Roman Empire Silver Coins Roman Empire Silver Coins COINS OF THE EMPEROR The imagery on coins took a turn towards propaganda when Julius Caesar used his own profile on his coins, an opportunity not missed by Brutus who similarly used his own image on one side of his coins and on the other side two daggers symbolising his role in the assassination of Caesar. Following the death of Caesar coinage was produced by the various parties fighting to succeed him but with Octavian’s victory a uniform Roman coinage was once more established.
In 84 BCE once again the link between warfare and coinage was evidenced when Sulla minted new silver and gold coins to pay his armies, a necessity repeated by Julius Caesar, who in 46 BCE, minted the largest quantity of gold coin yet seen in Rome, outproducing the state mint in the process. It was now no longer necessary to mark coins as Roman as there were no others in Italy and by the 1st century BCE Roman coins were now also being widely used across the Mediterranean. 141 BCE the bronze as was devalued so that now 16 were equivalent to one denarius. This was especially so following the acquisition of the silver mines of Macedonia from 167 BCE, resulting in a huge boom in silver coins from 157 BCE. As Rome expanded and took ever more treasure from her enemies silver began to replace bronze as the most important material for coinage. 200 BCE only Rome now produced coins in Italy and the movement of troops ensured the wider circulation of Roman coinage. There were other coins such as the silver victoriatus which was in weight equal to three quarters of a denarius, the quinarii, worth half of a denarius, and other bronze and gold coins but these were not always widely or consistently used. The denarius was equal to 10 bronze asses (sing. The coin was initially funded by a tax on property but then via war booty as the wars against Carthage swung in Rome’s favour. denarii), a coin that would be the principal silver coin of Rome until the 3rd century CE. Appearing for the first time was the silver denarius (pl. 211 BCE a whole new coinage system was introduced. IMAGES WERE MADE ON COINS BY STRIKING THE COIN BY HAND ONTO A PRE-CUT DIE. Due to financial necessity, gold coins (aurei) were also minted, a rare event not to be repeated until the 1st century BCE. Gradually, following the financial excesses of the Punic Wars, the weight of coins was reduced, as was the metal content of the bronze bars. These were worth two Greek drachmas and carried the legend ROMANO, later to become ROMA. The first silver coins were produced from the early 3rd century BCE and resembled contemporary Greek coins. The first Roman coins were probably the small bronze ones of low value produced at Neapolis from 326 BCE and carried the legend PΩMAIΩN. As the Romans expanded over central Italy war booty meant coins could be produced using precious metals – gold, silver, and bronze. Despite their heaviness this type continued to be produced up to c. These units were quite large as one unit was the equivalent of 324 g. COINS OF THE REPUBLIC The early Republic did not use coins but rather a system of bronze weights, the aes rude. Coins also had a function as a vehicle to spread the imagery of the ruling class as coinage was the mass media of the day and often carried likenesses of emperors and famous imperial monuments which would be the nearest most Romans ever got to see of them. Even more significantly, large and identical payments could now be easily made which made possible a whole new scale of commercial activity. Roman coinage, as in other societies, represented a guaranteed and widely recognised value which permitted an easy exchange of value which in turn drove both commerce and technology development as all classes could work to own coins which could be spent on all manner of goods and services. Denominations and values more or less constantly changed but certain types such as the sestertii and denarii would persist and come to rank amongst the most famous coins in history. Roman Coins Roman coins were first produced in the late 4th century BCE in Italy and continued to be minted for another eight centuries across the empire.
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