1 Solidus In the name of Anastasius I

Barbarian imitations of Byzantine solidi proliferated across the post-Roman West as Germanic successor states lacked both the monetary infrastructure and, initially, the political legitimacy to strike coinage in their own names. Issuing gold in the name of a reigning or recently deceased emperor was a pragmatic solution — it guaranteed acceptance in trade networks still calibrated to Byzantine weight standards.

Anastasius I reformed the Byzantine coinage system in 498, stabilizing the solidus at a fineness that made it the dominant trade currency across the Mediterranean for generations. The imitations it inspired vary enormously in execution, from near-mint-quality Ostrogothic products to crude Frankish copies struck from dies cut by craftsmen working purely from worn exemplars.