Weight and Money Business in Byzantine Cherson in 6th-7th Centuries as a Criterion for the Development of the Internal Market of the Provincial City

Abstract

In this article we will make an attempt to assess the state of the currency, weights and weight equipment in Kherson in 6-7th centuries. Such studying serves as a criterion for determining the development of the internal market of the provincial city of the Byzantine Empire during the transition period from late antiquity to the early Middle Ages. Use of this criterion allows us to conclude that the metrological and numismatic materials of Kherson and Byzantine Taurica come into conflict with the existing historiography views on the reduction and even complete disappearance of coins manufacturing at that time, especially copper denominations, as an indicator of economic decline. The article indicates the compensators of reduction the state money releases and it is concluded that the process was not a consequence of the demand fall for coins of small face values, which continued serve the needs of regional, domestic and local markets of Taurica.