Drachmas Doubloons and Dollars: The History of Money
(Exhibition Home)
Medieval Byzantine and Islamic Empires
Introduction
The Reforms of Anastasius I - The 6th and 7th Centuries - Symbols of a Christian Empire - The Reforms of Alexius I Comnenus - The Venetian Standard - Early Islamic Coinage - Dirhams and Dinars - The Western Islamic World - Figural Islamic Coins - The Mongols
The Venetian Standard

The Byzantine Empire never really recovered after the Crusaders sacked Constantinople in 1204 and established a Latin Empire in formerly Byzantine territory. In 1261, the Palaeologan family returned from exile to rule a diminished Empire, but the glory days of Byzantine economic power were gone. In the 14th century, Byzantine trachys followed the internationally accepted weight standard.
Silver trachy of Andronicus II and Andronicus III (1325-1328) depicting the Virgin Mary and the Christ Child.