The Roman monetary system. Pt. II / by E.A. Sydenham

8/3/2019 The Roman monetary system. Pt. II / by E.A. Sydenham

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THE

E.,A . " _ S : - ~ T D ' E - - . 1 \ : r H ' A . ~ . - - 1\/1. , . . . . . , " ' 1 ~ . - I .-_--J . . . , - - - - " " J 1 ' . L

PAR'T II

:RE,P~INT'ED FROM THE ~NU.MISHATIC IC fIR 'O _ ICLE'

mv. O . C.ALIF. . L IBRARY. . LO S AJlGJi :L~'~


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1'919-,19'20T ' I - H I ' E ' : R " O Y : A : ' " L N ' U " l [ - IQlfA' , 1 ' 1 0 ' t i ~ I O " " C ' l I ' E " T ' Y ' "J . : - . , ' , . . . . , - _ , . . _ . - . : : ' _ - , I: 111 'lJll.ll. " _,.' ~ , . J > - I I' - ,

22 ,R,U8SELL, r SQ 'UARE , LONDON , w.o . 1..: \ 9 n t c o ~ , " :

- l i S ' " ' 1 . 1 ' f A J ' E i " S : - " - T ' Y : : " T ' l - T E ~ f K , , " _ I N : 'G . : , "= IlU . . I :" - .:._._. - :: I. , '.' i 9 t e ' ~ f T J c n t :

P n O P E s s o ' R IC ~ 'OM .AF r , llPI', , D , [ , A I , . :LL ~D ,", F i l l 8 , " 1 7 1 , - 'l' , F , . ,E!,A: t r I l I ' t " ' I C ' 10 lli.h~' t f iI~"t) 'III" t ' t't ...\,1 !.1 \. ~ i f- ' " . . .c ; . : ; J ! .0 . 1t,..,.(.J 4 . . .

: 8 m n ~RTllun I J , " , E~Arn31 'M~,A,.D,.L'ITT'"" L,L~DtiP . H , " , D ~ i p ,! R . , 8 . " ,F 'S '' ' - A :" F t, B " A : " ,iI"- . ~" "" -!II! - - ii" - '.~

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s : e c c . e t a t ' f e ' f . ! :J0IlNi ALLAN ~ ESQ~:, : 1 \ ~ [.AI, D , f . , B ; , A.. , ! ,LllE U, 1 , ' ,C t (~L, . 1 . : ' , " ,ltV'.A.L'T1U~.SMO~l:B' IESO N, R ~ A ~; F ~S ,~A ~

,jfo CC' i ! J~[ l e e ' . .l !'t 'a r~ :GEORGE IC'i' .B']U10I{E, E:S iQ~, H !,A ..

Efllrat',i a n :O ' L'M V ER 'C OD nIN 'G T'O N ';, ; ES'Q' , . , M.D~l'F~S,.,AI' ] \ I . R . A . E S , " ,~el1I .be ' t~" IO ( t b e ( [ :OUl l lc f l :MISS H'ELEN F:A'RQ'Ul!AR.,HENlR.Y GAnsID,E~, ESQ~L ' ] [ ON .EL ] 1 . . HE,\VLE'T'T', ESQ.IGHo . RG ' E F f I tA Me'', lSI 1,'".:TL"L E , C o n. 1 i i . ~ ' _ A F i ' " B ' A '-e '~~" .J .C J .. . . , ~ ! " 1 : ; . , .In,. ~, ..' .' 'I'L . A. LAW, IlE'T~Tl" '~aQ'" F ~ ' S ' - A ' : ' .~. ~lJ~~~ J)!h~~I!, ,II' [Ii . 'rI!L :EO -POL 'U (~t< i D[ 'ESS ,ENG 'ER, ESQ," ,RBV ' ~ ED'GAn ROGEJJ t ; S " M~A;;RE I ' ' ' ' ~ E t . A.~ ' S YIl.EN '."i\M, M I . J\'IE Ii " 1 V . TAFP:S, .fS'Q'~FREDERICK A . vV JtL'T'EnS, E ~ ! H ; a jI F . ,S ,.A~


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P 1,ifI:1 II'.A.n.Ii.; .'" io, Tlu3 A ugus~-a"f t ,By ,8 t e1n~~

IN i hl e .p. rec ,ed ing sect ion 1w e considered the c on sb i ... .tubion of the oriehalcum and oopperfactor;s of' theAngusban system, 'With respect to the more preciousm e t a ls Pliny's statemen t , t h o ,0,L inthe t '~m'I ' .o.f A 'n g " ussusQ,,(.I,I.1i:l : _ . - ",_,:" ,i;] 0., w- , ',' I w l U J iJ l ! I , _ _ " , II;.! ,Y I>w., ,'0' Vi - ~'--. .' '-:- l I : A !! O J i li J l! ' . .III.Q.~the aureu was s truo k ,a t '4t~ of a pound I ( = 12rQ' !18 igra)and the d'en(tri!~satb(=. 6 1 0 , , 1 5 grs.) is preit'i;y generallyaoce pted.If~ however, as :may reasonably be supposed, the

wei.gh,t of each c tureus and. de1~a~lit':swas testedseparately, it, app,ears probable, th,at th,e no rma lstandard of the coins 'wars l' and 8i- seripula respeo ...ti...v e 1..~ 0 " ' - - 1 2 ' 2 - 7 ' : a ' n d '6 : 1 , '3 " : ' : '9 " ' ;' - r - ' i : ! i which 'a'pproxim a t e swrY!] _ : f r_


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'filiI i I l ! i i i ' R O " " l _ ' ! r A l I N ' ' M O ' ! i. ; " I " '~ " A ny'" ~Y~~~fII'i'E-1\, ,"'i" '~,: ,~Q..fi..J;, ' , J.:, ~ ..L~)1 i: ~ " L !W ' ~ ~ . - ,J ;U,1i! D-' I ' Dof the coins certainly' mdicates a rather heavierstandard ; th,ns six fin,ely' ,preserv',eJd. a, t~ , 'e i of AUg [U71 tU 1Sgive an average of 121~,85grs., and, seventeen equ,allynne ikn.a~~i~liJjS8tl .ie(1 after JB\~G,"2 1 0 ~ ,an average of 5 9 + ' 8 grs ~T h , l e normal 'weight~ 31 ;9 31 generaI1'llle" may be expected, to be sligh,tly' in exeess of th,e ave,rage:; therefore there .a~p,peal!~ome justifleation for the: conclusion that theC~lt'1~e;l'S n " c 1 i dena1 tt ' l , { r S ' o f Au,gusJ ' t t l 'Sweighed ' r e S p I E H J , t iv 1 e ] : y t7 and 8l seripula,Th,leratio of gold to silver was thus 12~,5to l'i .I'he :meltal composing the d6?~ . c t1~ i iof AUglls: t ,ns l is, a sregards qnali ty1 the nne,st ,t-hat OOO' t l t ' "S under the

Empire, ': IJ~,Hammer's analysis showing a L B ,h, igh aproportion as ' 0 , . 9 19 of pure silve,ri~2Th,e monetary sys,te,m, ins,tituted by' Augus ; t u s ,~ com-

prising eight dencminations which formed the basiso f th ,e, :Ro lma ,n coinage down to th,e t , i m , Q , of Galli.e,:nll.s,lnarY be summarized as follows :'~

NtJ'I'ul.(t'l l l ' f " e igl~ts"G o ld . .j A , l l! e ' 'U s _ '7_ scr ip l lln=l2~ ' . :? , grs, _ ~ ~ 9 1 6gms,1 lQ u I n a : m 1 u s a U r e U ~ 3'~ 'j~ .::"""" 61~ , 3 : 9 1 t; - ,~ ,,~ 'R ~ ", ~ ~ l " , .' 'i 1 - ' D'BJlmUS g , 1 r ~ ~ ; '= = !61.,~9 :n =S~9B ~~,. f ! h ,~~ er .',',)U.lllra. :d U~arg en te ns I ; i - = = - 3 , 0 .,1 , 9 ' ' , ' ,' " '= ' 1 . , 9 8 ;~ ~ ~!, ~. I'Ori(lha.l- J Segte1'til!!! 24" = ~ 2 ,_ ~ " I ~ ," ~ " : " : : " " " ; 2 7 . 2 : 0 1 ~~ ,e l l m , 1 ,Dupon d1 .'U '~, 1 2 ':'~ :~ , 2 1 0 , 5 " =18 ,~6 :",~C _ ,A s ]0 u =1'75,5, H :-]],3 n_ : _ - O t P l f l ' C l ' lu ~ .ra;n ,s ' '~ t~ '= " l 4 ~ O j"~ :=: ' 2 :. .9 , ~:!'

11. Olt(U'~9'(l-8' i~lt, , t . l ~ 3 : ,il1.,~glll8,~,(1/},~ . U s t . l J m ", _' ' f i r ' " t '" '..th h th - d '" "" ... -_- ". . -,_I I - ....... '_ . _ i-: ,_,' -, 'IJ _.- :-. --:- .... ( '.- .... J 1- : . : .... "." .. '-:--. -. ". e now ,plass on to nonce :' e . onanges :1'8t Qlccurre~in, t'he course of t'his period o f over two and a half

centuries and the various ~ttempts~ made from ti:m:e tot,ime, to re,adjust the coinage in order to stave off the'i, .. - bl'l d ' ~ i J . , - ii f ' thmevrba ~.e1.s1'n,l~e"gr,atllon 0. 1 _ 1 - ~ , e s ' J 7 ' s t e ; m , j


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86 IF.1 A ' Qy... ' E ' ~ 'N T H ~ It.,.~I ,.:, " . I i i g__..... . .: _ . ,J L ~ . . . ~,aLiiThes;e changes are mainly of three kinds : (l) the. ' . d d . " t " . ' . . . . f " . - . , ' . ' d ' , . _ . , . . . " ' . - . . . - t . " ' , i - " i ! I - . - .' ,. j'- '. II, '. . . r - " - ' . . . . ,i' .t'~.annr aon 0 I new : enomma ions 01 J.lew rorms 01 exis -lng

denominations, the duration of thed.l~currency being insome oases Iimited to ;F t f e , w ' years, 'while in others it,is extended to 'nearly a century; (2) the temporaryor permanent discontinuance of certain denominations ;(3) the tend.s'ney towards depreciation, which isespecially oouspieuous In the third century, by' the,reduction in - t h . ' e w e i . Q ! ' h , t of the g"",oldand bronze andC [--,_ t.,b: r ,t'-h l.. '.' '~'I~'- .liil.. " oQICi . '0 " . f , , ' . ; i . .l... ,-. a llo y .. in t she sil .;':,.:....J 1 I , e l:nwea~~ ' __ l JUe Qf .!h",._ ;;!! I, ~ I_ .._ . .A.O -I '.' _\_-, -v ,'-11 d ". -,. .f ieh I d -Q ! U ' i f ': I j ilIi . .0"",1 "., . o : n ' lrf ' i i iWi'I 'l - n - - , Ii J . : , l " : ~n ICO! 0 " _ - . , - o ' "l ~ " 1 - I 'l__- ; r , i i I ' C U I I m , 1 'i '!I~.iII1'-.' i i i " I ; i I 9 i ; p " 'p " la-I ' ' ' '~.: ,~lJ~ 'r. ~ J4. '_ ~ - u ... 1 _ wlL!!_V~ '_. ~ ',':.:_,'V ,_~, , : . ... I~~- , VV"' I'_ '~' ~

T h - ' - '. f t - - . : - . , : i - ' . - - - ' , . . : : - . . - . ' . . . . , , - i. '....f "~'.''"''.. J : i d itioi t - - t - ,h : ~ ' " ~_ ..,e '-"r S I D . ! e w specl .J.s 0- cn Ill, Ill. ,a,u 1on . .0 ._ e .LO UEsenatorial denominations of .Augnstus, was introduced, - b ' ' t h . . ' -. - . - . ' -. ' . " ' . - '-1 p ' : ' : - - ' L ~ , -. .~ ~ -- A ' -~ , lLK M - ~ l i , ~ . ~ .7j'-', le mon 'E iye1 rI[;~ . :~ '0 ' ecc_OI lUS _ , c , _ , g r l p p a , . bJL.i i .maecurusr' 't, 1 ' 1 ' ' . - - d ii '1\ s - ~ ' - ' 1 ~ , 0 " " ; ' - h - h ' . . ' - . . . . t - - - h " . - h - - ' I d- U., 1;.1.8"ano Jl]l, oa 'V1UiS'ifJ), 'IV 1 0 appear eo nave :!J).,~_joint office as triumviri In a,o, , 5 . ~ Besides dupondiiand asses of the usual typ les ,'i thes e m o aeyers iSSU IEM i a, . . . . . ' . . . . , ~. . ' -. . -f : ' ~ . , : ' . . . , : , , - .f o 1 , , , , - - ' ' . ' ~ ' " . . . . d , ' - , - -~ i l - . ' b e : ~ . ; :" :- :- l~ - _- -- -.- , -- : the c b .'-'..,,'-.'.series .0 _coms 0 ~rg,ermonuse oear ng on cne ooversethe striking device of the head of Augustus crowned

. -bv a ~ . UI_",;: - ' g t : , - , - - ' h - " f i ' ; . ' - I '1 '1 " " .1)1 ' - V ' , - l e t c . : - - . ' -_y a Ell:u~J!en,,-' , -" , .gu~e 0 ][ _ 1 0_ ory ~Th- ,~--- 'h..-h h'~i'V- be -n V~Fl''ously . .J l eserih d, - ,85 '9 : OOlD,S" W i 1 0 . . " . " a , . e ,.~ ,iE L_ "",~. ., . . r u s I." iU'tj~I~.w:-&.,!e. ,:;tIS

St~&-l!ei ' t i ' i 'by ,M l~~ Grueber," as '"triumphal." ,a ;SSf3, '8 'by'Viller,s and Laffranchi," or as dupcrnd)i i b!y M:r.Walters, 0h b .JI .. h d d fp 'pe,ar to !a;V'16 neen issneu at a Wl91g . t stanc ar,~ 0,'

normally about 35,0 g r S ' t G ,! .N ~~ 1 . ~ ~ "b.,n),n..; 1 '904, I?;; 2 3 2 , . " R 1 V ; , i i t ' ! , '191'~ 1~ ' "8 2 ' / ' " ,~ Nfj;1i1' , Ch)'ttHt. ~ 1915 ; ' p ,~3,'26~~ Ac 'tl la l'w t = lg ht'B , o f specimens a..~B [i n .grains) ': P .. A . g l ~ . i : p : m ) a ' J 2'11,,0; '1 - 1 . ,Tu,H.u)~~ai-s, 3 6 ,0 '1 6 , ; M . O th . ; [ ) JI S ; B O ~5 1 , 215~4,~5 , 8 t O ~[ ns ]


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' rU]:'Ii'E" R " ' 0 " 'lillI' . t N ' " l I Im 0 " 1 i j ;1rE j T A R ' ":'y. ~'~}""Q!'''1Illi~1'!l'Ii'''.!I, '"i- I. ': '. ' . . u ; , . n .. ' ,' J . ! ' . . l , . L~ . ' " :____ '_~ ;jy' . ,l . ~ .JIL ~,~,'.lL,. B7'~.rhe,mesal ofwhieh t,h'e,Y are composed Is a , p } J J t l : r e ' u , t l y

pure, or almost pure, co'ppe~~a fact t,h,at in i t . s , elf '. an, t l ' " ' ' ' ' ' I ' - ,EI , ' 1 i , y - dis poses '0 : f " ' th e view th'> !'!i t ':" t h : '.0, coins a '\""'8 iif,l'n@'~LJ,(Ji~J.';;"';01 .'.: lI.OJ.,._~:. ! .I~: :..I- ' .. I~ ,~ ..e "._ :_)'~_"'.'.-:_. !_.I II~IJ' 1_.0 ~.I:....: _.:I~ IL~J..~ ~!O"'Ii~QjI ~[ " iC . !~!On the other hand their weighb demonstrates clearlyth ''-.t ,t'hey C ' " - ' ! l " . .. .' t " I I . r r " i . , ; L b,O;.;(;t'i.)I!j,ryt)C T'hi U - 1 i : ' j I th ere seem~ ] - I l ' ~ ' t "tleIa , .. .l.~..:. ,.~"VIUJ '.''0 b~,QIO~d. . I ...~ -. ',.;1.'1;./' ~'I!. . I,~~"" ~ - "_ greason to donb t that we are j ' nst.,ifi,~din accepting,Ml"~,alters,~'ssuggestion 'bha,t,bhese remarkable coins,are copper , d ' t t p o n d i i " ,It seems to have been the unwritten rule in ieallll,Ydays tha,t the emperor's porbrait was placed on, nosenatorial coin other than the as, and this rule W'EtS,observed until ~ah'~"tlthe ye ar A i! D " ,22 ,~ T,hresa unusualcoins struck by the, moneyers of E,~O~5, the\l~efo:r,e,; form,the only excep t i ons , r a n d , th,eir i s 'S l1 .eDLwt , be rega rdedas ~ , , t , ' ' ' ' ' \ ! f . i I , 0 " ~rl ina ' f ' I ' y sinn! : l J ' 1 1 1 ,I,. e S , i , . ;-. b]~she r!:! n 0 - ' " ' - p c re ceden , ; 1 6 . an~l;t~, le-:w:~~.,.;.~-ul,~.. ""\iL~'.:']i ~. v.ru " l U I . "~l-:_.:l .....J~J .1 ., ..~ ':_"'-,~" .~'.j~-l~~ ,~_.~Lwas of 'brief' duration.O f 'more importance, on accoun t of i~s greater per-

manence as a factor of ,the, : m o : n , e ' b a u ' ! l y s , y s ' t , e m ' J i w a s theIntroduetion of the brass (orichalcum) , s ( J r n . / t ' S ~ Thisdenominasion was 'not Issued b'yamy of the moneyerswho controlled "this senatorial mint down to JB~Oli ,8 ' ; i butia:pp;eal~ In th'e, following y'(~al:~t the provincial mint o fLngdnnnm," Its int',roallction under t'h.e auspices of'the emperor, Ol~the Concilium Galliarum, W,~5ipossib,],Y, ~ t h . , ~ . ,to .'m -P ' 0 i ! i : T : n g ' th r Q J , 'S 'eh . - m o n- ' , t ' h e ' bra f:I ~WI,.. ,a , View ' ....1.' I j r'lI"~.-/' 1 - - , - : . c _ ~ ' v ~ e 1 0, v,~' r ~ , c . , ; J a . , ~ : ~ ; ; ; P ,II'li'Dd c o p p e r .;:"Ii'Jf'\ i n a g B b'y- b " 1 1 " ' ; "In,gt' 1 i t ' i I ' g 'h l'ii; d e n o m iotl~ O ' n a 1 1_ , ! ; j _ ) . 1 : : . I , I . : _ _ ' ~ I : ' '!Y~'dIl-~-"u,I" :'0., ,,'.IL.I!.I..,I,~'ili', I.::~ I~,V. _ I .j : IQi L '.',,-,i Mvalu es into 'm ore, r,e,gu la,r se 'q'tl9,nce'l T,hu.s, the p:rQ...vineial coinage of Lugdnnnm, consisting of 8 , e 8 t ' l ~ t l t i u s : ,,( lf~p(Jtncliu,6\,-,, and semi , represented i , D , terms of theas;, , 4 , 2, I, and 'j, a s contrasted wi th , the i s e : t ;U \ 'b o r ia lIJe'8t61'iti;~t{J, ,cZ1li 'pO~ldi, t ts~ ,~&:~nd Ul tad jil t1 le8 ' o r 4 :; 2 ", 1 , ~ and ! _ , ~

'U..,I! ,~


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Al th ,Ot lgh the Lugdunum sequence has much tocommend it from a praetleal point of 'view', it does not,appear to have been adopted ' b : y t'he l~oma'n mint, andth"e semis finds 'no place in th,e senatorial coinage untilit Is Included in the elaborate reform of Nero, A J I ; ' D , " a s .Tlh,e, oriehalcum, ur brass, semisse s of AUgtlsttlS an,d

'I'iberiua bear bnt one reversa ~ype~namely t' l,t,at o fthe ,Alta':l!' oj Lug. i lu '~z ' l l /n~ ,and th,ei:h~is~J1.Jle ceases abou tthe ye,ar A ., D,. 21~,wl ie ,n the p'I'ovinoial mint of'Lngdunumwas closed for the Issue of brass and c O , P ; P ' 6 1 f,tTwo modifiJ3;a;tons, of t,he Augustau sys, te ,m, occurduring the reign '0 T i'b sl'1 ,n s: (1 ) the copper qUt. td1itJ.~$te':swere discontinued, and (2) duptJnrJ) i i were iSS' l l , l9{l ac

cording to two standards o f weight,~l~heformer calls f o r i littl,e comment, since the : iSfjl1BJof small copper money fluctuates considerably underthe earlier emperors, But this somewhat curiousfeature, respecting the "teight of the tlupoindi'l~sun-doubtedly has an important bearing 011 the monetaryprinciples of the period,The;;re, is :pra-etica]]:,yno question that, the w eigh t o f

the dt tpo~~( l i , t , s )a 'Soriglnally determined under ,AllgtlStttSjlwas half an ounce (210,~5grs.), The senatorial dt~POI ' id , i lof the moneyers (a.o, 1 8 , . . . . . 3 ) , though ~Iubjeot to a gooddeal of variation, work out E l i , t this amount on thea,g,g]l.legats;, and the imperial d:' t .~P()1~il i io f Lugdunum(B~'C:I 2-AI,DI 21) correspond .fairly consistently withthis weight, ~~'bou.t the year ,Ai,D~ 2,2 , however, wefind ' l ~ 1 ; t p c ) " n i t i ' i i S B u . l e d . a ' t , ti t heavier standard of about2 , 5 , 0 g rs .~ s l iT he se heavier coins did. ' not supersede theIighber ones, but, were issll,ed along wish them, rrIol 'e-

: 8 , S pecimens 1 1 . 0t iDfl'B~l~u:~,nly w ' I ~ : d . , g h 'U s Inuch gus '280 Q " ' , ~ ; S ~r liS ']


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over, t .hey present no distinction in typle~,S'O that wef in.a :m,a"ny examples o f diZ~p(nzd/iJ, '~identical as regardstype and le.g e:n :d l"issu ed a t both wei,ghts (e.g, d U J ? f J 1 1 ; ( l i io f Antonia,~ Nero let Dru sns Oaesares & ' C . , ) I ,It . i s ;p ierhaps 0bvio u s to raise the question whe the rthis variation in 'weight .may not be the result of mereaccident or inacouraoy .in casting the flans, It is wellknown that Roma'u coin-weights were frequentlyerratic, but, in, the case of t,h.;edUpO~lZd: i i of this, period,the tend,enc"y to exceed half' an ounce is, in manyspecimens 80 marked th.at it appears :p 'ractioal ly' certainthat the,Y were mtended to conform 'to a heavierstandard, On the other hand, the Iighter dttp'Qndi' igenerally fall :s h.o rt o f half an ounce ,

.rnhl~i:'!' feature l'~;OI1 unmis ta l ~ o i l 3 '-b'~ii- ~'n .Lt,:I;, -J - ' : p " i'ii J 'l i ' 3 l..1 "' - '" ' ~ ,- . -, edJ." 'c . : s ",Q ~._ '~, ~ is unmisrasaoie I J I, ~W~ (~%1lI'_'U.nrth~Z rssue, ,during th,e latter par~of Tiberiu6~is reign and duringt,h'9 1 reigns of Caligttla, and Clal ldiusj It is ]lot witheutsignif l canes to ' 0 ' " t - hat rID"der l . - h " ~ ; last t ~ w ' " 0 " emp-erors , t . , ' h ' If1i;JIL .~.~.'._ 1 1 ~~I_ !:~g ..1


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E A S~' 'D'-E'V T~T'A, ' l ' i l l ii .,'. .1 ~ . - . - . J.;, J:1~l..J.'I~ iii, -t W i ' J < 9 the value of t , h ,8, copper as, weighing 1 '7S~ ,5grs ..'fllat is to s'ay" the i l u ; p o 1i~di!tIt8'was one-fifth heavier' thanthe ae.Under Calig'tl~,aand Olaudius thecomponent factorsof oricha .eum i Ie . copper and sino, 0oour in almost

exact proportions of 4, to IJ' thus , prodneing oriohaleumo f the nnes, t qua] i~Y"110 Buf w,' at, was the resu lt 'pEvide,utly' that the mtrinsio Valne of orichalcuml'"slatively to that of pure copper was found not to bet l L S great as -th,at, assigned to it 'b y Augustus, Oonse-quently it became necessary to add weight to the,ahlloyed coins In order to preserve the standard of ,the as.AlthOtl,gh, this hypothesis accounts for the iSS.U.'91 of

the heavier "l;upo'lu:li i~, it does not explain the per',..sistenoe ,in certain eases of the. older half-ouncestandard, It is,:, 'ob&ble~however" that, ' t ' h ' 8 eom-merc ia ! 'value lo f erichaloum tended to 'flu(~tuatBI S ,Oth,at in the issue of light cl t~P,Of~di ' iwe m~y I ,: iseerns ,und: l~Y attem:pts~a,pp9J:~e'ntly tmsuccessful=-to ma in -tain it ,at its, original s,tatus. Furthe ,~,we may ' wellim .a ,g ine , that this shifting o f the ratio be'tw8Ien , erichal-cum and copper goes some ' way ' towards explainingw'h:y no oriehalcum coins ware struck during the

I- f N j Il d h ~ ha r l.er pa,Ft 10~, ' , l ! e , I ' I O " S F e u : g n " a n : w ( Y ' In i : ' , e y'ea'tA I "i! 6 a . the senatorial coinage was entirely readjustedon an orichaleum basis,In att'emptin,g to discover ,the normal 0 '1 theoreticalweight of the heavy d~w 'ond i 1 i 8 J issued between A~,Di 22and 54; a, di6lculty a ri s es from the 'fact t 'ha. t we possessn LiI""III in d s p e n d e 'n -,- t ,evid e : 'n ee ~'QC t , 0 " ' t :h l0 I Q I ; x - " ' t a n p ' t " , ,to' 'W ' 'hi c hIi._U -_,' ' 'I W ! ll _ . . IU~.'_:, . lW! - !~ :_. ,"IJbr'- t;,ILI~J I' .I , [ ! I m \ I !y.-._.,, g. . ..:.1 ry.oriohalcum had depreciated in relation to copper ..


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W e depend mainly, therefore on the a;ve:r ,~gle, ' W ' e : ig . l l 'tof,th,s coins T;his- as we have stated works out at,' I, ...' .._". "_'.,~ c._,'," ... , ... : ".' .. '. '., " ',' , , , ," .... , i1 . ',' ','"'about ,250 grs., which : indica,tes th,at ,t:be r,ati.o betweenthe metals stood, at abou t - o n , ! and one-third to 011E l . ,That, is to say" since 't'ih e ,two asses of c O P P " , o e r 'w e i g . _ ,h , e d[ , . .r " 1_ "8 5 1 10 grs., it fo l lows , t,h~li t,an equivalent value of ori,cl~al...cum wou l d , we~gh 252, ,5 grs., or' on,e- tw,en"t iet l~ , of aRo:man pound, which was not Improbsbly the normalw ' , e i g ' h , t of the , h " e : aVy(;lf'~JJ\(J~ttd'i '~~8~On tlle, other hand, we cannot overlook the possibility

'~b,at ,the weight of ' th 'Bse coins m ,a y' 'n fJ ;t have beend - . , J :! . . , , " - t - . . , 1 , : f l ; ' , , . : . - m ~ , . ' C,- d - I ", , ' " ~ d i . d " , " 'h ' ,,, . '.-, "t ,(" .,....1 '__nmte __ nxeu ; a n c J provice I U J , , _ e , Y cQn,IaJ.ne,u, m

,i."", !. .1'~ 'II h - I th th d ~.. '! i iea~l"! ' a'm'Otln~ o i o rlC -a c u 'm '- , an ' l J " 0 ' '~'I;..i)~lh"'.IIJ'i~i' o..-~t; ',-,,', " ., '-":c- .. -: _ _:_,,":: . ' - ':C -,' '. ,.-,".' ',' .:_, ' ." Q ': .IW;l\.ilU',r,I;o'L--t, J _ '.,'the Atlgtl.s.t~n, stan a ,ard , their precise 'w'eigh.t mayhave 'been ],ef~ to t]le caprice or discretion of the

'.I"',,~',~D.. t h . J : ! . . . . f N " 'I'll'rlng' , : , e ' nrst nine, 'y ' ears ,0 : , : c ! e r o ' s ; reign a s ome -. 1_,- ..wh;at unusual state, of ,affairs prevailed in connexion,.,h 'h 'R ii3 ,I, 'h t - h ; o f Id'wi,t, tl Ie ' ~'~'om ;anmint, 1 ' 11 .a smue I, a SLI_e rs s ue 0 ' go "

and ailver, which since the time of ,AUg~u;stllS hadbelonged exclusively to -th,s 'imp,erial. mint, Wl\S nowrele gate d l . to 'the ~e:natorial~'~2I t seems probable, more-over, tha't, no co ins of orichalenm or copper were issued'n H'uving a ; M ; e 1 U 1 1 1 o ' t e d to (1e;~1wit'h 'v~L'rious 3.~,psets 'D r Nero 'sco inage & n,d tll e imp onrtan t I '~cn['m of ,A~D~6 S in th e M~ iJ~ ~Cl~ f '~n~, ;1 . ' 9 1 6~pp , . l :S-SI~lj I s n u \ . ] ] : m o ' t re:l~e'aJ't-wlHtt I . l l i a . v e al ready galol furt,her,than is, n ' B , C ess,ary t? m al[e th e, s u b j eet in ' t 'el ' l~gib l e ll T here 3 ~ T h . ' \ e : thow-

,@IVer ~ O rtA3 - 0 '1 ' tw o SUIJplel.llenbl"Y ' l P o in tJ to -w ' h i:c h I w i : s , h m o ret" ~'1 t Il t',I.'.l~ "I.'} -- .... ~,~p air ieu ia r Y '( ] , , c aw R , ~an tiJ 'lo , nm ', ~_ IDere:Be,u"; secmon .l ~T~b i,s s eem s :[1 fail'" i'ufer1en,c e "r,oIn '~b : invari able IOf 'C ,U tTe'n ee o fE X . , S . , C on the (U!~J~ tJ; ' l ,n'nd. i.l'e~uu~i;'s s u e d A,~J)!, 5~ 68 .. H ow e V " f 3 l : ' ,M , l " ' ~M'~ttIll gly ]l:3,S su gges~ e,cl a SO'lfU~What ,diffe 're.n't eJ{,lf)laiDfL'tiO 'D,( ,B e 'a ~ ~, 1Y~i ,n ts f tl~,eEarly E n ' ] , ~ ) ' i r : l e'I'! in Jaurn, R(n~~>i f . 1 , t d i e s " ve l. V li ,)[ l~U ]


11/60

4"',~ E!~ A : ' ;~"C~ 1 W o ~ " I : I ' il ' i , ' I I f '::_! ."!I! C".JL .w . J !~~ '~ J I ! . . . J: l . J} '1l .1~1:p'rior to the Y 'ea r A.i 'D~ 6iO; and i.t is nob 'until aftsr thereform of ,A,~n, 6 , 3 that the great Nercnian oomage :inthese metals realt.y begins,:This tempor,~.ry' closing of the senatorial mint forthe issue of b173SS . and copper coins was not withoutprecedent in the monetary hi.s;tory of Rome, From

,n~C~,82 to 23 the11'e had b een aiD, almost total cess a ti. onof the bronze coinage, and ,a, similar Iacuna hadQecurred b e : f u w ' e en Elio. :3 and ,A~, ., ll~,Down to the ,y,e ,a l~Ao;Dt 68 t,he, gold. and silver coinswer 'e , maintained at, about , t h . , e s ame stan.ldard: , o f weig'htand. purity as that adopted in. B",.O~ 1 ; 5 1 1 1 Bnt in A.:D.. ,6 3N'ero reduced the weightl of ,the ,a~t?ieU8 "to I O l t sor ipula(113i,r o l g1~s~)and:. that of the de~ ' la~~I . i t '8 'o 8, seripula(52~64grs.), or respeebively to ~\ and ii ' of a ponndi'lsAt the, same time the amount of alloy in the silverwas Inereased to about 10 per cent.Ib mJ~y ' be n.ote,d in pasaing that,. although the

de1'Ul,?"it~8 suffered eonsiderably from debasementundersubsequent empercrs, no furth,er reduction seems to

lij.h-v o . ' 1 : . . . 0 1e n m a d e 'in I "' .t,....' n O I ' " m I G l I WO'I '" g ] - ! ' J , t - . n I O Ion g 'Gil Ii: 'I' I "a ' ~ ~ u!d!d' I ' ' I~' :- ,I D I ,tn 5::: .:. ,.._ ~I' _ w _ _ . . . . .. - . ' ~ _ ,.,:,.1, i'" ~o .ic ':.~,.~I as . ,.'continued to be :a : r e " g u l a l ' " factor ofthe currency.I have elsewhere enumerated various reasons t'hathave been llrge,d in explanation of' the reduction of thegold aud silver coins under : N e f i O , . , T'here E H E N 3 . m s noquest ion, how ev"er, t , h ; a t the reduction i n , the case o f 'the a/ltj!~e,us and d e 1 1 a ' i ~ . i t t s ' is inseparably associated witht .h-. read justm Q U ' t ' of the ' 0 " - 1 1 ' " eh aleum nn d nn-PP"iEfI;" !! ' "J:._Il.~ ,li,,!Ol~


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dif f iOll1ty' was met ,d'ul'rillg the reigns o f Oa[i.gu]s and01audius, as we have seen, b,Ythe issue of , S , e 8 t e ' r " ' ~ and.:1 d ' ~ ' ' " tani d ~ h J. 'W ''l th t -hi~ , t l ; J .O t2 '~Z , a,', a n increased w el,g _' i I 1 h ' " 116'


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4-I~

'~t-.]I d t l T ' ] : - - - ' rieha - 1 - - - ' - , - - - - - , - -mtemepenc en :, j ae oricna cumcomplete :sys'tem by' themselves and'na C',~ ~!l:! ' l m ' - ' - n'll '~ O,V 1 0 - , f ; ~ l i! n o n - V"Q,ll i' ien I C ' ~ E i IlUJ.Q~! I~~ . v. g.J .. I ~ I_ DJl.,~ - Ol,A possible and perfectly Iogioal course of action

would have, been T I O have I d e f i n i t e 1 y raised t]le, we: ight ,f h - f :1 f d 1 ~ ~-0' t' e ,8'esteJ'~tit~8;ro,m' Z : to to' 0 . : 1 ' ;l, pound, Ina,~.n"g' It,.

that is to s , a y ' , normally twice the weight of the, d 1 J ~ l J C v n i l i , u s . T,his., however , does no t seem to ' l laiVe belen,at,ternpted ~ : e . r . i o 1 l 1 l , s l y ~ and although examples of 'Nero' 8 ,,8'e8telJ~~'iiare, cccasionally found to seale as mueh as5 1 0 0 ,g ,]fs\ .~ '14theiromparat ive l ' a r , i t y " combined wIth, tile' fact t h , :R ' t S iPecim,s l l s in the finest state o f preservationfrequently fall considerably below' 4~,21grs.,~ ,poi-n,ts to,t',b,econclusion tha 'L ' t i : l l a traditional weig'ht of all ounce'was nominally retained for the ses i e r t iu . while tIle:scba.ndaltd of orichalcum was regulated by' the dtlt !1) ,( )1-2i l i 'Ul iJof normally , i r s ' Ib,It was probably mainly on gTOUJ.lds of economy tl~,:~tt ,h:e heavier standard o f 1 0 ' Ib w as not adopted 01: ' t l1esesiertius; but , t l J l lR , t :its 'wei.g:b,t f l~\equ, 'ent ly exceeds all.ounce is nob d,iflcul t to explain, since in eonsequenc eof t : b , e diepreci atio n o f erich a 1t J 1 1 I lm , :it w as em in e-11ljT''politic to issue the OO i .DS above, rather than below, the. . . . . . . ,nominal weight,'I'he maintenance of a high oriehaloum standard and

t]l,e sli,ght reduction in t11,at of the gold. and silver' b l ~ 0 1 L l , g l l t , the three metals into harmony, B,tl,t since'ptll~!e cop-pier a.p,p,ears to have retained its or igi.1al: reJa, t icrn,to go ld anal si lver, the red uetion in the ~rei,g'htof the (~;' re~n8 and de'2 ar ius 11ecessita te d a sliIl t,

coins formed athe COP1(H~~l ' "could


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' I 'l I T H ' 'E 0 0 ' - ' ' ' 1 1 :1 . . ~ N ' " l l f O ' N ' ' u iF i If I ' " 'n "! i :l " ' ~ Y S I ' !I f I iD ' 'i S i ' ' [k _ :'_ .:'_",i'j! JU. L L' ;,. ..L . . ! . i , . d I l . .f"U~;.J;. j - ; J - ' _ . ! ! I . . ! C ! i _ , ~ , ' j ! ,i,diminution i . ' D . the w'eight of,t.he as. Thus : the copper! a - , . , , ' appears to have been iSS,tle,d, at 16.s~4grg,. or ";~Jof a pound,The monetary reform of A,~D~6 ,8 'WI~S an undertakingof a bold and elaborate eharacter, and Nere's reformed

co inage :h;9,Sbeen not inaptly' described 'by.M" SOU1,t ,Z"oas the mos t , im,po:rtant, m o n , e , t ' a 1 1 " ' Y ' ~yst:em,0 : 1 ,antiquity~15Ci~utta , i ] l ]Y'it presented the most eomple te ,grada,tion,of denomiuational 'values, ever current B 't the same, t ime" In. its practical result, however, it is, ]mpossibleto regard: it as ot,he,r than an interesbing experiment.M eritorious as it undoubtedly was in theory, it cameto an abl1.1pt termination a;t 'N'erO~'8 death, and noI I I l t J J - em p t ' to revi VO 1 1 ~ J t w in ita . o nt 'l il !' r ' ; O " - Y W11 i i 1et! mnl . r . - : J e b v any'UI' Il l,i I~,1 ",' " .V 1"2 ..., ....'0'. ;1, '_ I _ ~. .~ ,~ : , ., ' ~"'_"'(!l!~ _ '_WU., , ~'~ (:~\ :'-o f his su ecesso rs in t .h;Principate.

T . h : e w e 'i a: ,h ,t s o f ' Nero's r e fo rmed comaae rn ,a~ ' b e1I-.iI lei IJ'~ - .'tabulated as f ollo w s :.~

9 18~ T 1 U ! i llettilj'tist1 f 1 1 ' e n i ' '~ f the O o i ' 1 2 a , g ' ~ , ( ~ ; f l e p ' Ne1'~(J',Th,e reign of Galb:!b Is remarkable amongst other

th ings for ' t ' , l l e p,ro l i .o fJ:ll'tPlJ1;t o f COillS fI~om,, the in'l ,periaIjitl , R e l > . . . 1 iT ~ ' ,~ , m , ,, ,1 - 8 9 8~:p " 65-l t. J / i S , S,(rl1i ' ,M~:un~Cirtta.lil:nt1 exists 'a's, t o ' th e normal 'w6i1g"ht o f thest n U ] . 1 I B s , ' h a e n o m i n ations o f ' b r a . ' s s : and e0'lQ}ler.

[. 125 ) e-


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4,~,and senatorial mints, In f a - c , t t lmere I s probably noperiod of similar duration (barely seven months) inthe ,h:isi tOl7' o f t,he Roman co inage w hen co ins wereprodnced inso grea't number or with so m,an,y'varietiesof type, The result seems , to have been Fa~t 'her a,n~.~ f ~ t ~ ~bover-p ro du ctio n o r specie, at an:y ra te a s, l~ e g',~ 'rtlL Srassand copper :;, consequently, f rom the death of Galba,,Ja'nuar.y 15; ~Ai 'D' . , 6 i 9 ~ 1until the late autumn of the sameJ',ear the senatorial mint ap!p,ears '0 0 have taken acomplete rest, 'This incidentally explaino bhe non-existence ' O f ' bro nze !co ins: o f Otho and th.e comparative:r&:rity of those of Vitellius,~:T,h'e, point, of main, Importance, however, :S~) far as

our present consideration is concerned, is, the changein th,e m,onletary 'S,ys'tem t h , a ; c took place after t h . 'e , d l e ; a t h ,of N,ero,~ The elaborate brass and copper s.ys:tem~1int ,rodll1eed in A . , , ! , D ' ~ , 6 , 3 ~ 1disappears, and Galba'a coinagereturns to a modified form of tI le Au,gns tan , system~eonsisting of only three denominatiens, viz, s e , s i l e ~ r l t i / J S ~ Ia U 1 J , o n ai'tt 8 ' , 1 ' and as, F1urther, it, is evident from "thecoins ,tha't , t ' , h ,e brass, or oriehaloum, 'pie,ees were noI O'ngel~ i s sued :m t bhe heavier standard, T,he ,8e8:te"~tift6S'seldom weighs more than 8,U OlJl11.Ce (421!iO grs.. and ,the d~~p(Jnd'iu8reverts to its; or ig , inal weight o f half :anounce ( '2 1 O ~ ,5 grs~) ,N o change mp "pears to have beenmade in t A , e , w,ei,gh,t of the, t ts; and the a ' l t . ' , ~e~~t s"entt1;'i,tS,.and tJ ' t~in .alr ' i ' t t8 ' (N and iR ' ) coneinne in accordance wi th ,the 'Neronian standard, 'with the exception of certain, a - u t l , e i i s sued at, T,arraoo ( a v . . wt,~117 grs.) ,T,hus, the coinage of' the Empire se't 'bled down to ,t'h,e,

form that 'became ster,aoty'ped, under the l~~gime: ofthe Fla"rians and Antonines, and, in , spite 0 ' the.growing corruption ifu ,h:m 'tventu ally undermined both

[ 1 26 ]


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, t h , l e fabric and credit of the Cll. l"r ,en~iy, ,this form Iaste,din th eo r,;Y down to the , t ime of Gal l i enus ,The dominant factors of the s,ysten~are the de.na/rl~:t l$

and ,sefj;~t(J1:~ti ' l~s:;and, jl1dging from the. profusion in ,'which these coins wer e issued from the time ofV 'e:sp& s: ianonw ards , we may infer tha't they' cons t i tu tedthe principal medium of' ezehange, Th'6 weight ofth"s sefjltej'~~ill1rB remained more or Iess ste,a,dy'until thereign of' Oommodus, it's average bieilng highesb under,Anto .mnt lS Pins,Gold and silver fl~"i1'tC~,~,t,ii;were, i SS1 . 1ed , .in small,quantities, and they' seem to have been used mainly

,lIi.f\ 'IJil d o n e t ' , ~ v - : -,i!Ji. n"" 'm O::-:C,~[!t!!1.IU,L Il.V. 'm,! .ill. V J ; I t. 'L. ..l. ,"I ~ II,;;;


17/60

A series of smal] brass and co :ppe r coins, ' fre,q,llentlydescribed incorrectly as ,~:;es:se"r .ae ":, belongs in allp r 1 o b a b 1 i l i t : y to the period f r om , Domitien to Hadrian.The obverse type is tIle head of D r divinity' sueh 00 :]}[[a;rs"Venu s, o r MejrOtlril1s~with a corresponding reversetypl6 as, ,(t cuirass dove, or caduceus, T h ' 8 , coins; SF ,e ,wi. thou, t Iegsnds, h u t , the S , ' ! ' C ' , ~found, i n v ' B 1 ' r . i a ' b l y on tlfIereverse denotes t'.llat ,they are of' senatoria] mintsgeand consequently should be regarded as factors of t]119mOD.'et 'ary ~ys. te ,m" ' I 'hus, in, spite o f t,heir enaticweights, th,e,y are probably ,8err l , i8iU3'S and qtuld . , ! 'an~'e~: ,and it m,ay be conjectured t J l t , t they were issued fordi - ib .. h 1 bl . f ~ ' i , " ] '11ls'trl.-u.tlon am O llg t" ,e popu , ace o n p'U."iJIl,C , 'estlv,a s . ,~ '

14,~ Tl te D e c l i 1 Z e . . , o f' the A t(,g us ta n~ , B y , s i , f j 1 n "'U nder t,h ,ieFlavian;s ana. Antollin"es the we"irgllt~ style,

and metallic Iltlrity of ,the coinage were maintainedmore or Iess eonsisten t,Jy'~ It is du:rin,g the Iatter partof the reign of Commodus - t : b , a t th,e ~'IDgnso f ' decadence:firs,t became conspicuous b!y the inequality' of hia'coins in the points mentioned 'iand 'by th , ;, suddenrestrlction in ths iSS,U '9 o f ' gold, From the dea't.h ofCommodus t,h.'e tendency gr!~)wrsapace and de'tel~iora..tion, is, observed in every speoies of coin, 'The gelid,began to b ,e , issued at erratie weights ; the silvierbecame more and more debased and, after '" this reignof'Gordlian III', praetioally ceased :;,the ' b roRZIB dwindled:in 'size and ,graclually Iost 'the, fine 'qna]it;y :it possessed .under the earlier emperors,Such ,at't'emp:ts as were tilade tO I , resuscitate the

J 7 Som ,6 IC fflll S o f sm aller si:Z'E! than tile l!l~'~d r an s lU:IDLY possib 1y bes e e t an t ; f~$. ' 0 l' iO~." jae ~" [ . ' J128 ,_


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coinage by Oaraealla, Alexander Severns, or Deeius,'.' d d 4 h "11 ~ !I; th iii ul ' t'1"- -I'i.~ .. " "o" -; ' :"( . ' I ' . " " . _ - I 1 ': '1 ' "" . . , _ - ;. .. . _.J ~~~ _~ ' 'r' -" -. -:-' "1 - - - . ' - = - ; ' 1 ' : - 1"_ : ; " ' 1 "I~"~-:"'"wer e ~tten _e_ Wltc, l 1_ 8uecess, ana, In I err res _ : _ : _ s ~ ,'t eud ,ed. f o r the most ] _ l l a r ' t , to add confusion to a sys t em,t h ' - , , t ' ' . . ' - P' - t b e " . . . . .' ' " ' . ' , ' . , " , -I' -,~ - , t " " , , 1 - 1 ' ' " ' - l ~ 'b ' . ] - '. T h ' ;Qj, ' unW l' ~'S" ]d ,l-y'b lE t '" w a s , . ! ! L a s , . ' e c o m In g u n l l l e . , lg, . ' ,e f t '_ c I,'Q ,I - < _ ; ~ . ' . '. ' : ' i - , : : : ' of t ' h , . ' ' . E ' ; - , . . , - " ' , , . , . , " ' , ,: 1. ,.', '~":, ,,' ,,"". @-, ..: - ; f c ; I , : " - " ' , " , b , I ' , " ' "~]'lZe 0., , I . , m,pIle" a successIon 0,-, lnC,a]?a _c ,16 O!',"~ ul h iO '", d l d' ; ';;;'~I''L;a'vaX1.,C10USt .ers, t, ~-Bmcreasma ..manc ,S tor mllTl iax


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50'". ,": .. T.~ _'~ " r o y " " n - . . E " i ! i t . : j H ' .t 7 ' 1 1 : ". .. ... .. . . c;1.~ ;j._..'..i.l. ' .;;r-:L~~Jl,~- . - ~.~.. .". fra -.d c ill - - , - t d ~ - . " , . o ' f - l~ ellfi!"i4 l~g"' p'~i C I I ,i.ed . '0 - " t " . . . 4: r- - : - ("iP." JP t l11 e.y -ra u lllll,en~ -.0Vl0e III, _~I!Jll ' -, ___:~JIl~ I$~ . .L J , ( J f . J , l 1,~

.' . _.- .:"' ".' ,., cc - h - ' ' - - " . ' . . . " .,1 -.. .. ' ',' . . :--- . - - . .' h . '_ _ " d ; ' - ~ " - 1 1 ' t h ' = 'n" 1 , . , _ ', : ' ,o om s , SU,(J,-. as was c ommo n enoug unc er _ ._ 6 JL\iepi l i lUi lCd 1 E . . th fi ' I,. f f i " ' " ' 1 ' d b t fn,_ lear '_J 'mpII',e~ - " , !e 'r S'IU I ome ia neoasemen t 0 ' . 1 - ,

th,e de'n,(tl",i,t~8 occurred under Nero ( ~ o \ _ . ! 'D~(3), when theamount of alloy' WSiS about 10 % '~- b 1 1...d h fiThis, has sometimea been ' coueo upon, as t e ' - ' ; ' r s , tstep in the downward direction t h E J 1 t ult~:i-ma;telybronght ,the im,perial coinage. to ruin, Bnt since wehave already S , ' L l , g g , e s : t s ,dl more cogent ~eaS-ODS :fb'r the:Naronian reform" th,an either lust o f ' ;ga in . o r dire

iI - -'h :] ' - b - f : - ' - h ,~ d N'necessl~y,the debasement 0-' the denair~uSl unc er Nero' , , - . ' - - : " b - I ! i " . . - . ' " ~ d - " d [ - " ;, , - - , " ' , - - ' , ~ ' . . ~ d , .~ ' , ' t '~-I '1-- t ' . . a . -- ,' - . - . - " ~ '1may oe ,I"sg,ltl_,e'., as an InC:ID.en~ In 1 & ,g,rell,:, ' nnancrascheme rather tha:n the initia.tion of ~a fraudulentpractice on the :pa,rt of th'e, S't~te,~

T h l ' . , - , - - b " ". .. - - ., ~ " ". " - 1 - ' . .' I": t - d o e s : I't ,'Ii,'" ',. ' I , - I - ' ~ I - t h . . . .. e SI1,verSlve e a,m,en. - ,oes D , I'. )_ ,arIse un w o o -,e,debasement of the silver w as carried on, l lrrespective,f th--: I t'~ 1 f th- _ .. '. , . '. . - -" -'.' _. --:. -. :'- - ' . - .' .' - -- -- iii .'0 - ila .r e, a,11, l ,Ve va, lle 0 1 1 , 13 , ' y , ~ ~ ' e / i . , " ~ ,J ~Under 'th,eFlavians and Antonines the prevailing,. increase fh f 1 1 } iItendeney was to increase t~~percentage 0- ,-'a.~a , Y ' an

the i l e n a 1 " z u ; s ' , as m:{!j,y be gathered f l"om Hammer'sanalysis, Th,ne, t h , l e , amoun t appears as follows ::~V'. ;'c" ,.'I"~~'" 1 5 ~ , = i t ; ) O "'~I ' T ' I ; : ian ' 1 0 ' ,~99 G % - . . J \ . , ~ , t - ' - Pins 110 ' " ' 3 - - : " 0 ' , o : / '. espas lan . . . ., r , ; " , .. . ,/(Q'j . r a -J ,a _ :, . . , ' . . ,~ ~ " . 0 ' ~.i! " .1u .s . . . . . . . .. . ' . ' ,{ifJ,'Oommodns 3 '0 , : % : l Sept, Severns 2,5=55 % ' .n t S'U d S: ..... " S ' - - tI-....:I'" ~ 1. ,n~ .er ,. .ep;lri'DllllS : :le{\rel'"IUj, -_ile iUe.:n(t?"t~tS]iS ~~H~~e;nlmos t, ,at its worst, 'Nat only is t h , l e , ,av,e:rag8 percentage o fa l 1 0 , y ' greater ,t,h,an in the preceding reigns, but t:hemeta l 0':' whieh th e ,F -I'F '\ '~n'"'!'jIi'!'~, comaposed shows th e! l .J . l I! , 'C i I II 1 ; i ,Q~ _ : , ~ L - ' : _ " ' " " : - _ ' "'Ig LoV..I I : . !:l 1rA! ' l "g ! 1 , ; ;11 . " . -I V~'r;;il , jj;!I . i ! l. . . ! ~ . '!!Jmost extraordinary val" ia 'tio n , o f quality, S o.m e speei ...~d a - 1 f' 1 d. ~ '.. .:. ',:. ",_ , ," ,.- '"I_"", - "". '1""' -JI" _'. .' - .- . :' ." .' , " " - . ( ' . . ~.. - . . . .' ~ -:- Ii!mens, In ..sen, are mere-,y 0 P i ate ...OOP'P'~-l;,It i~ ob., v ' " - " . " t b l I '. thl" t " - 1 1 - . ' r " t - - . ' . .~ " ' - . . . , u ] - I 4 . " " ' ; .c _ ' 'i i i l l ' " - i."iI_ ,_ .lLI~I"lOtlS" . _ e n , ~ c ~,a l_o ne o r tw o res LIfil' 1.~O'.!I i-OW5,.Since 2 \5 d'eJl.t l . ,~'~' i icould no longer ' b i e exchanged f o r an

n. J Hamm, '. -'. .' , o I ! , - n '8 - ., . , i.u - , I .. ' C I - : t o p " i C " r , ; ~ : r p. i i rJ i ~ , ' seq.,I [ _ , 130 ]


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mE)[ Ti1I' R ' ' 1 0 - '.)ii" ' Ii . , , . " : ' I , " O " i i t ; ' i i ' E T ~,'fi~.:l" C ! ! y ' S ' " T T . " ' i ' \ \ 'i',ol..fi~, .', , . L ! i ' l I i . J ~ . I . ~ ,J.)JL,.i.~ 1[ 'ru:\!,j; g,,.:~,m,; ; ,a~~'~euseither p'old ceased to be a rezular and intelli-ii ' ~ ~Jgible factor of' the monetary sy's'te,m and came to b'BIregard ed mere,!y' as bullion, 01 " the number of' de~$'1ti'iitariffe(l as t 'b e equivalen t ,o f the 6i'lt'~~le1t8'underwen t' , ' , . ' , h , " I" ,', ~i' rth ',', t h i " a : I" :b " , ' : . , . '' . " t :,'"" ' " " ' h - : , ; l " ~ , ' , Ii ~ ',' '.a e ange, . 1L1 I ' J~,r", , ' e ' "J3". asement 0 t I '" , , ,e ((I,e1Za1t~,tt8~, 'il!,- sd . ,-d - .-L!... r ' ' ' ' th bra d' I r T ' h 'InVO!V6_ a r,e" ,ne~on, ()" _ " e , ' Y , a ' s s an'., Ic o p pe:r", , I I' 'lISt'he 8 , e 8 t , e , i J , t i . i are freqlll,en,tly' struck on such smallHans that , thJ2rYcompare unfavourably 'with dup'on,li,~of the firs:t centu'ry'i ' T,'h,e,[small denominations ofb r c -, . - , .. < " d " . . " 1 ' 1 " : - : ' dis ': ' c " . I' d l th'.. : J . ' , , ' , , . , . .1 ""'. , , '," ,-:d ' '_ronZre, ;gr,a...ua "y ._lsapp ear an, cc_c ' 'e I C t -t~PD1~u~t$~,Sn ,asseem to have been issusd o,nl,Y'in small quantities,It m,ay be mentioned :in passing, that", owing~' to the,..:'tri : ..,::,.] ,.!III ," ,.11:"'t,,: ~ " f " the irichalc -,j' " ' f - , t ' h ' . ', 'ex )e,m e,y poo r quanty 0, .. 0 o rrer a cum 0" lieperiod, it is, often, dffficult to distinguish between, t h ' - '. ' t '; " . . . . . .;]I ,'. '. '1 ~"'" t '~ "i . . . . . " , . , ' 'I'" ] .. , d ' . I"," " " i i j b - I". e l' I ' . ' rr.'~-:-',. d

"I e .wo uenommataons c ommon ,YcBSCl l"e , - , . e , ,a s EH 30o ,n,.,b ' , " . . . ) , > 1 1 - T 'h.,,.] ,J l I : . -1'l,, 'C_.....hi rh bv the '.:"'...' ,:. "'.' ., . t ' arass OJ - ie0 (1 . , ruie W,lCL .y ine w,ay was no .. . ]1 , . " . ,, ;t 'c~) '-:-.bser c : ' . . . . 'l I I= , t - ' - h " . t' , t ' h ' " 'I~' .,J ~ t l ' :: h , , ~ ' 1 I 1 1 d e ',-..t " ' j J ' l I ' t ' 'h'.',ways 0, serveu--~, ."a ,l_ e ra tna te eau '.eno ea", .8d' . ;~ , f i~a~~it l ; ,8 / and the Ianre ate or bare h e " . ' . 'ad, th~ :;l.trY'., u_ ,.__ , , _ _ _ . ____ ... "iJ as,certainly breaks down altogether after the ' t im.'9 ofC om m 0 ' 1 ' " " ' 1 u s. , 1 ,I .;d"", "!I'

1""',, r~I ~ . J'The most serious effef~,tof the policy of Septimins

Severns was t'ha't, 'the silver coin.age was in imminentdangler of losing credit e n . t i f l e l : y ' t I Hence the motivefor the pseudo-reform of Oaracalla ( A , tD ~ 214 )~ ,the mosts.tri1iin,g feature of which 'V[tSI the introduction ofa 'new' dencmiuation, generally known as, the,~" .r ........ ton~n'l"'~'n"s . ' ; : 1 ' : 1 1 -fiJU. ":" IIJ:, .. W',' ,..: ~Iis conveni t ~ t ' h t t _ , v ' ~ tl~" '.'I; .lS, con,Vem"en ~ 'io r ' , _c , - _ I e . ' p : r e s ,e n " . 0 'lt0\['e ~O 1 :Jl.tS, COl,n, ,b, ' l " " ' t '_ . popular des ; 'IT-"InQ,,"~'o""n" ,a] l thnrIg"h ths D ' I {l i; m ' - ' , \ , , ' I i ' - t -. , 'S , ' ~ .c..:' n\":'."'Q'.I.,~.l!.LiWl!UJ;" "A. ,II . 'v _,'" I., I . , ,: .. : :_II:oo,:.~e , . . ; e s : S,on no better au,tho:rity th,an a chance allnsion in , a,.. ,' 1 . . t' t ' f : B , . . . w h . 'il h , ~ ' ii, " ) - 1 d J d : s t ' h - ' - , d ' . . . . , , . . . . , . . .e zer o r . sono su s, wmer IS, Inc n 'e. m "~.e . &.LUg1 lA t -O / 1ZI [ ISl ]


21/60

Hi 'sbrJ ' j~y~a late compilation . o f singularly untrust ...worthy ch:ar,aotel"il '~ EIs 'ewhere in the same work w eifind men tion of such coins as a t t~ te '~A?ito n i~ ziaji.i , 1Q / J ' r J e n t i e i . A It'1'~'e~'i'ani, and , a , e ~ ' i ' e , i P"i~'~pp.ei , 'J0 but t h ! B , Yappe,a'l~to be merely descriptive terma i n v e : n , ' t e ! c l atla, '1 iJJ i I t ' iE l i i l . . . . . 1 i f ' I l t ew J , j~11 . I~,;/ U i.J ! iA ! : ~ -ApBirt fr-o m its la'l~ g)erJrize t , h , e new co in w as readilydis tin,gnis hed from the o , r d i n , a t ; r y ' d'e~'~Q/l'~',i'~iS'n accountof' its bearing' the radiate bust of the emperor instead,o f' the bla i rs or Iaureate head, which had been , t h , et tnvar,yin,g tradition o f the silver coinage,rrhe, first question t'hat arises In connexion with the,~,Antoninisnns Uis, what was Its current 'Valtle?Some writers :hav'8 maintained "that, the, new coin

'was a ,~,double denarius" i21 T'hie t ' , h ! 8 o r y ' ; however,l1 il I~_ '1 _ ,~ '" ' L . . . . . , b ] II ' 1 1 1ea is ~Ol~'lt't,e eommenb, Since It naa seen cone, 11.S',]l.Ve~y

disproved h,YProfessor Oman in an im portant article:o n ,,' 'Th:e, Decline and ,F'Dillo f ehe Denarius -' I ~22T'he average weigh,t of Oaraealla's ~~An'tonin'ianus "is shown tOI be 78~8grs;,~23and ,t,he proportion of puresilverain i . t s . composition is about O t 5 , 5 ~ , 'The fJtla]i~y:~~ S:e;r lp;~,(J} '' "e'fJ 'is-tor i a~ ,A'ug1~&~a6,xxix 15~ 0n the generalq1 l6 sti.n n 0 f ,the n um ism ,llth ;: d,utails In t , ' i u ~ fJcl i , i l } t f n e s ~ , se e K:~,il:enadier:; D ie Miln,z~'~ u?Zj!l d:rf;t; M-1l1 ls~'oe$e~ ' b e~ i d e n ! , ScrlptlJ'J :8Uis, tori 'ae , . t l1 ~ , ! lU f J . t '( ~ e ' , ,; :B,erliq, U ni V , I ' 'D ias., :19 ' 18~~ I ! ! i II:.,.~t . ,i,., ~ ~ 1~'Ii; I, 'uia~,~: X.XV11 .1 , . ~ ,,~i"21 Mom.ms,en" ;R'i.h~t~,ilnz'~J p , ; 828:" ,j:~ B i n : L O oder DopP,el,den.ar '1 1 ' ;

ahD Gnecchi, BOf~;J;~aJ~Oh~8,P , , ' l22: ::: " ~ , 'I' II 'tll:U~, double D e n a l l t i ! : m l ! S 0 1 ' "A r , g , e n ; t e , 1 I l l E , An toniniar .t us, 'w l~i .gbi .ng ' abou t !~4:5g'l~:m:s,~nd O O 'D , t 'a J u in gn,o;tmOJ:'le than '20 % of , 8 , 1 1 ver ,,,~ ThJt!! la-st sta;temen t is cer~~in'Iyuntrue !OfOa~~~al1a8 ,,~ ,An 'tou llin ia.n i, ,~ ; ct~Ha:m.m"er~9, an~~"y:sis~

' [ 1 , ' 2 l\rui~~, 'CI~':fQn.",1 9 1 6 ! , ~ PI~~ , B , 7 , , _ t iO . . This, ;article ' con t~~gs,much .valuable inftl),rmati,'~nwlth r,egard. tI D t ' . J a e : !"j: ,Ant@ n i:nian'U s ; ~ a : n , d theail vel~coinage ,g e :n , B l 'a 1 1 y ~ I f 3 lu t l l Ho ,t a ,ttem ,p ,t , t o 1 : i 3 : ] l i r o - d , i l c e w'h~t;bProfessor 0man has SI9 ably said, hut l~a'theII shall venture to ' U s ehis ar~i>eleR 'S , t ' h , e b a ; s i s , o f t 'he pres(d,nt section,~ius; p :, 3 , 9 " Ii.1 [" 1,q~]_.Ir _

. ,


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,o t th,e metal was therefore practically i d . [ e n ' t i o ; 3 ! . 1 ,itllL,tha 't o f th e, '~e~~aili'i o f ehe period,Professor Oman estimates ilia normal, or' theorebical,

'w e i,g ht o f the original ,'~Antoninianns ,~~at : S O grs~; but,although this is ;appt~o 'x ima te ly ' correct, it is J v i d l . , e n ' t, that sueh a iveiglh,t would .have, been unintelligible tOIthe Roman mind, In Caraealla's t ime the Neronian\vl~ig,h:tfor the ,cZeRtl'riit8 w as still in foroe !I! Tiha i t is to,sa,[Y' : j [the co in weighed, 01' was supposed- to weigh,8 , seripula (~ 52 , 5 grs~)!J It seems clear ,. therefore,h ' 'h ~, a. d -1 ". h f - ':1 iii uli_cat t...,enew coin '\V,!!S, issuec at, t , u , e ' w , s m g . 't 1 0 1 _: 4 ~ S'Ol '" lP ' ua(~ j!8~75 grs.) o r one ..and. . . .....alf times ' l 1 h i e weigh t . ofthe t l e n a : r ~ i u q . . i T h ' L 1 S the '~AlltJo.niniautlS,~)would beworth 6 1 , 8 e ' f S : t e , , ~ t i ior , 2 4 1 o s e e s .A diffieulty arises, h ,nwever, 'when w e in quire lv'"ba't

\V~ the probable relationship o f ' the ~~M lto n in .ia nu s .,;t o the aZM! leUS" , C'aracalla's , a z t i ~ e l :v ' , a ' r y in weight fromabout 100 to 112grs,~ ' T h e , Y ' were, moreover, e;vic],eutIy"struck in compacae ive ly small numbe r s and were l i tU,e ,circulated. Professor Oman has suggested that i n : :all prQbabi~ity Oaraealla's lighter aUl~i-o f l'Qil) g'rs....were intended to exchange for 25 I , " Antoniniruli .,"~,which would involve a ratio between ,go ld . a . n . ( 1 ' basesilver of 20 , to 1, o r , taking the , i J l i v e l " , f f i , g , e of pure me t a lcontained in tile coins, the ratio (If gold to sil ver ' \ v i o u J d l 'w o.. ~ . ~ : k - I ~ou ,t , a t, . a b o u t 1 . 2 : ' : ' t -o. . :1~_u. l J l J . . W. U~J. ~_... 11 3ITh'i~Is clear and in, itself perfectly reasonable ;:buthow does the denariu fi.~ ill,to the seheme? Rec:koningt b l e"~o,"n,


23/60

54se.fJte~'~l1' io equ al the valu e o f ra'n a~~1~el~f 1 . 100 , g r : r 8 ~ ,Itis true ,tha't from the ,time of Commodus th,e weight o fthe ses t e r t i u had become somewhat erratic, y~,t, 'W[Bean il2t'i;t:ii"t"iio1 ll 1 y : ' imagine th D ' t " so rad ieal ;G change In the"",u.!" I ~'VIa!I..I.\;;;I'o..!ll,., ,& 1 '" " , , ' '!Q! I I l I I ~ ' ~ ".' _"~ '. Jll,!!",J'~ [w I I, ,; ;! , _~ , I,,'!;:;I ._ ','. 1 1 l J . , . . . .relation of'the denominations was,made,.It is scarcely conceivable that, when Oaraealla

~ ,atte,m ,p "b ed to - 'reform , the currency, he com m itted soegl~e,giot lS it blunder as to sever the relationship ofgold and the baser metals, IO . l~ ,tha't he framed a dual'system, of 'base, silver 011 so impractical a basis as t " h s , t ,j : ' t l S t , indicated, Down to the reign of Gallienns :itseems practieally esrtaiu that t,he au~' ' 'eU8'was t&riffe dat it definite 'number of d e t ; ~ a , [ ' i ' - i J i But since t h e , . r l ' e n a 1 i 1 ' i u 8 'h a d eviden t l y , , fallen below its theoretical value there, '[seems no reason why in 214 il:ts, original relationof i " W i of an aUl~ , e :~ : t r8 should not ha VB been readjusted,

It has been suggested b,y MI'!! JliIat,.ting-l;y'=and Iventure to think that the suggestion has much to"commend i~,tl1at Caraealla 'tsri'ffed, his, ali:~~I~[~'U8t"a o dena~, i ! t io r 20. " : A'ntolliniaini, j';'. T:his sgrees ,vith th,eratio of the ~;~Antoniuianus n to the , lerUl1;'{ i~'B at 11 to 1 . 'iand at the same t im,a offersl an intelligible basis forbhe syste,m~'Possibly Oaraealla's experiment proved unpopular 'j

however the fact remains that no ,~"Antonlniani ,J tappear to have belen issued b'y,th:e.short""l i ved l\l'acriuu,s.and although 1 " 1 " ' 1 1 t h e ; O ; Q [ 1 ' ~ l , ' y " , p . , ' : i l E I I , r ~ o f ' - i t~, i~'reian E I ' ~ ' l c i L g ~ " ' , a : - : . . .... tl,..!l;:, .-',' , ,;Ii.., ~ 't:;iU-.:II.:..:, ....:.,U1 ,U . .D_~ "'~, ,e,',~ , U![,c., ,b a l n s stru ck b\ '" t , h d" j,Mn"'1 ';/ iif.!Ilnd [ ii :' ~, '" . .. .. .. '0 " In i n ~! i l 1 " ' 1 1 " ~I:Ii he v ~ ' : ' e > "- : : = 'WI_.IQI II2lW,,,",, ""'" ",. ,.,.,'!;;io.t~II,.IIi''' I C ; l Z ,wu. " .It1...I.1_,."'_.'_,.III.l~-,g . , . l Ysoon discontinued ,t,h;e, iSSl10 of the latte:r,.2~, ' T h l e , ex -planation, 311gges ' t ed by Professor Oman, is, tn,at, the

,i" hd ,~,1 f ~l,. A ,~.. ',",'with..l'law,~, 0, . ' 'I~e U .,_ntonin]lQ,nt1.s:"Bca.m,e, necessary'u A n . ~ ~ .Ant(nl~:hrui,an.u~m ' ~ 1 of' A l e , : , , ; : . Sev ,e lf l ls i s knowl1,; ' ' l J i l ! d : " needleesto say, ~b,ecoin is ex,cessive,ly :m'~'].:rnll

f' ]~ht]L - . ~


24/60

THE :ROMAN~MO,NNT,ARY SY8TEM,~, fiain consequence of Elagabalus having reduced the,weight of the a.l~U8below' Oaraoalla's minimum of- 1 0 ' ' 0 , " g ' rs ~ : c : ' T ' h ' e m om-ent th'' 1 ! : l i " I .n4J'il,!I,of.)4' of 9 l~ - ' 0 ' - 1 " ( 1 ) 8 ' " 'g-lr"o..... :_: I.~." .~~ I . :-:, .. .. . QI.~ " ! L r . l l l i . ~1:;tL-~,,.-~!t!1 "I .U I... i U l " : L - ' : ' ~ ~ ~ ' ' ' 'began to appear in numbers, the convenient relationof one to twe,n, ty between the silver 811d. the lightergold, ceased 'to exist,' 2~,It , 8ee :00$ , ,pret t ,Y certain, however, that when Ela,ga~;balus reduced the weig'h.-t of the a t t , ~ t ' eU8 he also

diminished the intrinsic. value of the ,~~n,toninianns !~Not, only' are his coins, Iighter ,tha'n those struck 'byO'a:r~earla-that is 'to sa:y:~on 'ti,he average they' fal l OQtD'-siderably below the theoretical 4i scripula=-but ,th'syare composed of Inferior metal, According to HaDUl'U~r, .the (;Antoninianus )~ of Elliagabalus, contained onlyO . ~ 1 8 ' - " - ofpure silver ' I ' c t , mav b e noted 1 ' " 1 1 passing J " ' h , , , ~ t , , - ,~ ' ~ , ~ " . " , ' . . ! I I I'~"!!, ci!:,--'IO ' ~" ,,'ig~~, -_,' I".,} _ I~ ,_ :,:"," ' .", _ _ ---'-.~Uii;il;O---bl!,-'!i.'f.I'-"as, regards quality, the silver coinage of Ela.gabalus,shows the fU3mJ~; of confusion, and the percentage of'pure metal in, 'h is de . ' t ~a~~ i iaries from ' O , ~ i ' 50 to 0!. ~ 8 1 4 0 "

T ' l l ! 6 quality o f ,tr,he d( jna1; ! i t~s ! , which was badenough under Elagab! alUS '3 becam e even wor s e underAlexander Bev ,e ru s~~o However, about the ,Yiear 'A,,]D. 227 ' '(TR..P~'VIJ Alexander took steps to reformth,}silver currency ~and his attempt has been memoria-

'flo 0 " " - ; " , r , . - - A Ii!:- . - , p . . C , ~ ! . < ~ I' l U i ! . . '"j:u.~ A a61:~,d,~


25/60

56 U A SYD'ENTH-A" " I ' I i . " .. l : '"'II ... , 1.4:.:," .,. ,'"JlU.- -Iized on. his; coins b~' such legends as R,ES'TITVTORI M I O I N I ( e l a ' e ) and M'O'N'~ 'R[E:ST'~T'[V'T,A(Coh. eie , 1 8 10 ) 1 . Heundoubtedly effected an improvement 'not only in th estyle but also in the composition of the denarius; HisIlr(),rtrait with sli ,gh. t beard", which appears on the coinsstruck after A!!D~ , 2 2 1 ' * / " is almost invariably in Irighrelief and compares ver,Y favourably with the styleof his ea;r]ier' de1za~' l i ' i His finer d ' e n a ' J . " i i average49~5grs., which shows clearly that the 8 seripulastandard was aimed at, He did nob, however, suoeeedin raising the perceutage of silver in his d e n a 1 , t . i ' i muehabove 5 1 ~ ~ ~mt 'houg 'h many examples seem to . be m adeof very much :p'urer metal, so fal~as 0 1 1 . 1 8 can j udge , bytheir general a ' ppea r&D [oe l without having actuallyt td thes'e. ' I I . - , em . .T--h dreason f .. th t th ..'Ii-,[--"" . 1 - ",- 1 i !i -"---::" '= -~ _ .' . - - : - . .- : _ . _ '- ,, " . : ' -I= - ,: ",--:. .... ".,_,~'. -, ' ' .. , '. "-', ,'. ' _8 I 'e seem s . [g oo .. le ,as,o n _lor s u pp o en n g .-,..a - 1 _ , . \ I a lDl

n f " A ' lexander's refoirm was to restore t h o ! l o o m . _ . --raney'-:- , A:w. . I .. ,. .. , i > 3 - . 1 .1 . .' .. ' _ .~ _ .' .lb' ...:.[' . ~. . . Q 1 \ l ! , 1 l . :veri cur . ." . :,:(1'"t '0 J ... .. ~ ii '1 I f ' n5 t i [ , . ~ . h T'h_ ,0 its origln.a. status o t , i : / ' ~ ' : e n a 1 t ~ . , zto the , aU2 iieU 8 :j . . nushaving raised the value of the d e ' 1 1 , a " j i t t s somewhat, hisnexb step 'w as, to reduce the "\lvei.ght of 'I .he laUiJ 't6US tob . t n 2 Y -. ' ' " t f ' hi 1 t~ he f ' '1dQ . out ";;J.'.' grs., eb In spite 0:". ti l I S alteea non : _ - : 1 3 JIlRl eeto strike the true balance of the metals, T l m , e . amount

o f " p--1 it - si I v . . o ; , ' 1 1 ; ' ! 1oontai - n - g.~ .!1 1 ' tw --J. - f i ' - ' v ' . e . . , o f A ' I e x . . d ' . . :Ii;. ;. t1 ~ le ,~ . . ': 'Q-W.'


26/60

, 1 7 ' "u:no ,go ld and allowed ,th,;d~1$a~r iu8to fall slightly be]owbhe standard fixed in A,,'D'lI , 2 2 , ' 7 ' j 'In the, year A~D.i' 238 Pupienns and Balbinua revived

tJil,e UAntoninianus ", which they Issaed ,in Iargequanti ..ies. J'n spite of the discredit into which ,t 'h..e',.A t" Ii .., '~'Ji h d .c . ' 1 ' 1 ; ] 1 1 El' Uk_, iI I j i ' t" , ' n oninianus : ,aac 13 ren U'n(ll,ler '11 }Q ,g,a ,u M tlS, 1 1~renaissance 8 :PIH ?,:a.rs,o have given it ;a popularity and~tabili.ty' such as m i t never had before, Although out-side evidence is Iaoking 011 the point, it is, almost eer-tain ths,t this must have been due to . some readjustmentmade in A'iD~, 2a8 in th.'~ value of the C ' ~ ;An:toniniann! t~

1 1 ~ , . , 1 1 1 h th.l!' f ' h " T'h',e . la tlv 'eJ ,Y to t'e o . ,I, ler factors 0.1 t ~'~eCUJL'l~encyt ~.. ,edef i a~ ;~ lUs ,~s a coin, was rapidly becoming extin,(~,t~andi, 't is, not unreasonable to suppose ti"hat it 'was being'crushed out of existence b 1 y the ,'~Antoni"niainus ,,' r'ate,dat J t ; of an, ,a;HJtieU8~ Professor Oman, however, sug,gas't~t l f o l . , a t , the revival of the ~~A ' n to lJ .in ia nlls ,} 'was renderedpossible by the almost total absence of golld coinsduring ,the joint reigns of Pupienus and Balbinns.

In , A , ,, D , . 24,2, however, Gordian III did th,e, loigi.cal1~ d b d d '1,." f hi ,J' 'Itiling an ~~ 8 ,~ 'an.' ,O D . !e ' " t,l J[ e 15811 ' 130 :' ,t ,9 1 Iwe~la"'U8;thus, the ""An.. to :n in , iauu,s '~became hencefor th ,t,he un' i tf : O I ' reckoning silver values, From the ~r,aign ofGordian IIIo th,at o f" Gallienus de1z.l t /J1ii Land qZft inQ/ l l i tof b la s e s i l v e r continued t o . 'b e i S 8 U : ' e J , din, infinitesimallysmall quantitdes, It, is clear, therefore, t h , a - t they were'no longer factor,S of the regular currency, Probablythese smaller coins were in lit,tie, demand ; 8 i S ! theirrelation to the I~~ ,A'ntonin,ianus,~' 'of :res,pectiv'ely two , . ."~.'" ddt' hi d- - ";l. d t'h Itulr~,s anc. one-tmro 'was moonvement, anu tne argercoin Wl\'S foun d aufflcient for all ordinary purposes,"Ve, ' may conjecture, t oo , thaf th,ey were r ,a ' ther o f ' thenatu re o f pat,tBrn pie(}0S",and tha't the reason for their[ 1~7]


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58':', ", 'D A " C !l"li:~r rnN iH 'A ', 'M '!!i ':" . rQ,~.un'l '"_' .' .~.:_.eontinnanoe was merely in order to preserve t,hetheoretical sbrucbure of the base s i 1 . v , e . r oU'fre'Hoy,,,

J ' 7 ~ , , 'l ~ l l e ~ ,~;oub l' e ' B f t 'f f Y t e t i 'i 'U 8 i , ; . ~T'h.le reign of TI~aja l1Us, Decins is m arked by ,the

illhrod'uc,ti~)n,of a .l1'9W den.omination ..of bronze, whichis g ' ~-en.eral1y' described as s, UDouble S,es ' tar l ius ,:u,

I I ",

although its actu al w 'e :ig ,h ,t falls I ,)on:siderably ' ' b e l ow ', t ' l u ! i b o f tw o seste't!ti i~The 3v'er,age 'w'e.igh'b o f bhe s 6 8 t e 1 i 1 t i u s under T:r~Jai,nu's

Deeius :is ,about , 310 ' ,grs,~, ,[t',ndan ordinarily finespecimen weighs . 3 . 3 , 3 grs., whereas the weight of an ' D , i e example of th ,e '"Double 8,ester'tius,~' Is ,488grs,'which, Is approximately one-and ...,..'ha]f t Imes , th,a,t ofthe 8,68te1~t:i 'us,~ It seems, bherefore, more in aoeordanoewith the weight of the coins to , regard th,le lar,'gerbronze coin as equa l to a ses te .~~t i ' t t8nd a 'h}alf~Since the co ins t'h ,Q 'm .s'elv'e 'sfl',e lq u . ' 8 1 1 . ' t l y show s igns ,- ~ . .of having been in, eireulasion they were '9v'id'8,lItly

not issued merely as: ornamental or ceremonial pieces,The tEo :~mMeclal l io"n which has s ome t ime s been appliedto" t ' h em- l~ ~ , t' l '1 - e r e f a r e ' - 1 ' "n D C ' ;"'lIi1'" ' ' i I i "


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should be lres;tored,~ It is perhaps not aI'to,geth'9,][ with ...ou t s ig ,n if i,l cance that" whereas it, had been the invariable.custom on t,he senatorial 'large, brass, to 'port:ray theemperor either bare-headed 01'1with the lanrel wl' le,a,th;these coins represen t D,9Ci'l1:swearing t , h , a rs,diateo r OWD " which 'w a s the dis.tinctive felatitre of' tb ,e ~,~;~ntoninienus ".The 'experiment of t,heso-called ~~Double S :es ,te rti ll S "~

a', n , p ' ilg~, 'i!Ii~ t - '0 " h,0V : ' ~ met wi , t - - 1 ' 1 sm ial l sneee ,C'!l~ ii!i''Ifii..:l n ' 0 ' _ -ne '0 ' : f ; '] :-' ,1i ;i lWJi ..I i;!! 1 " ~'Il;;; ,_:_II;;i'U~', I~ I i : ; ! ! " - , _ ' ,~ , V!l; lI~Iii:I'" 'w..LLU, ',', 1!iJ ",.these Iarge coins were i s s u e d after , t h , ) reign o f ' Deo iu s ,

X 'fjJ) E " ~~,~o ~: .A~ t :Jj ~~ ,A .~,IlrH'o,4M'/'j.-'" -'C:!~U:~I,:ItII~,ItlliJ' -'_ #d~ vJ ' ,_l'tlf;; .L1 u :oi~lllt(i.t:.tiL'.r(i D,~;()'~.!#,, '~.Never in the whole course of Boman hisrtol 'Y was

the eoinage plunged into s o C \ v i l d a ,stab~ . o f confusionas during th'e disaserous reign of Gallienus. Thus , thefi ' I 1 - f - ' h 1 1 . - . iO ~ - bI- ~-: '. . I " . :", ,"_ . ,". . . "1 . . : - - -"I : ,I: . . ', .... ~ _" ,_ I (- , .~.. \ ) ~ [ -. ~.,nal collapse o . . ! t, ...e Angustan system was, rnevitab e.'I'he gold was Issued regardless of any' 'weight standard,Th,e debased silver '"Al1tol ] i -nianns , '~ Idegenerated into,8 : mere apology of plate.d, copper, :in. which form it] : " ' , - '~ - '- ' " " : 'id l ' :t,~'l' t ' : ' " : f i , ' " ~ , ' , , t ' ' , , , , , , , _ -, " , 1'; '"-' A . I '''!I;Q,'"'"':~.'' I T h , I . ,,;,~--,-n_,]lu gere '_.U"n.ll l_Ue . _ I S . . year o .- . ---U![oll&DII ,e sen(~tori-a bronze, which constituted the basis of theAugustan. system, ,after having Iosr almost eVleryvestige of its former cl.igni~y, terminated abruptly,~ -h ~ tit" f " - h - l ' ] t d eoi d~ -::-:-~" ':. ",,, ' - - 1 1 :'~"-II' 1< l ," :-'1 : . r r ' . . ~ rl _._- -'1 ~I.:. ,", .... :- .... .11 "- . '-:-, ,_ .... Jsmee t_e InIIOCU.c ,lOD o worthless p , ,aIEL,COIn,smaaethe con t i n t 1 l f L n e .e , o f bronze i 1 J ossibl e..Every' disruptive force seemed ,to have been let,

- I , ' , : ' - , , , : - ; , - ' " , ' . ' - , to , h " " d " ~ '_ '_ :I '" . , ,' . .. ." , ited R ', . Iii . '" Y ' ' - : " ' t , t " , - ' b , , -oose upon n..., __scre 1 eeL .om an CO ]ln ,a gs o ; e ... eI i !! _ _coins of GallilientlS abound in S ' 1 l 1 1 " P i : r ] S e s . ~ At a time- " 'h ' , ' , I' ..t - ' - , " - h l " t b " ' " ' ' - . ' . :'_ _,-t ' , " _ ' d O l , t : h ' ,ijlt . " ' r ,i . . t l -i,2. - - 1 , ' " ' , : : - . . . . a'; , ,J iwen . 1 . , ' m .l.g . __e eX .p '6C-9 " ~ " & l l lJ J J .S . _ 0 re e Ing a no

refined 'hE'leaman't, were almost dead ,va come ,aeros'sm,any examples of extreme beauty" worthy of t'he bestr i o d f,n- ': . ~t E . , ' . . 1 - . . -.,,.j! ,, J . , -h " . - . - , ~ ' , , ~ . , - n f t : h , , , - p e.r lO . . 0 ..L1 lfo m anare, .:..:en ;am,ongs, ij l1_!.6 e om s -0 _ I, 1 eG , Iish P - - ' : ' I " , " ' t , , " , ' , " , ' , " " h : " " " " " , : _ - " " '= I ~ '~ ' i : ' - ,- ' . - " , , ' , ' ,- ' wh ~ l l ' J1~11- " ~ ' f ' ~~UI~.l,S.. ._-os umus, wnose eomage as a W .0 e IS, J . . l JU. 0 .,[ 1 9 ,9 1 ]


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" ' I1 i i " " A " : S : Y ' > ' D " ' E ' N " , ' RA ' 'iIli'.I!iI.1 "'"Ii '.' - ..... _D1~vagaries o f all S,01:~bs, w e flnd speeimens of' s,tyle andexecution th,a.tproe aim the work o f genuine ,artistsFew periods can beast ofa .gre,ater v.a:riety of coin..."t,ypes than when. Ga] ienus misrulsd the 'Em.pir,e; and"amidst t ' h ' 6 general heedlessness of the essentiels ofa satisfactory coinag e . , considerable att,ention appeal 'Sto .have, been devoted to relatively unimportantR u\ ti e. rs :,. such as the d6vising o f ' new ~ype~sor theI' atbering portrayal of the emperor ..

1t ' 1 ' 9 ' ".....! . T' 1 1 . " , R~~.t. ' ,:, .~.f' A . ' . . ' , i i - Z e . 'cne - .eJ D~~l. I O J .r-. U~e .aa2~.A revolutionaey dem,Q'DstrBition organiz:e.dl by t , h ' emoneyers (A,:D" : 2 , 7 1 . ) resulting in much bloodshed,"c o m .p e l l ed A - :u ' I - " ~ I ' - J J . ' I 'I i n - : , t ' . 0 . " , . t u r n h is., Q , : t ,t e n ~in J..~ t h ai. " _ . . ~ . t i l ,g. .,_0, IA! I ..... . ._ 1 W .~ ' l \ I : v __ -~v I I J J . _ ~Iamentsble state of 'the coinage:" and to the mlR,nyabuses , t , h : m t had sprung "up in oonnexton with themint, No! doubt Aurelian designed to ,carry out, 9 ; ,sw e ep in g i;'i ,efo 'rm ;atio n o ,f the monetary system, butso many otll.er matters, I~le]itioal,-military, and.8C o-n0mic,pressed for i-'ediate settlement tha; ' . the .in,dlefati...O" ' i ' ! I J b : I ] , B e m " p : ' e r o r h..., : ] 1 . t, ,,n. e o n ten i '' h m . ~"i\ e l f wi , t ' h ~ ,G I S , o ~ m , B . W . h a . .,aJ _. IIg,! '!O'. y,,II!.. _ _ _ w u . \,.II' 1 1 / , , ; 0 . . . . . . . ~U!'J!_.__, U . .!G.' wLrunpretentious scheme, which was o f too superficiala character even to restore the discredited Bomaacoinage to a sound footing,,After t'h'e disapp earanc e of' the s e 8 t e r ~ t i ; ' 1 . " t s and dt~ 'O 'n -

d . i ' u . s ~ , t ,he Imperial currency was" for all practicalpurposes, reduced '& 0 one denomination, namely thesilver-washed copper coins, which were th.e disrepu-ta ble remnants o f the U. :_Antorninianus :1 ~ . ,21 In t heir

2 : 1 5 t : : ! ., , " ' ~ ' ' ': 'Uf ,,: AI", ...~ ~o'~c,n:'pr.~, .n1Sf1o~./"J.i~.g,~,XXVi[~ llIe'.2P Gold ,coin.s were Issued in smal l quan 't i' ti ,e ;s . IQ(Jwn to , ,tile t imeof D ~ ,o B l e t i a J l J but, aJU]"O' l lah they a p ' - . p , : e a , f t o ' fall into ,three, . d . e , D . ' o m ' i u 9 rt',., . a . . " h '" ~. : ' h l - , ~ iii t'~ t'L ~ ioL 1 ba o n s , '11J,i l '~lr . 'WB l , g ' IIlIS are :8 0 errane ' l 'wi~(J' ' l ! i Iue.y em u searce '1 ' , e ' rega. ,med as r,egulu factors of ,the m onetary~ :s ,ysteln ,., 'I [ 1 4 t O ]


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'T,HE R'O)[AN' MONETARY SYST,EM. 61last phaae, under Oleudius GO' th i lc l lS~ these coins 'v,ary'considerably in size and 'weight and .B ! ;r ,esual ly untidyin appearanee : their average being , 4 9 ~ 1 9 grs~'with amaximum of 70' ,gr,s~(25 coins)." The ea~r,illie::rt, coinsof Aurelian ar'a in ge,ne'f,al,ap:p,e,aran.'ce similar to thoseof his predecessor, and even his porbrai t is scarcely; ; : i i I m~ ,i, ' h 'b ll ~ l' ' C "']'I"~ [! T 'h ' " htdistinguis .'ame r rom 'tJ.lL,Q't 0" ".','a n,u l'DS" ,. " 1 ' 3 'welg' ,',I'o f bhe coins ap 'peal ls , however, to have ' & l l e iD slightly,as their av , e r a g " : e works out at ,4i 5 , ; 5 g '! T : S : ~ 'with ,a maxi-

. I ' . J. -m um o f ' 5 , ; 8 grs,. ( 9 OOiJ]lS)~After the yeal" 271 a V'81ty marked change tskss

p lace, T fh ,e co ins are , iSS1.1edat a far m ore consistent,wei g " ' - h i -- an d ' I f o r t h o D m ''Co s t P - 'Ill, l I f ' " t ' iI'X' h I " b " l ' " t - ~I. v ,, o 'r y . o r e d I" ' t a b l e.-:.,.1' ~, ":~I ,.Lv, I' I..... " 11.:';;;;1' ~ :-~!!. , ; ~.'.'.' . .. . . ,~- ~ ,- ~I ': 0.ll,''O __ ,1 ~: . . J I l ~degree ,of ar.;tits,tic excellence, Anrelian, however, didmore than merely edfe ,c t, an i.mp'l;o,ve'ment in the styl,eand fabric of the coins, since 'we find unmistakableevidence o f his, purpose 'not only t1 0 fix, bu e definitely"to,,s'tate, their current values , in t,he, symbol XX I 01 ' " it'sG']1~e,ekequivalent, II(,A (som etim es X ,X , or K) whichfrequently occurs on the larger plated coins and thecorresponding symbol VS'V 0.11 tIle smaller,A nrehan's s IY ;S ' t I 31Ucompr i sed four princi pial de-

nominations :-': ' I ( a ) \vith mark o f value ,XXl, Sm~ze( 1 , : ) Pls w , d , copper or 2 ' 2 - - . 2 3 mm, _mixed n le;~ ,aI . 1 ( b ) with mark of' value VSV,~ S"ize19-20 mm,(2) Cop:pe'!~! ,i' ' . ~ (e] S,e,stertius (?)~ Si~e 27=30 111l1n~(til ' ,A s f o r ) Sb!;e : 24 mm,

In addition to these were issm.led---but apparently ill,8 0 ' T ' I I '. . . , ~ , un eq - u al eom -1-]l;! ' iLi:i~tion of , . j . h , l f i , ,0n i n~ : r ; ; . f ; c . t(Ii"1 -; ' ius n " i f ' I . , t , ' I I \ . . , ' l i,f)'U~-- - ,U~l 'Uo,',' '," .1_1Ii", ~ . l \" ! J W I ' ~ , ~ l J J . .V~:A y. ~ ~1 ~u,_ '~ V ._ ~,~~~l~ _ ! I J \J '!J'. ,ll,~ _.~, . '. , . ,-"e bei I'I!}" " f ' l~, ..... ']- "1' - " ' " -b''':]]'-i'' .",:~i'l,': '~":l':':' ,.( .... "". ",t'~i'."'l']'", ....SODl,eel 'DCJ; 0" nase si vel o r . ~ " en, Wul., e o n lers ar e pmc u~a.,y purecopper=-maj p ~ " 1 @ 'b n bR y 'be' explained as ,the result of' eareless : r u , S \ l ( D , Do f tn :e metals, S,ilver, being , t h . ! ] l : u ~ a , v , i , e l " o : f ,the two ' metals would

t ' R l 1 ' d ' to ' eoUec , t 3.,\ , tbe bottem o f the mel t i ng I J 'o t'~ [, 'I41 ]


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'v'ery limited ,qtl :~n't i i t ies-col?-,p,er of Iarger dimensionst . . . 1 ' - ) . . - . 1 .b .'bI ' "M ' d ' ' 1 I ,,' :~ .'. , I [ . - : d ' ]- ..' t . . . ' . - ' . ]' 1.an \C, pro o a Y . ee amons , ann, a'.a,r on, smanplated coins of ,apPll loxima'te1y' half'the va'Ine of (11)~IT-he most Important member of the. sy:ste'm. is . the. ;;plated coin (a ) which resembles the original" Antoni ...

n ianu s ,,~ T : h Q t s to s i Q . y the e W ' - I p I " O r ' Is a l w a y s p r r . . r,.1


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seems a certain s:ignifica:n.ce in thus , a p . p ! I , y i n . g a dis-tinctive name to .Aurelian's coins : instead of Gallingth ,. A ' J ! . . ~ , ~ 'I! ,,, h..h ]d h b . -nem "'nljOnlnlanl', wme ....wan u nave aeen appro-.piriate if t h ! e coins were mer'le],Y revivals of the olderdeuomination ~Th II":!I; . ! " , t" i ; at--T'!!ii'"!I; of'! . . 1 ..t,"'i;!OI,o, i':I;oiD ' E I i that ' eal l ' fo .p ..O -- 1 1 nnn,"0' J.~ '. 'It:t.'IO: I, '.m~i7;:;!O\,;0 ns ~ ' I , O O " eaus or:S' peeias '0'v~,'"

sideration is, the ill'trodllction of the mark of valuer,X"X~~ince it gives tI l. a c lue for determining the principle

on 'W " ' -' .hi eh A ' ," . ureli an's " ' r ' 4 ' O " ' l im- 'W\~ ' ~ be sed - r!ii , - " " , , . J o m ' a"r ' k , ~ ~...... "' .'ILj L -~ O.ll!.J .Q ~U. .... I __ ~~ :- ~i3~.:_ '~l ~U'JJIJ.,lI, - I ~a step i]l the evohrdon of t'h,e,Roman monetary s . y s . . t e ;m . jBefore, venturing on, ; E L conclusion as to the probablemeaning of t ' , h . e symbol XXII it, is neeeesary to refer

briefly to, soma of the theories all~ead,y advanced by'numismaeists,

(1 ) Die Salis : in.terp,rets X,)( ,~ (or KA ) I as 'indioatingthat, .aceording to All.relia'n.~s reform, tWlenty-o:ne ofthe p,] '~ted. coins were ,equal to 1 & s i l v e r dena, j '1ius, t h . ' )twenty ...ift'h of an ,a:~t1'et~3~3, IThts the l l )FY~, however,-,presen ts two a.liff i .enIi es II In. the, n ' l t ~ s : t place, sineeA ' 1 - : - '. '~.JI ~]I f-' . . . . 4 : . 'Ii. ..ure ian issued no suver eoms O~'any SO J r b ~ 1 It ISevident, that, if he too'k the d ,ena~~ i ' l . . ~8s ,the 'basis ofvalue, either he mUf; ; t haveadopted the standard of oneof his prodeeessors=-a manifestly difficult undertakingin view ofthe enormous fluctaation in, ,the value of the, d6~ ,~a~ ! l i t~ suring tb.e ]ast ,:8,f~lyyear,s of Its existence-s-or, failing this, he must have assumed ,apurely hypo ...th.e,tical. value for the d~na l J ; u s ~ ,reckoning it, that, is tosay, not as an actualcoin but a's the tWls.n.ty.",fifth. parto f ' the current (j/i/ljj,t!,USi IThis again would soarcely havebeen possi L:l! A sin n;e, A ;_. . . .ureli ill1 - ] - , ~ g ' - ' ' 0 - : 1 d C ' O - , 1 , 1 1n s CJ how a ar a 'd 'a ''''''''!' I , - . . . . . .\i;I\lr;i! lU,L'O, i;,lJ. ....... g, ::1 .v.A!.1 ,iQI ',"' ,. . '. 0 ; : 1 ' ",",'I/J , . ... . ' iUU' ,e, ". "; '...tion in. weight . . r ,EL ' , n g i l l ! g from 9 ' i1 to g.iS ;gr.m~~:= 1 , 4 0 1 ~ , 4

a s I t' ', t t-nl, . Cl 'r" fV'J..~Il " 1867'~)NJ3.,~ ' v o l " v~.ijiPi" S2 :5 ,~~ [' ]43 ]


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to 5'.I.0 gl~,St.)..$,4, The 'term '"denari us ,:" lV3;S, used . forreekoning money down to the ,time of Diocletian,but the amount Fepresented by the term tended todiminish .. [Therefore: , in 271 it, is inconceivable ,t 'batit could have implied so great a value as, tw ' (~n ' ty=onefi'll -h 1 J ". e l l !. ,'0 ' , t e I J ' a ; ~ e . ' c coms,S'9r(;ondl,l l iy, it is obv ious th,at tw ellty ~011e is ! a .most

inco;nveniellt 'l111'Dlb'9'r to reckon ; anal it :isinconceivablethat the t,wen'ty'~'flrs'tp ,2 t' rt o f bhe obsolete silver denariushou ld have been adopted 'a'S the 'basis of any s ch emefor the Improvement ofshe monetary s,y,stem~With reference to t:h,enumeral XX (or K) occaaional lyfound ill,place of ,X)(I {or KA) . , De Salis ,g'oes on to

.,~ -state ,th~t " in the provinces reclaimed from, I T , e , t r i , e u s . ,t'be proportion of the old to t ' h : B base, d.e~~tt;r ' , iusseems to 'Iiave 'bee:n~,i]] the middle of the reign of Probus, eao:ne t o . tw'en'ty instead o f ' twe:nty ' . . . ne, 'Ii..

T h i S , , - 1 however only Ieads to W 'O :I~eoon fus ion , since,:it mesns t,ha't the same denominasion would stand inan altemative relation of either one-twentieth 01' one-t 'w'enty-:fir~:rt to its. unit ..

( . 2 ) Da~tari in his artiLcle~'~Ll\cifra XXI ~H)ptal i . '0.081detti An,toninlani '~:~',,35 rig,h,tly 'points out th,at theform 1 I L lIa,cannot 'be reg,arcledl, ~ M S 21Mhe I is f : r e q t u a n t lY ' 1 jseparated from thie XX, OF occasionally' omitted e'ntire.],.y~H i e maintains, furbher, that the II . i s : not :t 'lt,riotl,Y anumeral but the traditional s"yw,bol of the ,as" s u c h asoccurs on th'e 'ea.rl,,' Republican bronse, Thus X X ,! , Isignifies 20 asses " ItIs unnecessary hers to attem,p;t ,to reproduce Dattari's arguments in supporb of this

[ 1." ]


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6 , 5 " " ,.t :heorY' i i But while sdmit t ing theit~1ingenuity a serio usdliffi(,ulty' .is presented b,Y'the OOC 'UF ' r eD J c , e of' V'SV oncoins approximately half the 'weight, of t,ho,se, markedxx.r , T,hus if XX' i l stands fo r 20 i e s e e s w e [should,nattlrally' ex ple{~;'t to find on the smaller coins, ,)(.,11orV V " , I I I whereas i.t is clear t 'hat the , tw'o V ' ' ' g , are only..

I 'equal to a semis (8) or half tJlat of the other,(3) It 1 1 & S been suggested ' t h l l t the X X indic~teseh t- th ,I' fi ,nn;J' , 1 1 1 1 . ' T I ' h ~ ' h"lr 8 ; . ' ' - ' e C O In w as a p'le ceo ' r - I;


35/60

,!IEo ; Ai' SY ,DENHA] , ! !theory on a subject alre,\'d:y overburdened in thisrespect ; but, since none of the for !egoing appears tooffEn: t\ complete explanafion of Aure,I ia 'n 's coinage,I feie~,justified in making ,a suggestion which :may,I trust, prove a step towards a finial solution.O'bviously' the s , ymbo ] X,X ,I I on , ,th ,e larger plated coins

cannot be considered apal,t from the VSV' occasionallyfound on the smaller, In these two . ,~y 'mb'o l ,8 the II andthe :5must stand for i , & n i t ' and S611liS' res,p9,ot'mvaly:; andit appears pro bable that Seec'k endMIsson,g are l~ightnregarding XX; not as the, numera l ,20~but as , two X,"s.T,htlS 'the sym,bo.ls, mJay be ' t , :rsllslated. as 2 X 's :~ 1 (unit)and ,2 V:j~s,=i(semis],Beferring to th,e monetary eonditions of the periodwe have shown t,hat durin,g the Feign of Claudius. .Gothicus the ~;it ,Al l l toninianl is t,~ had been running its

downward course, and i~seems pretty' certain t 'hat, in ,, th ' e f i rst :yea:r o f A u r ,e lian , i. t c ame to an end, 'W ' ,e , may; b e , i i e v " 9 " however, ,tht\t while, it Iasted, its, relation tothe d ' , e n , ( 1 , , 1 ' i u s was bheorebically the same as formerlyalthough tlle d ,c ''l aj,Wius 8 !6 m coin had Iong ag'o dis-appeared from circulation. That is, to s,ay, small asthe aetual value of the "Antoninianus '~had, beeome,it 'was still in, theory half a,81~mueh a,g.ain a s that of," " - -the d ' e n a 1 i ' 1 6 f l lAurelian evidently took this, ths,oretical ratio as thebasis of his monetary system" and aecordingly issuedbronze coins, containing a small pereentage of silver

,at, approximately two-thirds the 'w ,e ight of' the debased"i: Antoni nianus UJT:h,~se smeller coins { h ),' ion whiell Anrelien isIuvariably p!~),l'tra'y'ed 'W'Saril]!g 'tile, Iaurel 'wreat,h} and

W Q , , - ' _ ' ' - , -purchasing power cannot have been ' ver ,Y ' great, sufficed,f o r o ; e d in a J , i Y ,' 'transactions ~' - I . . "

The reign of Dioeletian has, been said to mark ,a ,new era in, the world's' history, It was indeed an ageof .many' reforms" and during the joint reign ofDiocletian and , l[,a.,'ximi~jn, as. ,Augusti " " v i t h . Galeriusand Oonstantius as, C~~,8ars."no department of Stateadministration, leith,sr' military, civil, economic, orreligion s, escaped 'the most rigorous overhauling.In no direction was ' t ' h ' 8 need . of reform greater than

in..the matter of the currency, ,Fo r ' neal~ly- '~tcen tu ry" [- I.the Boman coinage 'had been , s ' t e : m d i l , Y going from b m d l ,to worse, and during t,he baleful existence of the~; ',Antonin'ia:1l111S,~ it reached the, Iowest depth of de-gen,eracy and as , a r - s,yste.m lost all coherency, The3' tte"mpts, at revival that occurred during the bhirdcentury were, 8'S we 'have seen, mere]y evanescent,However, Aurelian's unpretentious t, reform ,;;~had :at,any rate achieved a result of some Impcrtance b : y thein'lstitu,tion of a new plated denomination of id1eftnitelyfixed. value, which had S ,G far proved anecessful in ,ar l~ ,e,:s ting the, tendency to further debasamenb o f thecoinage, , A : u r ' 6 . ] i a ' 1 1 . l ' - i s scheme, however, had proved:~ltog:e,ther tO IO inadequate, and so. it fell to Dioeletian! [ ~ J t J l ] , ] } [ 2


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to grapple seriously with, the problem of the currency,-:his ,,.- 'I h -1 h d ori 'I 1 1 ' " h' ' 1 ' , 1 'IS he did W'1t, a 'tnorou~g:'11eS'9 ann IOl". lgl.na,~,lty'suer , a shad not been seen since the time ofNe:ro~,all,dhis reform ..--, i . t ' b , , ' , ' . - .1 ., .: ,... -: " t " - ' d - , " ' - . - ' - , ' , , : . ~ . f ' u l ~ " : - -,,,1"- Jf!.,.~ 'Ii'_, n l a oed th . '.mus o e aeco u nte . success U In s o LR . r a s , 1& P " a c e -,,~c _:_ J3coinage on an in,'telllilgib'llie basis a nd Inft, large measure- .restored the shattered credit ,of Roman finance. That,- - -,itwas not permanene was due t i n t,he unsoundness ofthe economic prinoiples on which most of Dioclebian'sschemes were based, and the 'utte.l' im 'PQiSs ib i l i~y ofaibitlf it-rily' enforcing a uniform standard of valuestn ' f-ong'hont the E,mpi l~e" ,Dioolebian's rsorganizabion of the Bomaa coinagewas a work tb:at extended more ' o r I e s s throughout ,thereism in a series of exp..eriments the aim of which wa-s

1~1to estahlish E L , universal system eomprising coins ofgold,silver, and plated copp ,e r" th ,le ir relative values 'being.aclj 'u;rJ&e,d 011 $ decimal, as O P I J . o s , e 1 d to th,'e time..honouredduodecimal basis,

( n ) - ' - ' G ' '--,j'!; ' l ' ' ' ' ' ' ' D ' : ' - ' " , . '- . .' " 1 - t- ii ' n ' : " ~ ' f i - ~"j;'IQ i. o ' b~',,;n,Jl-lI l '" VO ' w - 8 ! f : ! ; t o r - ;ieJ;;O''"'"''~6I ~~i- ''0, '~"" - ,10CLe~~, i _ ~ , - .a !.Q ilJ i .~"O~IJI ,_ 0' __' Id, ".u ;-'Q~lIlO,iL:uthe a.~~,1!"eU8to its place as an integral ,mtl 'tor of' the,monetary s ; y ' , s t e ,m , , ! : ' Whe,:n, CaraoaJla, ( A " , D ~ l ,214) beganto iSSU, 'I9 gold coins at irregular weights, t h , o : 'rela;tion ofthe au,r'(~'U6~to the silver and bronze naturally beoameeonfused ; addedto which , t h l ) introduction of the base' ' ' '~An ' toninianl ls l ~!, proved an entire]y subversive elementthat in, the end 'not only' drove ' th'9 si]Vt1X' coinage outof existence but destroyed all relationship between ,tha'differen] metals o f th , ; c u r,F an cy ..' I 'he e s t @ , l ' ,b l i s l 1 m e , n , ' t of ,a gold u n it b learing a B'xed ,

relation to silver and eopper was 'a,: m a , t 't e , 1 ' " : involv'ed, in, r I ' " j , I " I i; n . i i!'! ~ ... l ,~,[ " " l l - b ~ I I ' 5 i . d ' l~ 'f i ' " ' , ' r. io -1 1 1 1l' , I . .y.:v"\J.. - ,~J.lll.li~l U_.! I ; ; I '_ " , - _ I ~ ~'Ii.,L~[ ."!ISeeck 4 ; 0 has a,p '~ l ,y pointed ou t t , h _ a , t the r,ela'tiv'0,0 Seec;k~rs,imllo:~~bl'ntarti~ ~e on the coinage 0 : ,Diole:~etiall (.Zellf...lss.]


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Tt~.E R,OKAN .M:ON'ETARY SYS,TE,)L .. 78ilvalues of gold and silver. were not universally :fixed,snd that in provinces where one or other of th,eprecious metals O C O U t . 1 ; a , e [ d naturally, o r o w i n g 'to "th 'e ,exigencies of Ioeel 'tr~d.e; , t , h , e vA1u '0 of g o ld re la ti .v[e l,Yto silver varied. Prior to the time of Diocletian no~"J!. , j I l ,D'm 'pt had been m ii1)' ..' a LO " C ' i J O ; ; t "III'I11[ 'i('jj central standardlJIlJ'g_.: I .:.. ):. Jf ~t. .,",


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~ ) A - . . . '-a";ii"if"il~N,[H-"',~"'-~ ,-. Ig.L L I " , - C \ I . . ..J:~. .Lf.L. !I!seems to indieate th, le empirioal character o f th,e : s y ; s t e , m "0': 1 ' " more probably an at ' temp; t to fix the value of' : t h , e ;

t,'1,C ,. ' ' 1 1 1 1 t t d d h: h did h ] 1't,ti~etts' arl!li-lu,olt\lIl_Y' a ~ , a , ,~lllltlT,8,;1" W, loll, ...., -. ' , not W,I[,(}l_ycoincide 'with the natural rate of exehangs,T h iBI".o, 'ON~o .m b' a o o d 'r'An C '! ! o - t o b -- l ~ ; . , - th-.:..- t h - . t , iO --_. '0 ._,~ ~QO--. I~ b' ..._,~c .IJ.'~~~ ._;_ 1 .1 ' . ' . ,!e,lev,e, I a l ! ! J ! l a ll . e . 1m,s ,of the Eidi,ct,Dioeletian really inte'nded, the ' \v,eight ofth,s ,t,UI}"e'ltS to be - I f ! ; of a pound, since this ,pro,duces,8 , plerfeo1tly symmetrical sys' tem, Io n a decimal principle,Thu,s the pound of gold w - Q \ 1 1 d . b,e equal to 5 ,0 I a ; t t : , t : e i ! l l1~ I O O O d~na?'iiia""geni , (~ i ('nil l 'aji l '~?it8,ia), 5"0,000i l ' ena1~i iaef'e, i ,or 100,000 c 0 1 z . t , e n i o n a Z e s " Wh,en~ Itoweve r, .it became:ne,c,ess:mry' to reduce the weig:ht of' the gold coin to ' J r i:th.er,e nat,tlrally followed 1 S t proportionase Increase inthe number of all coins relatively to th'9 value of Q ,pound of gold as follows: the pound of' gold = 60a i : t : ~ ' ~ , e i = 1, ,200 a(jna'~ ' [ i i ai~J!Jentei. = = 60 1, ,000 dtJftOlj1i' i a e r e l= 120 j )OOO IC iontenio1ZaZeSj(b) 8 i , Z : v ' , e , ~ ' ~ T'h,e restoration . o f the s i l ver cnrrency ,

which 'was obviously necessary in order to bring thea'i~retls into definite relation with the lower denomma-biona, 'was undoubtedly , t , h , e , most 'important aehieve-m..nt of' Diocletian's reform.",Dioclefian's silver coinage appears to have, under-

gone a series of ehanges corresponding with the, varia..tion in the 'w 'eigh"t,of' t~e aU_'reU8'~ In t,he! earlier 'yeat,~of t,h,ereign, at any' rate as early-as s: 'D'~' 290" accordingto Seeek and Da t t a ; r i , 4 1 ' 2 , the a~t~~'e:U8W,~,S, equal- ttl "2Qsilver i leru11'i.i", i: e, 1 .~,500s i l v e r c o i n s were the 1 ( 1 l q ' uialentof a pound of gold, T , h l e weigh,t of this n, '6wly in,'hro . ..dneed idena1~i '1 t8 ' 'was based on ,the :Neronian standard ofA . .D !J 6 , 8 : , namely 5 2 ; j 6 ; 4 ~ grs~,I O l ~ , ' 1 w of' ,8 pound, On some


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speoim D'me; , t h : I ' O ' f " ' " O , i " i i"~" i " r' c ; Il ., h l : .' . J' ' I ' ral X ' ' ' C V " ' : I' thus',,!J l I i , j " '_Q,y"", , , 1 1 ; 0 - e~O..Jl ,S b, 18 n,llmeIa -, ,__.' ::,' ,USIeaving no doubt, as tothe intended normal standard ..,B ,y ' the monetary reform of A~ ' D , , , 2'9 1, 6 the number of'silver l , l eT l . a~~ i iequivalent to nhe attj'i'e~~s W , E L S reducedfrom 2 , , 5 to 2 ; 1 0 ; and n~,bout t 'he yeal'" ' 1 8 0 1 , the w'e,:ignte th " d t 'l '"... .d 't..'O J. 'b _ ,6 aU,1"6U8 was raiseo '0 ,~ .0 : ~ I t is evic ant tLl,at acorresponding increase must have occurred in thewe igh t o f the t le~na.;i1it8'i T,hu s t',h ,e d ena~}i l i"lJts.'~, (U" as it,

h - ~_ _ ~ _. I '!, 1 II ! - :- ~ !Ii ~ ." .. . , :. ' ',"1 ' :o" j" . '. . "I'~ ' " .:-: ,-. ':---Il . J ' . ' .. . . ' .- ' ' ' .i


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nant factor~. . . J, w ' \ . / . . ' . Ii P,-'-,.,"'. . '~'t ~nli'! ' t o , 1 1 1 - ' ' ' I I L - d " d ' ' . , ' r ' . ~- - . Irad '-b" .I--I-HJ! ' 0 ,~VIII) !ILl; ,p'j[,!\!Je" enOJ ' , ' 1 , : , { 1 < 8 IID,a '_ '_ eens. t]tu,ck in eno rmou s quantitdes and, even if it.s I s sue 'wasdiseontinued, must have formed 1 9 ' ~substantial : p , l l r t oftIle currency. The eenienionolis a ,pp ,ear ,~ to have beenin sm all demand, and its issu .. 'ewas probably confinedto tIle metropolitan ..mint, In addifion to ,these regl1.lardenominations we find, others of an extraneous naturedescribed by Cohen as ;~entre .M .B et PJ3 , " Unsatis-factory' as the term undoubtedly is" it win be necessaryto retain it for the pressn b, since we possess 110 evidenceas to bhe t r tH3,nomenclature of , t . lu~coins ,(1) The F o l l ' i l J o ; , The Iargsst and by far th,e most

imp ortant mem bel" of tilS groupis t l l 1 e ~f(),lli8:(describedb,y' Cohen as ivIB)~ Afte;l" the , ; y e ; a l r ' : 2 9 G l,tll;s 1 i 1 ; i ' , l ; i a 1 ' t e 1 1~ f j ' e1" \ ' 1 , , , , ;1 , , , . - : n a ' , i u e a " l ' l ' g ' -n',? t ev . ( 1 i ' a c -n" r d i 1 1 g' to S - - , ,i ' = I o e e l " " w - - i i J l lC ' W ' ' . '0 ' ' 1 " ' ; ' II"L LWlIP 'O"!L.: !:, :iI' '__ I ' .. '~ '" "IIiii" r :;!', ,~ , _'v. '. ",,_ '...' 1_ '0OIL' : '!;.'l! "'~"" _ '.' '_ lJ _25 folIe 'll ,; :Le,p;atl11e~'4~however , I J 1 1 t S , the num ber ;afu20 1 , and Dattari at 16," , Witlm regard to its 'veig':bt~L~paulle ,gives 14,'O'~,3g r , s l . , , , = 9"08 ,grDLng ..) 01'" - - h o f a pound,while D a t't:a.ri estimates j, ts 11ormal '~rei,gh;t a,t,1 5 , 4 1 grs,(.= 9~"99 , g r . l C l 1 s , , ) However, having weighed 60 n . 1 ] , e.ttI;'U';Qm--p o, , -, de ~ o ! " ' ii ;f - ' ' t , - ' h - ~ , f i ' 0 ' ',fl"'; ~ ~ssned ' l 7 1 1 1 " i ; _ ; I i e . i I , ' " til!ll t:);. ' r - " e+ ' r a . ' 1 . - I ~ n , h y . -,~,w ,vo u ._'0' .. ' , i ! I 1fli 'J' , . : & 1 . ' ; : ;: 1 ' . . I ~ , ,~!!, " ,I l .W [ . . ~ . , l a : .1 I U . . . ! I h ! _ ' _ ' _ , _ y. ,. _ t ! ! ! . . - . ,I find the avet'ag'!weigh t works out ,at, 16} ~3 ,grs~'~witha maximum o f 18 ,5 grs This . naA:~l l r . f t ]~ ,yleads one to~i.nfer tlla't the normal weight standard must 'be,decidedly higher than that assigned b~y eitherLepall~le or Dattari ..It appears beyond question that Dioeletian's method'O f reckoning coin-weights was according to -fractiousof the. pound, 'T,jle numerals 0and : i E ' 011 the gold, ande~npl!o:ym,eIltof this terUl1ED


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, x , cv~on lbe silver, are meoutestible evidence of this ;and: since , th'is method was adopted for t 1 l 1 e go ld andsilver j,t ~ m [ 8 natural to suppose that it 'was alse employedfor the copper, ,Ag,ain; [ since Diocletian reverted to theNeronian standard for fixing tJu~weight of his silvercoin, it seems byno means improbable that the we~gh,t,o f h'is copper was determined by the same standard..-~rfUh " N : - ~ issued 1 f d ( 1 60~,'[ ' 'Usl_iero is copper a:8]l:SSU,e _ a t, ~'V c....a poun _: , ' > ' 6 " , - " 1 ; , grs.),supplied [an eminently convenient weight, which eerre ..spends so elosely with tJ1Ji3 averag,e ' \Veig]1t ofDioelertia:n." 'sfOll l is ' 1hat " t,h e re s eem s very' littt~ e d ou bt ,tba;t t l l , e latt,erw a s : n o rma l i l l y iSSL1 ed : a 1 ' t this standard tThe d , ' i t f l ic'uil l ty' I O f ascertaining t j h , e theoretieal weigh t

6 f" the /0 l l ' i "~'is enormonsl y Increased bJ' tI le fac,t, tl16tttowards the end of the Ttl~'rarchy' tb.e coin began to.. J ,I' d l d " 'h - , . , c l - . l ' I 1 , . t ~ l-uWIn .'_'e1 :al1._ si11as t':e coins are 11111':aeu t,~: rs nota lway 'S , ''possible to decide w hich o f them belo ng to theearljer part of the :pel"iod,~Assuming th ell. that the normal weigllt o f the ,foll'i.swas origi nall Y ' 1 1 6 ! 8 ~ , 4 ~grs., it is q.tl ite inconcei vab1e tha'ta, silver coin of ,52," '6i~ or even 60~]. grs. should haveb -Ill '- ). . . fi 1 1 , . , ~ t f ' th ;een worth as many' I D S , ~ ~ foues ; m Spl ie 0 '- - ' ~,-e,,J.act,th.a't bronze had ~l),p,arenl[y depreei ated. in, relation togold and silver since tile time of Nero, A revival ofthe old equation of 16 ooppEn : aseee of ' - a ' 1 f J ' to a i ie: f t f / / r iusof' f;'\ of a pound would seem perfectly natural hadthis relative values of the m,e'taJs. remained the same ..But in the Y ' , e a r 30 ] jl when the 1niZia~['~;(Jn8eW2t[$ issuedat, t 1 . ~ ' J it is evident that this proportion 'was im.possible,"[Further, sines Dioeletian manifested [a ,p&rtiaJi.~y, for adec im a l system we ean only conclude t h :m t the milia-,r ~ n s e " or silver denarius was worth 2 :0 f o l l e s ( 4 i TIl]Sv el a ti o n between the co in s continued even when the

[ I I , lP l ' ]


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E.. A.. SYDENH.Ai[ ..00f~ .f'~ntoit,O(Mi~.a ' - W " ' "" . C i I, ~ liriiO d ~ , - ] - : -eed tLo ', 1, ' 0 ' " ' ' ' ! If) ' p , ; , o " l ' ~ l n " : d " i C i i " I I I tho g . , . . h l, QI~,"~Cr'~I~;WI ~ , - , , ~ ~ ~ ! ~I ~~ ~ ~I":. ,~ lV~~. a . ," ~~ '" C;IUI,~'.' I I J . "~ ." ~ r;1.!~, -Jl '. " ; > _ . '~I ~lIlo., Q , ' natural consequence , 'we nn.d ;a tendency to reduce'the " \ 1 1 eight of the . / 0 ~l i { ;~ ,(2) Thiel eonnecting l inks between Diocletian's sys...te:ln and the e o i . l ! J l a , g e tl lfttpreceded it are th'e"'~'d ' , s n a r i , ' ' U S

Icom/n:utt~s :;}and qu i n a ~ ' ~ i : 1 _ " ~ ~ ~r U ce ~~t'e'nonalis. !'t Fromthe time of ,A~l1 l re l ian~s;reform (A~D~ 271) the chieffactor of the Cllrr'Bncy' waa, ;RS w'e have shown, thep ila te d icop.p ,e l " co in wit,ll X X I descri bed :~s a u: 11e , "~ '. . . J ' , ; i J ' W i I , oNM ; " J I i o I tl ' ~ '. ' D ' '1 " 0 elet I " : ~I - 1 1 an d h ~ ~ n o ' 1 1 ; E ! J in,Ollle-"~ , '0"n t : ~ " 1 ' UedJ)o"~'Ltt I 1 , 1 ~ , ~ . ~ I _ ~ ' \;.! ,Iy " I~ . I ~diF__:..~_ i~ ~r~ V" :. vWe ' !II! !I !: , ~ Y ._.'.._. ,:._'I i. . ~ , . : .. : '. " . .r U,to iSSt16 this coin ill 131" ,ge ,quanti ties ! d ow u to ,a ,bout theY'ear ']96 N'o a']t,eiI"ation was mad ~ in it,~ ~eneral.. , ~. '" " . . _ ,. , . . . . V i:. ,_ ._ .e ' . .,. ::;.. ..appearance, i,6 . . the em.p ! l " " \ O T is invaria bly portrayedwearing the radiate crown and almost al"r,ays thecuirass, an d the numeral , X , K ~ 1 1 fre'que.nt]y appears 'On, t he reversa:._ r- .1 ,110" ~_ ~I~~IT:he XK~I seems to have been retained simply' with

a view to preserving the eonfinnity and tradltionalaspect of th , I . eoi118,~

It seems pre,tty clear, 110IW(~Vel~;hat t'he coin, eitherwith O F without .x x . ,I~'issued unde r the ITlet[ '"archy', was'kno'wn' I i I J I iLl i I J i , ii: ~rli}oo nlJ!-a;~'iJl;['! r,;nM1Im""!\'Ii'li~ Dl ~., O I" c:"mply ii'} d:.l:II"l~.n"'~;:NI'~ ~,_ ." I .. _ 11 ,,1 ': _ ' ~ ! , ~.!.;rii :!t'li _. l.!.ot;>iII'!~II:l~" ( , . ! L F , ; _ i i ' 'iG 'VM ;[.l,l .-I i ,~~ ~ 'i ' .. ,) ~;;l . : u . . . ' . " ,!I:)U"~i!I"~i''I'~~" ;.and further tlJat it is the coin tb.at is taken as t b J 3 b ,s i ell .: -':",01

The Roman monetary system. Pt. II / by E.A. Sydenham

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Transcript of The Roman monetary system. Pt. II / by E.A. Sydenham