The solids of Justiniano I and Leovigildo. The memory of Rome through the Mediterranean

Abstract

From the third century on, the Roman emperors had to face the crisis that the State was going through. One of the weakest aspects of the system was the economic one and, to solve it, the emperors carried out a series of monetary reforms; the one that would last in time –beyond the disintegration of the Roman State in the middle of the 5th century- would be the one carried out by Constantine I –continuing another previous reform led by Diocletian-. This change in the monetary system was in force in our Peninsula, already under Visigothic rule, until well into the 7th century. Likewise, it also remained in the Byzantine Empire, heir to the Roman Empire and positioned strongly at the other end of the Mediterranean. The study analyzes the similarities and differences of both monetary systems - the Visigoth and the Byzantine - with particular reference to the minting of solids. Its coinage was modeled on the Roman monetary system created from the reform of Constantine I.