Scyphate is a term frequently used in
numismatics
Numismatics is the study or collection of currency, including coins, tokens, paper money, medals, and related objects.
Specialists, known as numismatists, are often characterized as students or collectors of coins, but the discipline also inclu ...
to refer to the
concave or "cup-shaped"
Byzantine coins of the 11th–14th centuries.
This usage emerged in the premodern era and was solidified by scholars of the 19th century, when the term , attested in
south Italian documents of the 11th and 12th centuries, was erroneously interpreted as deriving from the
Greek word (, 'cup'). In reality, the term probably derives from the
Arabic
Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...
word , 'edge, rim', and refers to the distinctive and conspicuous border of the early gold coins. Due to this misunderstanding, the term "scyphate" has been widely applied to the concave
gold
Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...
,
silver
Silver is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag () and atomic number 47. A soft, whitish-gray, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity of any metal. ...
, and
copper
Copper is a chemical element; it has symbol Cu (from Latin ) 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 pinkish-orang ...
coins of the late
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived History of the Roman Empire, the events that caused the ...
and the foreign issues imitating it. These coins are more properly designated as (singular: , from Greek , 'rough, uneven').
Gallery
File:Scifato_ducale.jpg, "Scyphate" silver ducat of Roger II of Sicily.
File:Histamenon nomisma-Isaac I-sb1776.jpg, "Scyphate" '' histamenon'' of Emperor Isaac I Komnenos (r. 1057–1059).
References
Sources
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{{Authority control
Coins of the Byzantine Empire
Numismatic terminology