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Tetarteron - Alexios I Komnenos Thessalonica
| Issuer | Byzantine Empire |
|---|---|
| Year | 1092-1118 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Tetarteron = 1⁄864 Hyperpyron |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Diameter | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Jewelled cross potent set upon two steps, with a globus at each of the four extremities and a small cross at the center of the junction. The cross is rendered in a stylized, decorative manner typical of middle Byzantine provincial coinage. Greek legends are disposed in the fields flanking the cross, reading in abbreviated form. The flan is irregular, characteristic of hammered bronze issues of the Komnenian reform coinage. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse script | Greek |
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| Additional information |
The tetarteron as a bronze denomination was itself a product of Alexios I's sweeping monetary reform of 1092, which overhauled a Byzantine coinage system that had degraded catastrophically over the preceding decades — the gold nomisma had collapsed in fineness from near-pure to roughly 8 karats by the 1080s. The reform introduced a rigid four-metal hierarchy, and the bronze tetarteron occupied its lowest rung.
Thessalonica was the empire's second city and its mint operated with some autonomy, producing tetartera distinguishable from Constantinople issues by subtle fabric and die differences catalogued under the Dumbarton Oaks corpus.