A Guide to the Exhibition Illustrating Greek and Roman Life

by British Museum. Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities

Fig. 14.—Aes Grave (No. 38). As, Semis, Quadrans, and Uncia. 1:2.

A typical series of the Roman heavy bronze money is exhibited (No. 38; fig. 14) The system is based on the pound of twelve ounces, and the denominations of the various pieces are distinguished by the heads or obverse types, and by the marks of value which they bear. The series consists of the As, or pound (I), the half, Semis (S), the third, Triens, of four ounces (····), the quarter, Quadrans, of three ounces (···), the sixth, Sextans, of two ounces (··), and the Uncia, or ounce, the lower unit (·) (cf. p. [160]). Each of these is further differentiated by the obverse head. The as has the double head of Janus, the god of beginnings, whose coin opened the series of money, as his month begins the year. The semis has the head of Jupiter, wearing a laurel wreath; the triens, Minerva armed; the quadrans, Hercules in the lion-skin; the sextans, Mercury, the messenger, with wings in his cap; and the uncia, a head of Bellona, the goddess of battle. All the reverses have a common type, the prow of a ship. This device may mark the date of the introduction of the Roman coinage, which coincided with Rome's first essays on the sea, in the middle of the fourth century before Christ. It remained as the reverse type of the bronze money all through the Republic, and even in later times, when a coin was tossed, the cry was "heads" or "ships."[¹¹]

The heavy bronze coinage of the city of Rome was only one among many similar currencies of the central Italian states. As the Romans conquered the neighbouring territories, where there existed local weight-systems, which, in the interests of commerce, it was well to preserve, instead of imposing their own money, they inaugurated subordinate issues at the dependent mints. On this principle it was natural that when the march of Roman conquest came upon the peoples of South Italy, where a silver currency had been long ago introduced by the Greek colonists, a local issue for those parts was instituted as a subsidiary coinage. To this class of Roman money belongs the silver stater or didrachm with Campanian types (the head of Mars and the bust of a horse) which was struck by the Romans—as the legend ROMANO(rum) shews—in Capua for the use of the Campanian district (No. 39; fig. 15a). With the extension of power and territory the old bronze pieces were inadequate, and in the year 268 B.C. a silver coinage was begun at Rome itself. At the same time the Campanian mint was closed, and the heavy bronze coins, being subordinated to the silver unit, were issued as token-money in a reduced and more convenient size.

The first Roman silver coinage bears the types of the goddess Roma, wearing a winged helmet, and on the reverse the patron deities of trade and commerce, Castor and Pollux, the Heavenly Twins or Dioscuri (No. 40; fig. 15b-d). They are armed with spears and ride on horseback, with their stars above their heads. These types occur on all three denominations of the earliest silver, the Denarius (marked X), which was worth 10 asses; its half, the Quinarius (V); and the Sestertius (IIS) of 2½ asses, which became the unit in reckoning accounts. The two smallest silver pieces were not always struck; but the denarius, with the reduced copper for small denominations, remained in use during the period of the Republic at Rome and long into the Empire. Although both series had a great variety of types, the fabric and general appearance were unaltered.

With the change to the Empire, reform in all directions was begun, and the coinage was set on a new basis. Gold was introduced to meet the needs of the metropolis of the world, and two new coins, the Aureus and its half, were struck in this metal. They were modelled on the silver pieces. The standard silver coin was still the denarius, and the only change which it experienced was in type. The head of the emperor took the place of those of deities, with a superscription, which was the forerunner of modern coin-legends. It consisted of the name and titles of the emperor, often with the date of striking, arranged in a circle round the edge of the coin. The minting of gold and silver was assumed by the emperor, but the lower denominations were left to the senate, whose authority is expressed on each piece by the letters S·C (Senatus Consulto, "by decree of the Senate"). The senatorial series consisted of the Sestertius, the equivalent of the smallest silver coin, now valued at 4 asses instead of the original 2½; the Dupondius, of 2 asses; the As, and fractions of the as, Semis and Quadrans, which are of less frequent occurrence. These coins sometimes differed as to the metal used, the as and semis being of copper, and the dupondius and sestertius of brass; or in the style of the emperor's head; or, as in the case of the coins exhibited, the as is marked I and the dupondius II (fig. 15h and i). Usually, however, the two pieces are confused, and are loosely termed by collectors "second brass," the sesterce being "first brass," and all denominations lower than the as "third brass." The reverse types were very numerous, and, with the exception of the mark S·C on the senatorial issues, none of them was peculiar to any denomination. The series which is selected here to illustrate the Imperial coinage is of the reign of Nero (54-68 A.D.); all the pieces, therefore, bear the image and superscription of that Caesar, and their reverses have complimentary references to the emperor and his family, or topical allusions to current events (No. 41; fig. 15e-l).

Fig. 15.—Roman Coins. 1:1.

Nero was the first emperor to reduce the weight of the denarius, and from his time the degeneration was rapid. A series of seven pieces, from Tiberius to Probus (14-281 A.D.), illustrates the debasement of the metal, which is apparent to the eye (No. 42). By the time of Gordianus Pius (238-244 A.D.) no trace of silver is visible, and the coin of Probus here exhibited is plainly copper. Yet these pieces represent the only silver money which was then coined.

Many of the coins which have come down to us have been preserved by the care or avarice of their former owners, who hid their wealth for security and were unable to recover it. Portions of two such hoards are shown at the end of the case. One consists of Athenian staters of the late fifth century B.C. (No. 43), which were found in the Greek settlement of Naukratis, and the other is a large collection of late Roman coins of the fifth century A.D. (No. 44). These were buried in another Egyptian town, Hawara, in the egg-shaped jug which is shown with them. At Pompeii, a city which was overwhelmed by the volcano in the midst of its daily life, money, like all other things, has been found ready to hand and actually in use. There is in this Case all that the fire has left of a Pompeian money-box, and among the coins which it contains is a brass sesterce of Nero, whose reign ended eleven years before the catastrophe. Shreds of a net purse are also visible in the box (No. 45).