Wikipedia's first sentence called it “large bronze coin introduced in about 294 with the coinage reform of diocletian”. Today it says “both a general term for specific types of bronze coinage that circulated during the late roman empire and for b”. The one-line description Wikipedia serves to search engines and AI systems read “Roman bronze coin”. It now reads “Roman and Byzantine bronze coins An AE1”.
Measured, not asserted. Every count, date and revision on this page was taken from Wikipedia's own history and checked against the live article. The words quoted are theirs.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-03.
We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the 2005 one. Red dashes: removed from Wikipedia since.Pale dots: rewritten; the numbered note shows what it says now.Red text: written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot.1 tap a number or a side note to jump between them
The opening as it read in 2005
This is an article about the Roman coin; for an article about the French bicycle manuafacturer, see Follis A follis of Galerius as caesar The follis (plural folles ) was a large bronze coin introduced in about 294 with the coinage reform of Diocletian . It weighed about 10 grams and was about 4% silver, mostly as a thin layer on the surface. The word follis means bag and there is evidence that this term was used in antiquity for a sealed bag containing a specific amount of coins. The follis of Diocletian, despite efforts to enforce prices with the Edict on Maximum Prices ( 301 ), was revalued and reduced. By the time of Constantine , the follis was smaller and barely contained any silver. A series of Constantinian bronzes was introduced in the mid-4th century, although the specific denominations are unclear and debated by historians and numismatists. The follis was reintroduced as a large bronze coin (40 nummi) in 498 , with the coinage reform of Anastasius , which included a series of bronze denominations with their values marked in Greek numerals . The fals (a corruption of follis ) was a bronze coin issued by the Umayyad and Abbasid caliphates beginning in the late 7th century , initially as imitations of the Byzantine follis.1
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 16486935.
The opening as it stood in 2010 8 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
A follis of Galerius as caesar. The follis (plural folles , later Italian follaro , Arabic fels ) was a type of coin in the Roman and Byzantine traditions.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 361876910.
The opening as it stood in 2020
A follis of Galerius as caesar. The follis (plural folles ; , ) was a type of coin in the Roman and Byzantine traditions.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 965249445.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023 1 passage from the previous snapshot no longer appear
A follis of Diocletian . 27 mm.The follis (plural folles ; , , Fels) was a type of coin in the Roman and Byzantine traditions.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1147049553.
The opening as it stood in 2025
Roman bronze coin For other uses, see Follis (disambiguation) . A follis of Diocletian . 27 mm. The follis (plural folles ; Italian : follaro , Arabic : فلس , romanized : fals ) was a type of coin in the Roman and Byzantine traditions.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1288029591. This is our newest snapshot; the live article may have moved again since.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “large bronze coin introduced in about 294 with the coinage reform of diocletian”. Today it says “both a general term for specific types of bronze coinage that circulated during the late roman empire and for b”. The one-line description Wikipedia serves to search engines and AI systems read “Roman bronze coin”. It now reads “Roman and Byzantine bronze coins An AE1”. Read the current article and compare.
2005
2010
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since 2005, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
large bronze coin introduced in about 294 with the coinage reform of diocletian
Now
both a general term for specific types of bronze coinage that circulated during the late roman empire and for b
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.
