Definition

• The original meaning of this word was a purse, or a bag containing money Juven. (xiv. 281). After the monetary reform of Constantine the Great this term was employed alongside of the older sesterces (which soon disappeared) in accounts, i.e., so many bags of gold (follis auri), of silver (follis argentei), or of copper (follis ad denarismum, follis denariorum, or follis aeris). The use of this term was commonest for sums in bronze, and soon the name follis was transferred to the actual coin once contained in the follis or purse. Certain decrees of Constantine the Great and his immediate successors already use follis as the name of a bronze coin - the nummus centenionalis.

  In the Byzantine Empire, from the time of Anastasius, the name follis seems to have been applied to the large copper pieces of forty nummi first issued by that Emperor.

  Its divisions were indicated by Greek letters, as follows:

  M = 1 Follis, or 40 Nummi A = 3/4 Follis, or 30 Nummi K = 1/2 Follis, or 20 Nummi I = 1/4 Follis, or 10 Nummi (also called Dekanummion) E = 1/8 Follis, or 5 Nummi (also called Pentanummion)

  Later, the name came to be used for a copper coin in general and was adopted by the Arabs as Fels, pl. Falus. See Babelon, Traite des monnaies grecques et romaines. 1901-04 (i. 761-771).

Quelle

• Frey's Dictionary (American Journal of Numismatics, Vol. 50, 1916)

Beziehungen