Currency in Ancient Rome

The Roman coinage during most of the Roman Republic and the western half of the Roman Empire consisted of coins including the aureus (Latin, aureus, gilt), the denarius (lat. denarius, of silver), the sestertius (lat. sestertius, of bronze), the dupondius (lat. dupondius, also of bronze) and the ace (of copper). These coins were in use from the mid III century BC. C. to mid-century III d. c.

They were still accepted as payment in the territories of Greek influence, even though their own coins were minted in these regions and some silver with other denominations such as Greek imperial or Roman provincial coins.

History

Commercial exchanges were initially paid in oxen and sheep. The first currency was the copper pound, followed by silver coins (denarius and sesterces).

Trade tended to use the monetary system based on the gold (Latin aureus, golden), although silver circulated and there was a legally established gold-silver value ratio.

But the effective currency was silver. The silver coin went from 1/72 to 1/84 of a pound (327.45 g) in the Second Punic War, and did not change for three centuries. Copper coins were used for fractions, so they disappeared from great trade, and later the aces stopped being minted.

The pound of silver was broken down like this:

• Serious ace (about ten ounces).
• Medium ace (or semis).
• The third ace (or TrienFour ounces.
• The ace room (or squareThree ounces.
• The sixth ace (or SixthTwo ounces.
• The ounce.

The last two had already disappeared from circulation.

The state circulated silver-plated copper coins, which had to be accepted at face value. Naturally the one who received it did not know if the coin was silver or not. To cover certain expenses, the State made many runs of these coins, causing a monetary crisis that forced the withdrawal of a large part of them.

From 269 B.C. C. Rome minted silver coins called denarius (1 denarius = 10 aces = ¾ pound of copper) and sesterces (1/4 denarius = 1 sestertius = 2, 5 aces) that replaced the ace. They weighed 1,137 grams. Centuries later the sestertius was minted in bronze.

Gold was still used sparingly. The ratio between gold and silver was 1:11.91.

The average fortune of Rome at the time was the possession of 70 talents, about 420,000 denarii or 1,680,000 sesterces.

Authority to mint coins

Unlike many modern coins, Roman coins had intrinsic values. Despite containing precious metals, a coin's value was higher than its precious metal content, so it wasn't bullion. Estimates of the value of a denarius vary between 1.6 and 2.85 times its metal content; this is considered to be equivalent to the purchasing power of modern £10 (comparing bread prices) and approximately three days' pay for a legionnaire.

Most of the surviving written information on coins is in the form of papyri preserved in the dry climate of Egypt. The monetary system that existed in Egypt until the time of Diocletian's monetary reform was a closed system based on the devalued tetradrachma. Although the value of these tetradrachms can be considered to be equivalent in value to the denarius, their precious metal content was much lower. Obviously, not all coins in circulation contained precious metals, the value of these coins being too high to be convenient for ordinary purchases. A dichotomy existed between coins with intrinsic value and those with only token value. This is reflected in the infrequent and inadequate production of bronze coins during the republic; from the time of Sulla to that of Augustus no bronze coins were minted at all. Even during periods when bronze coins were created, their production was sometimes crude and of low quality.

During the Roman Empire there was a split in the authority to mint coins of certain metals. Although numerous local authorities were allowed to mint bronze coins, no local authorities were allowed to mint silver coins. On the authority to mint coins, Cassius Dio writes: "None of the cities should be allowed to have their own money or system of weights and measures; they should all be required to use ours." Only Rome itself minted precious metal coins, and the mint was centralized in Rome during the republic and during the first centuries of the empire. Some eastern provinces struck silver coins, but those coins were local denominations meant to circulate and meet local needs. The issuance of bronze coins can be considered of little value, and of little importance to the central government of Rome, because the expenses of the State were high and could be more easily paid with coins of high value. It is known that during the I century an ace could only afford a pound of bread or a liter of cheap wine (or according with inscriptions on Pompeian walls, the services of a cheap prostitute). The importance and need for smaller denominations to the population of Rome was arguably high. Evidence of this can be seen in the numerous imitations of Claudian bronze coins which, although possibly not authorized by Rome, seem to have been tolerated and minted in large numbers. The State had little incentive or desire to meet the need for bronze coins, because it used coins primarily as a means of paying the military and officials.

Origins

The monetary system was the basis of Roman commerce, although this was not always the case. At first, Rome, like all ancient civilizations, used barter for trade. The first unit of measurement was the unit of livestock, called pecua or pecunia, which gave rise to the term "pecuniario". This barter system was superseded during the beginning of trade relations, stabilization of the internal Roman situation, and contact with the Greeks, around the 16th century V a. C. The units of the first Roman monetary systems were irregular ingots of bronze and copper, without mark or inscription, called aes rude; its value depended on the weight, which varied from eight to three hundred grams. This coin continued to be produced for a long period, weighing in some cases up to 1600 g. Sometimes it included inscriptions of animals or objects. The Roman unit of measure was the liter or pound; a Roman liter corresponds to 323 current grams.

The ace and its fractional coins

The first vestige of circular currency is the aes, or as, which dates from around 280 B.C. C.. The ace includes a common sign (I). When its weight was fixed at a Roman litre, it was called aes litral or as litral. This coin is the first to have a circular shape, and it gave rise to other coins, such as the semis. The semis was a bronze coin with the head of Saturn, its mark was S and its value was half an as or six ounces. The triente or trines was equivalent to a third of the ace, it was made of bronze, it showed the face of Minerva and its mark was four points. The quadrans, or quadrant, was the smallest coin; it was made of bronze, it showed the face of Hercules, its mark was three points and it was worth a quarter of an ace. The sextans or sestante was equivalent to a sixth of the ace, its symbol was two points, it showed the head of Mercury, it was somewhat larger than the quadrant and it was made of bronze. The ounce was equivalent to a twelfth of the ace, it was made of bronze, its value was one point and its mark was the head of Rome. The ounce had multiples and divisors: the triple ounce or teruncia; the four-ounce coin or quartuncia; that of five or quincunx; that of eight or bes; that of nine or dodrans; that of ten or dextans and half an ounce or semuncia.

The denarius and its fractional coins

The official currency of the Roman Empire was the argentum denarius, made of silver. The denarius was a replica of the drachma that circulated in Magna Graecia and began to be minted after the defeat of Pyrrhus of Epirus. It was equal to ten aces and was marked with an X, which corresponded to the number of aces in its value. The denarius was frequently used during the republic. During the high empire denarii were minted in base metal (iron) at the borders. During the reigns of Valerian and Gallienus, the denarius ceased to be made of silver, becoming made of a mixture of silver, copper and tin called fleece.

A fractional coin of the denarius was the sestertius, whose symbol was HS. The sestertius was equal to a quarter of a denarius. Its original value was 810 grams, although sometimes it was close to a thousand grams. It was generally made of copper, although in some cases it was made of silver.

Another fractional coin of the silver denarius was the quinario, which was equivalent to five aces or half a denarius. Usually the quinary was marked with a V, which corresponded to the number of aces of its value. During the beginning of the imperial era, denario aureum, golden or gold quinaries, were minted; its value was equivalent to the golden mean. Its value ranged from ten silver denarii to twenty-four at its peak value. The gold denarius began to circulate in the time of Julius Caesar, being common from the reign of Augustus. Its devaluation began during the reign of Aureliano.

The tremissis was a gold coin equal to one third of the golden. During the time of Constantine I, the gold was replaced by a coin called solid gold, which reached a value of up to two thousand denarii, being the most common coin during the late empire and during the later Byzantine Empire, where it survived under the name same. The subdivisions of the golden solid were the same named for the golden, in addition to others created with the economic reforms of Constantine I, such as the silicua, which was equivalent to one twenty-fourth part of a golden solid.

Coins and their value

Republican Época

(after 211 BC)

	Denial	Sestercio	Dupondio	As	Semis	Triens	Quadrans	Quincunx
Denial	1	4	5	10	20	30	40	24
Sestercio	1/4	1	1 1/4	2 1/2	5	7 1/2	10	6
Dupondio	1/5	4/5	1	2	4	6	8	4 4/5
As	1/10	2/5	1/2	1	2	3	4	2 2/5
Semis	1/20	1/5	1/4	1/2	1	1/2	2	1 1/5
Triens	1/30	2/15	1/6	1/3	2/3	1	1 1/3	4/5
Quadrans	1/40	1/10	1/8	1/4	1/2	3/4	1	3/5
Quincunx	1/24	1/6	5/24	5/12	5/6	1 1/4	1 2/3	1

Época de Augusto

(27 B.C. – 301 A.D.)

	Aureo	Quinario Áureo	Denial	Fifth	Sestercio	Dupondio	As	Semis	Quadrans
Aureo	1	2	25	50	100	200	400	800	1600
Quinario Áureo	1/2	1	12 1/2	25	50	100	200	400	800
Denial	1/25	2/25	1	2	4	8	16	32	64
Quinario Argenteo	1/50	1/25	1/2	1	2	4	8	16	32
Sestercio	1/100	1/50	1/4	1/2	1	2	4	8	16
Dupondio	1/200	1/100	1/8	1/4	1/2	1	2	4	8
As	1/400	1/200	1/16	1/8	1/4	1/2	1	2	4
Semis	1/800	1/400	1/32	1/16	1/8	1/4	1/2	1	2
Quadrans	1/1600	1/800	1/64	1/32	1/16	1/8	1/4	1/2	1

Currency of the Diocletian Maximum Price Edict

(301-305 AD)

	Solidus	Argento	Nummus	Radiate	Laureate	Denial
Solid	1	10	40	200	500	1000
Argento	1/10	1	4	20	50	100
Nummus	1/40	1/4	1	5	12 1/2	25
Radiate	1/200	1/20	1/5	1	2 1/2	5
Laureate	1/500	1/50	2/25	2/5	1	2
Denial	1/1000	1/100	1/25	1/5	1/2	1

Coins of the Lower Empire

(337 – 476 AD)

	Solidus	Miliarense	Siliqua	Follis	Nummus
Solid	1	12	24	180	7200
Miliarense	1/12	1	2	15	600
Siliqua	1/24	1/2	1	7 1/2	300
Follis	1/180	1/15	2/15	1	40
Nummus	1/7200	1/600	1/300	1/40	1

Coins of ancient peoples used in Rome

Other coins used in ancient Rome were coins of the ancient peoples, which circulated because they facilitated trade and the integration of the provinces into the Roman market. These include the ancient Greek drachma, the Greek dicalc and tetradrachma; the talent and the mine, Mesopotamian coins; the victoriatos, frequently used in Spain; Finally, the Pérgamo cistóforo, the obolus, the shekel, the triobolo and the trishekel, among others, used in the Greek and Phoenician colonies.

Silver and bronze coins were introduced in Hispania Citerior, but the silver coin was progressively withdrawn and the bronze one remained as the only coin. Between 218 B.C. C., year of the arrival of the Romans, and 212 a. C. Ibero-Roman drachmas minted in Emporium and other mints appeared, being very uniform in terms of style.