Andronikos III came to power only after a protracted civil war against his own grandfather, Andronikos II, a conflict that drained Byzantine finances precisely when the empire could least afford it. The basilikon itself was introduced under Andronikos II in 1304, modeled deliberately on the Venetian ducat to facilitate trade — an admission, in metal, that Byzantine commercial credibility now depended on mimicking a foreign standard.
By the time Andronikos III was striking these, the denomination was already in slow decline, gradually debased and reduced in the decades following its introduction.
Andronikos III came to power only after a protracted civil war against his own grandfather, Andronikos II, a conflict that drained Byzantine finances precisely when the empire could least afford it. The basilikon itself was introduced under Andronikos II in 1304, modeled deliberately on the Venetian ducat to facilitate trade — an admission, in metal, that Byzantine commercial credibility now depended on mimicking a foreign standard.
By the time Andronikos III was striking these, the denomination was already in slow decline, gradually debased and reduced in the decades following its introduction.