Ancient Roman Coins

 

These hand-struck old coins included the gold Aureus, silver Denarius, bronze Sestertius, bronze Dupondius, and copper As – which often depicted mythological figures on issues of the Roman Republic, and usually depicted reigning leaders on Roman Imperial coinage. During the third century A.D., the silver Denarius was replaced by the "Double Denarius" now commonly known as the Antoninianus – which in turn was replaced during the 284-305 reign of Diocletian with such denominations as the silvered bronze Follis and the silver Siliqua (originally known as the Argenteus).

When Caesar crossed the Rubicon, marched on Rome and drove the great general Pompey into Greece, he financed this invasion and secured the loyalty of his troops by striking silver Denarii. These ancient Roman coins have his name and an elephant trampling a snake on the obverse. Many numismatists believe the snake represents Salus, god of safety, and the elephant represents Pompey. After Pompey's defeat, Caesar was appointed to the office of dictator, renewed annually. He was assassinated on March 15, 44 B.C.

Because there were no banks in ancient times, citizens and soldiers often buried coins to keep them secure – and fortunately for collectors today, many of those hoards were never retrieved. Roman Imperial coinage is still periodically unearthed in regions controlled by Rome in ancient times. Ancient Roman coins available today are from nearly 90 different rulers from the 27 B.C. – A.D. 14 reign of Octavian to the A.D. 284-305 reign of Diocletian – when ancient Rome split into eastern and western empires along Latin and Greek lines of influence and culture. Collectors of ancient Roman coins often seek coins depicting the most famous emperors – such as Octavian, Tiberius, Nero, Vespasian, Trajan, Hadrian, or Marcus Aurelius. Other collectors may specialize in the deities featured on the reverses of many different imperial coins – including Cybele the mother of all gods, Venus the goddess of love, Mars the god of war, or Minerva the goddess of wisdom.

Provincial Coinage

As Rome spread its influence and consolidated power, lands once held by barbarian tribes, independent city-states, and Hellenistic kingdoms fell under its authority. Because the Romans left local systems like religion, rulers and coinage in place, those areas all produced their own coins. These local coins, once struck at over 600 provincial mints, could circulate within a single city or across a region. Today, these coins make up the group known as Provincial coinage, which some collectors call Greek Imperials, and are a fascinating story in the history of ancient Roman coins. These coins can have legends in either Greek or Latin, sometimes both, because many of these areas were once part of the illustrious empire of Greece's Alexander the Great.

Provincial coinage has several features that make it very different from Roman Imperial coinage, which was issued regularly and had fixed denominations like the As, Sestertius or Denarius. Provincial coinage was issued sporadically with a wide variety of values following Greek denominations. At the empire's beginnings, mints in both the East and West struck coins for their own locales. But by the reign of Claudius, A.D. 41-54, as Roman Imperial issues spread, western Provincial coinage ceased. Eastern mints continued for another 200 years because a minting tradition passed down from Alexander the Great's successors was already in place.