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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Ocatarinetabellatchitchix, post: 8227998, member: 99554&quot;]Here’s how our member [USER=120820]@Heliodromus[/USER] (Ben) answered this question 10 years ago : </p><p><i>Follis is certainly wrong - this was the Roman name for a *bag* of coins of value 12,5000 &quot;denarii communes&quot; (i.e. denarii at a time when it was just an accounting unit, no longer an actual coin denomination). I&#039;m not sure who introduced the incorrect modern usage of this name.</i></p><p><i>The name nummus is probably the best. There are contemporary references to this name being used for the bronze/billion coinage at the time of Diocletian&#039;s monetary reform, and the same name appears to have still been in use at least as late as c.321AD per reference to this coin&#039;s (nummus) value being halved, apparently in reference to a revaluation that occurred at the time Licinius introduced new coins marked &quot;12 1/2&quot; [denarii communes].</i></p><p><i><br /></i></p><p><i>The issue of denominations/naming is complicated by Constantine&#039;s coinage reform of c.318AD when (per modern testing) he significantly increased the silver content of the bronze/billion coinage (from 1-2% to 4-5%), and reintroduced older reverse types associated with a higher yet (20%) silver content. Presumably per the increased silver content (and intended value association), this coinage reform increased the value (tariffing) of the bronze/billion coinage, and the question then becomes whether the denomination name stayed the same (nummus), or changed.</i></p><p><i><br /></i></p><p><i>Given the apparently (c.321AD) post-reform use of the name nummus, it seems the safest guess is that the name nummus persisted after Constantine&#039;s c.318AD reform, but others have suggested that the denomination name changed and have equated this to the known &quot;centenionalis&quot; of this approximate time. The competing theory is that the &quot;centenionalis&quot; instead refers to a slightly later denomination introduced after Constantine&#039;s death.</i>[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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