Real coins·18 May 2026·5 min read
Solidus — the gold dollar of Byzantium
For 700 years, a Byzantine gold coin was the trusted money of the medieval world, from Rome to China.
Introduced by Emperor Constantine the Great around 310, the Byzantine solidus kept its weight and purity unchanged for centuries. Its stability made it accepted from Rome to Asia.
The coin that never wavered
Precisely because it was never "debased" like the Roman denarius, the solidus became the gold standard of medieval trade — an ancestor of the idea of a world reserve currency, the role the dollar plays today.
The word "soldier" comes from solidus: the one paid in trusted gold.
