The zygostates ( Greek: ζυγοστάτης, "one who weighs with a balance"; plural: ζυγοστάται, zygostatai) was a public weigher of the coinage of the Byzantine Empire. [1] [2] According to the Lex Julia, he was a municipal official whose function was to verify the quality of the gold solidus coins. [1] [3]
The term zygostates often appears in inscriptions and papyri of the late Roman Empire in the form of zygostates tes poleos (Greek: ζυγοστάτης τῆς πόλεως, "public weigher of the city"). [1] The Byzantine emperor Justinian I (r. 527–565) regarded the zygostatai, in his 11th Edict, as the main offenders in changing the purity of gold coins. [1] Some imperial seals bearing the name of zygostatai are preserved from the 6th and 7th centuries AD. [1] In the Taktika of the 9th and 10th centuries AD, the zygostates is a state, rather than urban, functionary belonging to the staff of the sakellion. [1] [2] [4] The epithet "imperial" is granted to the zygostates on a Byzantine seal dating to the 7th century AD. [1] Based on this evidence, John Bagnell Bury surmised that in the 7th century the zygostates began to examine and weigh coins that came to the Byzantine imperial treasury. [1] The Byzantine Greek monk and abbot, Theodore the Studite, described the zygostasia, or the imperial station where the zygostatai worked, as a profitable business. [1] As for Christopher of Mytilene, he praised a zygostates named Eustathios as the founder of a church and "one of the great chartoularioi". [1]
The term zygastikon (Greek: ζυγαστικόν), attested in a false privilege granted to the city of Monemvasia in 1316, refers to one of the customary payments made to toll inspectors for measuring and weighing wares. [1] On a functional level, the zygastikon had nothing in common with the zygostates of the sakellion. [1]
The zygostates ( Greek: ζυγοστάτης, "one who weighs with a balance"; plural: ζυγοστάται, zygostatai) was a public weigher of the coinage of the Byzantine Empire. [1] [2] According to the Lex Julia, he was a municipal official whose function was to verify the quality of the gold solidus coins. [1] [3]
The term zygostates often appears in inscriptions and papyri of the late Roman Empire in the form of zygostates tes poleos (Greek: ζυγοστάτης τῆς πόλεως, "public weigher of the city"). [1] The Byzantine emperor Justinian I (r. 527–565) regarded the zygostatai, in his 11th Edict, as the main offenders in changing the purity of gold coins. [1] Some imperial seals bearing the name of zygostatai are preserved from the 6th and 7th centuries AD. [1] In the Taktika of the 9th and 10th centuries AD, the zygostates is a state, rather than urban, functionary belonging to the staff of the sakellion. [1] [2] [4] The epithet "imperial" is granted to the zygostates on a Byzantine seal dating to the 7th century AD. [1] Based on this evidence, John Bagnell Bury surmised that in the 7th century the zygostates began to examine and weigh coins that came to the Byzantine imperial treasury. [1] The Byzantine Greek monk and abbot, Theodore the Studite, described the zygostasia, or the imperial station where the zygostatai worked, as a profitable business. [1] As for Christopher of Mytilene, he praised a zygostates named Eustathios as the founder of a church and "one of the great chartoularioi". [1]
The term zygastikon (Greek: ζυγαστικόν), attested in a false privilege granted to the city of Monemvasia in 1316, refers to one of the customary payments made to toll inspectors for measuring and weighing wares. [1] On a functional level, the zygastikon had nothing in common with the zygostates of the sakellion. [1]