The michaelaton in Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...

 michaelatus, was the colloquial name given to the gold Byzantine

Byzantine

Byzantine usually refers to the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages.Byzantine may also refer to:* A citizen of the Byzantine Empire, or native Greek during the Middle Ages...

 coins (nomisma

Nomisma

Nomisma was the ancient Greek word for "money" and is derived from nomos "anything assigned, a usage, custom, law, ordinance"....

ta) struck by any emperor called Michael.

In a more technical sense, it refers to the gold histamena

Histamenon

Histamenon was the name given to the gold Byzantine solidus when the slightly lighter tetarteron was introduced in the 960s. To distinguish the two, the histamenon was changed in form from the original solidus, becoming wider and thinner, as well as concave in form. Later usually shortened to...

issued by Emperor Michael IV the Paphlagonian (r. 1034–1041) and, in sources of the late 11th and the 12th centuries, for those of Emperor Michael VII Doukas (r. 1071–1078), whose gold coinage was the last to retain a reasonably high amount of gold (16 carats) before the massive debasement that followed under his successors. It was in widespread use in Italy, especially the south, because it was virtually equal to the popular Sicilian

Sicily

Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...

 tarì

Tarì

A tarì was the Christian designation of a type of gold coin of Islamic origin minted in Sicily, Malta and South Italy from about 913 to 1859.-History:...

.