The term ''trachy'' ( el, τραχύ), plural ''trachea'' (τραχέα), meaning "rough" or "uneven", was used to describe the cup-shaped (incorrectly often called "

scyphate Scyphate is a term frequently used in numismatics to refer to the concave or "cup-shaped" Byzantine coins of the 11th–14th centuries. This usage emerged in the 19th century, when the term ''scyphatus'', attested in south Italian documents of the ...

Byzantine coins Byzantine currency, money used in the Eastern Roman Empire after the fall of the West, consisted of mainly two types of coins: the gold solidus and a variety of clearly valued bronze coins. By the end of the empire the currency was issued only in ...

struck in the 11th–14th centuries. The term was properly applied to coins of

electrum Electrum is a naturally occurring alloy of gold and silver, with trace amounts of copper and other metals. Its color ranges from pale to bright yellow, depending on the proportions of gold and silver. It has been produced artificially, and ...

, billon, or

copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pink ...

, and not to the gold ''

hyperpyra The ''hyperpyron'' ( ''nómisma hypérpyron'') was a Byzantine coin in use during the late Middle Ages, replacing the ''solidus'' as the Byzantine Empire's gold coinage. History The traditional gold currency of the Byzantine Empire had been the '' ...

''.

References

Sources

* Coins of the Byzantine Empire Numismatic terminology {{Byzantine-stub