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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 includ ...
to refer to the
concave Concave or concavity may refer to: Science and technology * Concave lens * Concave mirror Mathematics * Concave function, the negative of a convex function * Concave polygon A simple polygon that is not convex is called concave, non-convex or ...
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 , altname = , states = Italy , region = Abruzzo, Apulia, Basilicata, Calabria, Campania, Lazio, Marche, Molise , ethnicity = ''Mezzogiorno'' Ethnic Italians , speakers = 5.7 million , date ...
documents of the 11th and 12th centuries, was erroneously interpreted as deriving from the
Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
word ''skyphos'' (σκύφος, "cup"). In reality, the term probably derives from the
Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...
word ''shafah'', "edge, rim", and refers to the distinctive and conspicuous border of the early '' histamena'' gold coins. Due to this misunderstanding, the term "scyphate" has been widely applied to the concave
gold Gold is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a Brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, s ...
,
silver Silver is a chemical element with the symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical ...
, and
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 pinkish- ...
coins of the late
Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constanti ...
and the foreign issues imitating it. These coins are more properly designated as ''trachea'' (singular: ''trachy'', from Greek τραχύ, "rough, uneven")..


Gallery

File:Scifato_ducale.jpg, "Scyphate" silver
ducat The ducat () coin was used as a trade coin in Europe from the later Middle Ages from the 13th to 19th centuries. Its most familiar version, the gold ducat or sequin (coin), sequin containing around of 98.6% fine gold, originated in Venice in 128 ...
of
Roger II of Sicily Roger II ( it, Ruggero II; 22 December 1095 – 26 February 1154) was King of Sicily and Africa, son of Roger I of Sicily and successor to his brother Simon. He began his rule as Count of Sicily in 1105, became Duke of Apulia and Calabria in 1 ...
. File:Histamenon nomisma-Isaac I-sb1776.jpg, "Scyphate" ''
histamenon ''Histamenon'' ( grc-gre, �όμισμαἱστάμενον '' ómismahistámenon'', "standard oin) was the name given to the gold Byzantine ''solidus'' when the slightly lighter ''tetarteron'' was introduced in the 960s. To distinguish the two, ...
'' of Emperor
Isaac I Komnenos Isaac I Komnenos or Comnenus ( grc-gre, Ἰσαάκιος Κομνη­νός, ''Isaakios Komnēnos'';  – 1 June 1060) was Byzantine emperor from 1057 to 1059, the first reigning member of the Komnenian dynasty. The son of the gen ...
(r. 1057–1059).


References


Sources

* * {{Authority control Coins of the Byzantine Empire Numismatic terminology