40 Nummi - Anastasius I Dicorus Constantinopolis, Type ⋮M⋮, Large Module

Anastasius I's currency reform of 498 AD was one of the most consequential monetary interventions in Byzantine history. For decades, the small anonymous follis had become so debased and tiny that market transactions required counting out coins by the hundreds. Anastasius simply abolished the system and introduced the large follis, with the value mark doing the work that size and weight now reinforced. The reform held for generations.

The ⋮M⋮ flanking notation is specific to Constantinopolitan issues of the first emission and helps distinguish workshop output before the mint systematized its officina lettering.