evidence supports coexistence and changing use, not a single universal denarius-to-solidus conversion. No succession or step-parent edge is added in this pass.
Sources and qualifications → imperial375CTh 7.13.7.2, issued at Antioch on 2 June 375, assesses a recruit obligation at 36 solidi, including six for clothing and expenses. This is an Eastern imperial account observation.
Sources and qualifications → western397CTh 7.13.13, Padua, 24 September 397, allows senators to discharge recruitment obligations by paying 25 solidi per recruit to the treasury. This is a Western imperial account observation.
Sources and qualifications → western410CTh 7.13.20, Ravenna, 8 February 410, assesses recruits from African and island administrations at 30 solidi. Different recruitment assessments do not imply different account units.
Sources and qualifications → solidus_scopeBroaden the retained solidus–nomisma profile to imperial and regional accounting. Western and Eastern imperial obligations support a shared account tradition. Local Egyptian, Palestinian and early Arabic identity associations retain their existing qualifications; this does not assert identical local metal standards.
Sources and qualifications → roman_frankishFrankish reckoning continues the late-Roman solidus account tradition: solidus reckoning survived the change from gold tremisses to silver deniers. Admit regional ancestry; the exact differentiation date and intermediate local stages remain unresolved.
Sources and qualifications → roman_visigothicVisigothic law and finance retained Roman solidus accounting after local solidus coin production ceased. Admit a regional continuation, with its differentiation chronology unresolved.
Sources and qualifications → Gold fraction and silver coin label differA gold siliqua or keration is one twenty-fourth of a solidus. Rovelli rejects the assumption that the late Roman silver coins conventionally called siliquae necessarily carried that nominal value. Their modern name cannot establish a permanent peg or a denarius→antoninianus→argenteus→siliqua account genealogy.
Sources and qualifications → Parallel units with changing exchange valuesBagnall’s fourth-century Egyptian evidence treats solidi and silver bullion as independently valued in denarii after324. Gold could itself denominate prices without an automatic denarius equivalence. Retain two overlapping account profiles; no fixed adopted-basis relationship is established.
Sources and qualifications → Qualified Roman gold-account branchAdmit a qualified gold-account branch through Roman monetary reforms: the aureus was a denomination of denarius/sestertius reckoning; gold valuation separated, and the solidus replaced the aureus and became an independent accounting basis. This is our synthesis of documented monetary transformation, not a quoted genealogical conclusion. The274–375 research envelope compresses reform and account emergence, not a founding date, fixed conversion or end of denarius reckoning.
Sources and qualifications → Roman models and the account continuity testKurt identifies Roman gold coinage as the Visigothic starting point and describes close early imitation. He discusses prestige alongside fiscal and other uses. The admitted Roman-to-Visigothic account ancestry rests additionally on continued solidus reckoning; visual imitation is corroboration, and a universal legitimacy motive is not assumed.
Sources and qualifications → Account-unit observations
Dated evidence, not exact birth or extinction dates.
481supportedBGU III 726 dates a loan to 19 October 481. Its principal is one gold solidus less four keratia; repayment is flax of the equivalent value at repayment, with wheat interest. This demonstrates an account valuation beyond simply counting an unchanged coin.
C1380 613supportedP.Lond.V 1737 records a debt of 3⅓ gold nomismata/solidi by the local Syene standard, with interest stated in gold carats per solidus. It is dated 9 February 613.
C1381 642supportedOn 26December642 the amīr Abd Allah orders fodder for military personnel valued at three nomismata. The unit measures an obligation in goods under the new administration.
C1838 643supportedOn 29November643 a requisition to the fiscal administrator of Herakleopolis values fodder at fourteen nomismata; its endorsement repeats that value.
C1839 676–677qualifiedAn Egyptian debt register dated AH57 specifies dinars of the believers for repayment. The debt evidence is real; association with the broader local gold-account profile is qualified because the required issue’s interpretation remains debated. Association with the later continuous currency identity remains qualified.
C1840 605qualifiedP.Ness.46, 16July605, acknowledges nine imperial solidi less nine carats on the Gaza standard, with an express repayment obligation. This Palestinian observation is only a qualified regional association with the existing Egyptian solidus/nomisma profile. Association with the later continuous currency identity remains qualified.
C1841 687qualifiedThe bilingual release P.Ness.56, 18January687, describes one fifty-unit obligation as dinars in Arabic and solidi in Greek: thirty were repaid and twenty remitted. Their equivalence within this account is explicit; wider regional grouping remains qualified. Association with the later continuous currency identity remains qualified.
C1842 682qualifiedP.Ness.55 combines a tax receipt and a private acknowledgement of debt for the same 4⅓ nomismata. Its proposed 11 April 682 dating carries a question mark; the Palestinian association is also qualified. Association with the later continuous currency identity remains qualified.
C1843 400supportedPSI IX 1074 orders payment of 4½⅓ solidi. Its corrected date is 15 October 400 CE; the fractional amount supplies account-unit evidence.
C1846 375supportedCTh 7.13.7.2, issued at Antioch on 2 June 375, assesses a recruit obligation at 36 solidi, including six for clothing and expenses. This is an Eastern imperial account observation.
C1977 397supportedCTh 7.13.13, Padua, 24 September 397, allows senators to discharge recruitment obligations by paying 25 solidi per recruit to the treasury. This is a Western imperial account observation.
C1978 410supportedCTh 7.13.20, Ravenna, 8 February 410, assesses recruits from African and island administrations at 30 solidi. Different recruitment assessments do not imply different account units.
C1979
Evidence & research notes 21 claims
Dated observations, not a proven complete lifespan.
Supported C1380
BGU III 726 dates a loan to 19 October 481. Its principal is one gold solidus less four keratia; repayment is flax of the equivalent value at repayment, with wheat interest. This demonstrates an account valuation beyond simply counting an unchanged coin.
Marius Gerhardt, Berlin Papyrus Database · Clever Business? BGU III726 (P.7788) Citation S694 ·
Open source ↗BGU III726 joined-fragment discussion
Source access and limitations
Not a complete origin, lifespan or current-status audit.
Supported C1381
P.Lond.V 1737 records a debt of 3⅓ gold nomismata/solidi by the local Syene standard, with interest stated in gold carats per solidus. It is dated 9 February 613.
ERC Elephantine project; Ruth Duttenhöfer; translation J.J.Farber in Porten 1996 D52 · Loan contract P.Lond.V 1737 / Pap.London 1789 Citation S693 ·
Open source ↗recto x+3–12 and date table
Source access and limitations
Not a complete origin, lifespan or current-status audit.
Complete Greek transcription and English loan translation inspected together with date metadata.
Supported C1838
On 26December642 the amīr Abd Allah orders fodder for military personnel valued at three nomismata. The unit measures an obligation in goods under the new administration.
Frank R. Trombley · Fiscal documents from the Muslim conquest of Egypt: military supplies and administrative dislocation, ca 639–644 (2013) Citation S957 ·
Open source ↗Document V, SB9578 / PERF555 / Vienna G39723; recto and verso
Source access and limitations
Not a complete origin, lifespan or current-status audit.
Opening pages inspected directly; full translated sections for Documents V and XI inspected in the search-indexed article extraction.
Supported C1839
On 29November643 a requisition to the fiscal administrator of Herakleopolis values fodder at fourteen nomismata; its endorsement repeats that value.
Frank R. Trombley · Fiscal documents from the Muslim conquest of Egypt: military supplies and administrative dislocation, ca 639–644 (2013) Citation S957 ·
Open source ↗Document XI, SB9753 / PERF561 / Vienna G39729; pp.35–36
Source access and limitations
Not a complete origin, lifespan or current-status audit.
Opening pages inspected directly; full translated sections for Documents V and XI inspected in the search-indexed article extraction.
Inference C1840
An Egyptian debt register dated AH57 specifies dinars of the believers for repayment. The debt evidence is real; association with the broader local gold-account profile is qualified because the required issue’s interpretation remains debated. Association with the later continuous currency identity remains qualified.
Mehdy Shaddel · Monetary reform under the Sufyanids: the papyrological evidence (2021) Citation S960 ·
Open source ↗P.Vindob. A1119; Dinars of the believers
Source access and limitations
Not a complete origin, lifespan or current-status audit.
Inference C1841
P.Ness.46, 16July605, acknowledges nine imperial solidi less nine carats on the Gaza standard, with an express repayment obligation. This Palestinian observation is only a qualified regional association with the existing Egyptian solidus/nomisma profile. Association with the later continuous currency identity remains qualified.
Casper J. Kraemer Jr., editor; Florence E. Day, Arabic texts · Excavations at Nessana, Volume III: Non-Literary Papyri (1958) Citation S958P.Ness.III46, pp.136–138, repayment clauses
Source access and limitations
Not a complete origin, lifespan or current-status audit.
OCR Greek is defective in places; monetary assertions use the readable translations and independent scholarly collation.
Inference C1842
The bilingual release P.Ness.56, 18January687, describes one fifty-unit obligation as dinars in Arabic and solidi in Greek: thirty were repaid and twenty remitted. Their equivalence within this account is explicit; wider regional grouping remains qualified. Association with the later continuous currency identity remains qualified.
Casper J. Kraemer Jr., editor; Florence E. Day, Arabic texts · Excavations at Nessana, Volume III: Non-Literary Papyri (1958) Citation S958P.Ness.III56, pp.156–160; Papaconstantinou p.635
Source access and limitations
Not a complete origin, lifespan or current-status audit.
OCR Greek is defective in places; monetary assertions use the readable translations and independent scholarly collation.
Arietta Papaconstantinou · A preliminary prosopography of moneylenders in early Islamic Egypt and South Palestine (2010) Citation S959 ·
Open source ↗P.Ness.III56, pp.156–160; Papaconstantinou p.635
Source access and limitations
Not a complete origin, lifespan or current-status audit.
Inference C1843
P.Ness.55 combines a tax receipt and a private acknowledgement of debt for the same 4⅓ nomismata. Its proposed 11 April 682 dating carries a question mark; the Palestinian association is also qualified. Association with the later continuous currency identity remains qualified.
Arietta Papaconstantinou · A preliminary prosopography of moneylenders in early Islamic Egypt and South Palestine (2010) Citation S959 ·
Open source ↗p.635, George son of Patrikios; P.Ness.III55
Source access and limitations
Not a complete origin, lifespan or current-status audit.
Supported C1846
PSI IX 1074 orders payment of 4½⅓ solidi. Its corrected date is 15 October 400 AD; the fractional amount supplies account-unit evidence.
Roger S. Bagnall · Currency and Inflation in Fourth Century Egypt (BASP Supplements 5, 1985) Citation S640 ·
Open source ↗Bagnall p. 10, Carat; PSIonline Data, Contenuto and Note
Source access and limitations
Not a complete origin, lifespan or current-status audit.
PSIonline scholarly papyrus database · PSI IX 1074, BML inv. 18848 Citation S968 ·
Open source ↗Bagnall p. 10, Carat; PSIonline Data, Contenuto and Note
Source access and limitations
Not a complete origin, lifespan or current-status audit.
Supported C1852
Continue the Egyptian profile across the Arab conquest: inherited nomisma valuation remains in dated fiscal orders. Attach the Palestinian bilingual and loan evidence as explicitly qualified regional associations, without inventing a new unit solely from political rule or language.
Frank R. Trombley · Fiscal documents from the Muslim conquest of Egypt: military supplies and administrative dislocation, ca 639–644 (2013) Citation S957 ·
Open source ↗Egyptian Documents V/XI; P.Ness.46/55/56
Source access and limitations
Not a complete origin, lifespan or current-status audit.
Opening pages inspected directly; full translated sections for Documents V and XI inspected in the search-indexed article extraction.
Casper J. Kraemer Jr., editor; Florence E. Day, Arabic texts · Excavations at Nessana, Volume III: Non-Literary Papyri (1958) Citation S958Egyptian Documents V/XI; P.Ness.46/55/56
Source access and limitations
Not a complete origin, lifespan or current-status audit.
OCR Greek is defective in places; monetary assertions use the readable translations and independent scholarly collation.
Arietta Papaconstantinou · A preliminary prosopography of moneylenders in early Islamic Egypt and South Palestine (2010) Citation S959 ·
Open source ↗Egyptian Documents V/XI; P.Ness.46/55/56
Source access and limitations
Not a complete origin, lifespan or current-status audit.
Supported C1974
Bagnall and Bransbourg find gold dominant in larger Egyptian transactions after the mid-fourth century, while payments reckoned in drachmas, talents and denarii continue. Their evidence supports coexistence and changing use, not a single universal denarius-to-solidus conversion. No succession or step-parent edge is added in this pass.
Corrected interpretation: Revision 39 preserves the earlier coexistence finding but replaces its hold on ancestry with a qualified gold-account reform branch. No fixed conversion is inferred. Replacement evidence: C2084.
Roger S. Bagnall and Gilles Bransbourg · The Constantian Monetary Revolution, ISAW Papers 14 (2019) Citation S641 ·
Open source ↗Section 1, opening paragraphs; section 2.1 opening
Source access and limitations
Not a complete origin, lifespan or current-status audit.
Full relevant article body read through author-uploaded Academia transcription.
Relevant substantive sections read in author-uploaded full-text transcription at https://www.academia.edu/38465693/The_Constantian_Monetary_Revolution .
Original papyri not collated; P.Stras.1.9 reader was blocked by a bot check.
Supported C1977
CTh 7.13.7.2, issued at Antioch on 2 June 375, assesses a recruit obligation at 36 solidi, including six for clothing and expenses. This is an Eastern imperial account observation.
Codex Theodosianus; Latin edition hosted by Grenoble Droit romain · Book VII, military obligations Citation S1030 ·
Open source ↗7.13.7.2 (375), 7.13.13 (397), 7.13.20 (410)
Source access and limitations
Not a complete origin, lifespan or current-status audit.
Supported C1978
CTh 7.13.13, Padua, 24 September 397, allows senators to discharge recruitment obligations by paying 25 solidi per recruit to the treasury. This is a Western imperial account observation.
Codex Theodosianus; Latin edition hosted by Grenoble Droit romain · Book VII, military obligations Citation S1030 ·
Open source ↗7.13.7.2 (375), 7.13.13 (397), 7.13.20 (410)
Source access and limitations
Not a complete origin, lifespan or current-status audit.
Supported C1979
CTh 7.13.20, Ravenna, 8 February 410, assesses recruits from African and island administrations at 30 solidi. Different recruitment assessments do not imply different account units.
Codex Theodosianus; Latin edition hosted by Grenoble Droit romain · Book VII, military obligations Citation S1030 ·
Open source ↗7.13.7.2 (375), 7.13.13 (397), 7.13.20 (410)
Source access and limitations
Not a complete origin, lifespan or current-status audit.
Supported C1980
Broaden the retained solidus–nomisma profile to imperial and regional accounting. Western and Eastern imperial obligations support a shared account tradition. Local Egyptian, Palestinian and early Arabic identity associations retain their existing qualifications; this does not assert identical local metal standards.
Codex Theodosianus; Latin edition hosted by Grenoble Droit romain · Book VII, military obligations Citation S1030 ·
Open source ↗7.13.7.2 (375), 7.13.13 (397), 7.13.20 (410); Main text and notes 8–12
Source access and limitations
Not a complete origin, lifespan or current-status audit.
Horst Lößlein · Solidus (2021), Formulae–Litterae–Chartae Citation S1031 ·
Open source ↗7.13.7.2 (375), 7.13.13 (397), 7.13.20 (410); Main text and notes 8–12
Source access and limitations
Not a complete origin, lifespan or current-status audit.
Qualified C1987
Frankish reckoning continues the late-Roman solidus account tradition: solidus reckoning survived the change from gold tremisses to silver deniers. Admit regional ancestry; the exact differentiation date and intermediate local stages remain unresolved.
Peter Spufford (1988) · Money and its Use in Medieval Europe, Cambridge University Press Citation S951pp. 19, 33–34; Main text and notes 8–12
Source access and limitations
Not a complete origin, lifespan or current-status audit.
Horst Lößlein · Solidus (2021), Formulae–Litterae–Chartae Citation S1031 ·
Open source ↗pp. 19, 33–34; Main text and notes 8–12
Source access and limitations
Not a complete origin, lifespan or current-status audit.
Qualified C1988
Visigothic law and finance retained Roman solidus accounting after local solidus coin production ceased. Admit a regional continuation, with its differentiation chronology unresolved.
Andrew Kurt · Visigothic Currency in its Making and Movement (2019) Citation S1033 ·
Open source ↗pp. 168, 178–180, notes 24–31
Source access and limitations
Not a complete origin, lifespan or current-status audit.
Supported C2082
A gold siliqua or keration is one twenty-fourth of a solidus. Rovelli rejects the assumption that the late Roman silver coins conventionally called siliquae necessarily carried that nominal value. Their modern name cannot establish a permanent peg or a denarius→antoninianus→argenteus→siliqua account genealogy.
Alessia Rovelli, in Rory Naismith (ed.), Money and Coinage in the Middle Ages (2018), pp. 63–92 · From the Fall of Rome to Charlemagne (c.400–800) Citation S483 ·
Open source ↗pp.64–66: Constantinian reform, aureus replacement and silver-siliqua naming problem
Source access and limitations
Coinage continuity supports a qualified seventh-century extension, not a complete local account sequence.
Supported C2083
Bagnall’s fourth-century Egyptian evidence treats solidi and silver bullion as independently valued in denarii after324. Gold could itself denominate prices without an automatic denarius equivalence. Retain two overlapping account profiles; no fixed adopted-basis relationship is established.
Roger S. Bagnall · Fourth-Century Prices: New Evidence and Further Thoughts, ZPE 76 (1989), 69–76 Citation S1091 ·
Open source ↗pp.71–72, especially n.17: independent gold and silver values and parallel accounting
Source access and limitations
Not a complete origin, lifespan or current-status audit.
Qualified C2084
Admit a qualified gold-account branch through Roman monetary reforms: the aureus was a denomination of denarius/sestertius reckoning; gold valuation separated, and the solidus replaced the aureus and became an independent accounting basis. This is our synthesis of documented monetary transformation, not a quoted genealogical conclusion. The274–375 research envelope compresses reform and account emergence, not a founding date, fixed conversion or end of denarius reckoning.
T. V. Buttrey · Dio, Zonaras and the Value of the Roman Aureus, JRS 51 (1961), 40–45 Citation S1089 ·
Open source ↗p.40 publisher extract: aureus equals 25 denarii or 100 sesterces; pp.168–171: integrated denominations, independent gold valuation, argenteus tariff; p.176: later denarius semantics; pp.64–66: Constantinian reform, aureus replacement and silver-siliqua naming problem
Source access and limitations
Not a complete origin, lifespan or current-status audit.
Publisher extract at p.40 inspected; complete article not inspected.
Gilles Bransbourg · Inflation and monetary reforms in the fourth century: Diocletian’s twin Edicts of AD 301 (2020), 165–194 Citation S1090 ·
Open source ↗p.40 publisher extract: aureus equals 25 denarii or 100 sesterces; pp.168–171: integrated denominations, independent gold valuation, argenteus tariff; p.176: later denarius semantics; pp.64–66: Constantinian reform, aureus replacement and silver-siliqua naming problem
Source access and limitations
Not a complete origin, lifespan or current-status audit.
Alessia Rovelli, in Rory Naismith (ed.), Money and Coinage in the Middle Ages (2018), pp. 63–92 · From the Fall of Rome to Charlemagne (c.400–800) Citation S483 ·
Open source ↗p.40 publisher extract: aureus equals 25 denarii or 100 sesterces; pp.168–171: integrated denominations, independent gold valuation, argenteus tariff; p.176: later denarius semantics; pp.64–66: Constantinian reform, aureus replacement and silver-siliqua naming problem
Source access and limitations
Coinage continuity supports a qualified seventh-century extension, not a complete local account sequence.
Supported C2096
Kurt identifies Roman gold coinage as the Visigothic starting point and describes close early imitation. He discusses prestige alongside fiscal and other uses. The admitted Roman-to-Visigothic account ancestry rests additionally on continued solidus reckoning; visual imitation is corroboration, and a universal legitimacy motive is not assumed.
Andrew Kurt · Visigothic Currency in its Making and Movement (2019) Citation S1033 ·
Open source ↗Printed pp. 168–170 and 178–180; Roman models, proposed functions, and continued solidus accounting
Source access and limitations
Not a complete origin, lifespan or current-status audit.