The name Perperikon itself is strangely associated with gold-mining. The archaeological finds suggest that the mines at Stremtsi were developed in the last centuries BC and were then abandoned. During the Middle Ages, however, 11th-13th century, they were reopened. And the only surviving name of the holy city, i.e., Perperikon, dates from that period. The original version was Hyperperakion but the ancient scribes shortened it to Perperakion or Perperikon. In Greek, hyperperos or hyperpyros means fiery beyond fire or above or over fire. The word was non-existent in Byzantine Greek but had existed in Aristotle's Greek in connection with sacrifice on an altar. The place-name then could be associated with the Dionysian rites. There is however an alternative hypothesis: In 1082, the Byzantine Emperor Alexius I Comnenus introduced a monetary reform to strengthen the gold monetary unit of the Empire. A considerable gold deposit was found and soon a new coin of 21? carats was struck, its name: hyperpyron or perpera. Some believe that the name came from an association with the technology of melting the gold to concentrate it. Alexius, however, was a scholar of Classical Antiquity and might have proposed the name with reference to the ancient cult.