| The coinage of this period is characterized by a high degree of simplification. All fractions of the standard denominations were eliminated, leaving only the gold nomisma (photo upper right) and the copper follis with, between them, a silver coin known as a miliaresion (photo lower right), less than half the weight of the former hexagram.
During the course of the 11th century, a debasement of the coinage occurred, with increasing amounts of silver added to the gold nomisma, and copper added to the silver miliaresion. This debasement was accompanied, around the middle of the 11th century, by the appearance of a distinctive new coin, concave in shape, under Constantine IX (1042–55) (see Case I, No. 13).
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