The solidus is one of several Roman denominations. In earlier posts I wrote about the denarius, the sestertius and the aureus. The solidus was introduced as a replacement of the aureus by emperor Diocletian in the year 301 CE. It became more minted and used after 312 CE under Constantine. Its weight was 4.5g of pure gold (about 95% purity). It was meant to represent 1/72 of a Roman pound.
The solidus survived the fall of the Western Roman Empire and was widely used until the 8th century, when Pepin the Short replaced it with a silver standard (pound-shilling-penny system) with his currency reform. In the Byzantine Empire in became known as "nomisma" and survived till the 11th century when it was replaced by the "hyperpyron".
The solidus has a linguistic legacy. The words solde (French), soldo (Italian) and saldo (Spanish) mean "the balance of an account". The Peruvian currency sol was introduced in 1863 and derived its name from the solidus.
Other Posts about ancient Roman Currency
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Thanks for your kind words!