The Coins found along with Romano-British interments are, of course, of various emperors and of various periods. They are only occasionally found, and, when discovered, cannot, it must be remembered, be taken as any criterion as to date of deposit, or, indeed, cannot be considered alone as evidence of the barrow or interment belonging to the Romano-British period. The Romans seem to have sowed their coins broadcast over the whole length and breadth of the land, to have thrown them about as they would useless chaff, to have buried them in urns in every conceivable place, and to have deposited them, either singly or otherwise, in the barrows of their predecessors. It is unnecessary to speak, then, of the varieties of coins which are from time to time turned up by the antiquary in his researches into the early grave-mounds. They form but a thousandth part of the coins which are found away from interments.

It may, however, be well, as showing the relative proportions of the coins of different emperors found in this country, to give the following analysis, by Mr. Roach Smith, of more than eleven hundred coins picked up at different times in one locality—Richborough in Kent.

Augustus7
Agrippa1
Tiberius2
Antonia, wife of Drusus, sen.1
Caligula2
Claudius15
Nero11
Vespasian13
Titus1
Domitian10
Nerva1
Trajan7
Hadrian5
Sabina5
Ællius Cæsar1
Antoninus Pius5
Faustina3
Marc Aurelius4
Faustina5
Lucius Verus2
Lucilla1
Commodus2
Severus5
Julia Domna3
Caracalla3
Julia Maesa1
Severus Alexander7
Gordianus6
Philippus4
Valerianus3
Valerianus, junior1
Galliense19
Salonina4
Postumus10
Victorinus14
Marius1
Tetricus13
Claudius Gothicus15
Luntillus2
Aurelianus4
Tacitus5
Florianus1
Probus7
Garinus1
Numerainus2
Diocletianus8
Maximianus16
Caräusius94
Allectus45
Constantius4
Helena8
Theodora13
Galerius Maximianus1
Maxentius2
Romulus1
Licinius12
Licinius, junior1
Constantine the Great149
Fausta2
Crispus18
Delmatius1
Constantine II.98
Constans77
Constantius II.42
Urbs Roma52
Constantinoplis60
Magnentius21
Decentius4
Julianus II.7
Helena1
Jovianus1
Valentinianus22
Valens39
Gratianus49
Theodosius14
Magnus Maximus6
Victor3
Eugenius1
Arcadius27
Honorius8
Constantine III.1
Total1144

Of these coins, fifty-six only were of silver, six of gold, fifteen of billon, or base silver, and the remainder were of brass, the greater portion being, naturally, what are denominated “third brass.”

CHAPTER X.

Romano-British Period—Arms—Swords—Spears, etc.—Knives—Fibulæ—Armillæ—Torques of Gold, etc.—Other Personal Ornaments—Horse-shoes.

Fig. 301.

Fig. 302.