Roman republican coinage – silver

The silver coinage : The didrachm, the first roman silver coin

A predecessor of the denarius was first struck in 269 or 268 BC, five years before the First Punic War, with an average weight of 6.81 grams, or 1⁄48 of a Roman pound.

The contact with the Greeks and the greek colonies (Campania, South Italy…) has been the reason of the need for silver coinage in addition to the bronze currency that the Romans were using at that time.

This predecessor of the denarius was a Greek-styled silver coin of didrachm, which was struck in Neapolis (Campania) and other Greek cities in southern Italy. These coins were inscribed with a legend that indicated that they were struck for Rome, but in style they closely resembled to the greeks coins.

 

Didrachm (269-266 BC) showing Hercules and the she-wolf (Crawford 20/1)

Didrachm (234-231 BC) showing Apollo and a prancing horse (Crawford 26/1)

 

 

 

 

 

The Quadrigatus

the first “true” roman silver coin has been struck around 226 BC : the Quadrigatus.

The coin weighed about 6.8 grams, very close to the greek didrachm. The Quadrigatus will be struck until the introduction of the silver denarius (aournd 211 BC)

The  Quadrigatus bear on the obvers ethe Janiform head of the Dioscuri, Castor and Pollux

The reverse presents the quadriga of Jupiter, protector god of Rome. This representation of Jupiter’s quadrigafrom this time onwards the didrachms were given the nameof quadrigati.

 

The silver Quadrigatus (225-214 BC)

 

 

The silver coinage : the denarius

The denarius or Roman denarius, from the Latin denarius (plural: denarii), is one of the basic currencies of the Roman monetary system.

It was a silver coin, weighing around 3 to 4 grams, depending on the time. The first Roman denarii appear at the end of the 3rd century BC,, following the devaluation of the bronze As because of the Punic wars.

The word denarius means “ten” in Latin, a denarius initially worth ten As.

 

The creation of the denarius worth 10 As

The date of the creation of the silver denarius has been the subject of controversy between historians and numismatists, complicated by the exploitation of ancient writings, sometimes considered as conclusive sources, or on the contrary qualified as apocryphal.

According to Pliny the Elder, the silver denarius appeared under the consulship of Q. Ogulnius and C. Fabius, that is to say in 269 BC, a few years before the first Punic war

Livy’s summary dates the beginning of the use of silver coins in Rome, giving roughly the same date, 268 BC.

Long accepted, this dating was refuted in 1932 by the British numismatist Harold Mattingly. These silver issues followed the weight system of the Greek cities of southern Italy, in imitation of the Greek didrachm, and are no longer considered Roman denarii

today the archeological evidence show us that the first denarii were struck no later than 211 BC

 

The first serie of anonymous denarii (211 BC) bearing the Head of Roma and the Dioscuri on the reverse (Crawford 53/2)

 

The monetary system resulting from the Second Punic War 

In the new bimetallic monetary system put in place, the silver denarius which has a value of 950 ‰ now stands alongside the bronze coinage, namely the As and its subdivisions (the semis, the triens, the quadrans, the sextans, the uncia…).

It is defined with the rating of one denarius wirth ten As. The mark X (ten in Roman numerals) appears on the coins to remind us of this equivalence :

 

A silver denarius (189-180 BC) bearing the mark X behind Roma’s bust

 

At its creation around 211 BC, the denarius weighs approximately 4.5 g.

Reduced to ancient units, the denarius theoretically weighs 1/72 of a pound of silver, or four scrupulum of silver.

A first devaluation in 207 BC. BC lowers its weight to 4.20 g. In a few decades, the size increased to 1/82 pound for a theoretical weight of 3.96 g. In the 170s BC, its weight increased to 3.7 g.

During the 2nd century, the monetary types will, from the classic motif “helmeted Rome” and “Dioscuri”, diversify, and feature other deities, such as Diana, Jupiter, and the allegory of Victory. At that time, the issue of coins was placed under the responsibility of a commission of three monetary magistrates (the tresviri monetales of the vigintisexvirat college, entry point for the cursus honorum). These magistrates, renewed every year, very quickly used the the coins as a political propaganda tool by putting their name on it but indirectly.

 

Smaller silver denominations : Quinarius, sestertius

The silver quinarius began to be minted during the Second Punic War.

Its initial ratio to bronze coinage is five As, hence its name quinarius nummus derived from quintus, five, and the identification mark by the Roman numeral V on the strikes.

The denarius, marked X, was worth ten As, therefore two quinaires. Denarii and quinarii bore on the obverse the helmeted head of Rome personified, on the reverse the Dioscuri.

Anonymous silver quinarius (2111 BC), 2,23 grams (Crawford 44/6)

 

During the Roman Republic the sestertius was minted at the same time as the denarius around 211 BC.

Representing a quarter of a denarius, it is a small silver coin (the smallest in the Roman system, theoretically weighing a scrupule (barely more than a gram), issued in rare quantities).

Its name comes from its original value: initially it was worth 2 and a half As. The sesterius bears a IIS symbol behind Roma’s head (mark of value).

 

Anonymous silver sestertius (211-208 BC), 1,10 grams (Crawford 44/7)

.