Fig. 52. As, 3rd Cent. A.D. (“Third Brass”).
Fig. 53. Didrachm of Corinth.
Gold and Silver.
Whilst in the infancy of coining the Sicilian silver litra was probably the same as the Aeginetic obol, that is about 16⅔ grs., the Aeginetic didrachm being probably treated as a decalitron (ten-litra piece), nevertheless after no long time the common Euboic standard of 135 grs. was employed at Syracuse and elsewhere, and we have the authority of Aristotle for the statement that the Corinthian stater was called a decalitron. Corinth, as we saw above, used the 135 grain unit for her famous Pegasi, commonly known as “Colts” (πῶλοι), and therefore the litra was by this time 13½ grs. Now, in Etruria we find about 400-350 B.C. a silver currency struck on this same 135 grs. standard. These coins bear marks of value, 𐌢 on coins of 131 grs., 𐌡 on those of 65 grs., 𐌠𐌠' on those of 32 grs., and 𐌠 on those of 14 and 13 grs. It is plain therefore that the stater of 135 grs. was considered to consist of 10 units of 13½ grs. each. In other words, whatever the Etruscans may have called their stater, it was exactly the same in weight and method of subdivision as the decalitron of Syracuse. At a later period (350-268 B.C.) we find on coins of like weight the symbols 𐌢𐌢 instead of 𐌢, 𐌢 instead of 𐌡, 𐌡 instead of 𐌠𐌠'. The unit now is exactly half of what it was at an earlier stage, 6¾ grs. instead of 13½ grs.
Not till 268 B.C., just on the eve of the First Punic War, did Rome first coin silver. This coin, called denarius, as its name implies, represented 10 asses. It was divided into four parts, each of which was called a sestertius or 2½, and was marked with the symbol 𐆘 representing that number.
Fig. 54. Sesterce of first Roman silver coinage.
It is very remarkable that the Etruscan coin of the second series, marked 2½, is only very slightly heavier than the Roman sesterce (sestertius) which bears a similar mark. Hence it has been very reasonably inferred that when the Romans set about the coinage of silver, they simply adopted with slight modification the silver system employed by their neighbours across the Tiber. This is all the more probable, as it is almost certain that, though Rome did not strike silver she like Athens before the time of Solon, and like Syracuse, used freely the coins of other communities for a long time previously. The Etruscan coins would therefore serve as silver currency at Rome. We may then assume that the monetary system must have been much the same on both sides of the river. Accordingly, since in 268 B.C. we find the Romans striking a coin in silver representing 10 copper asses, which is almost the same in weight as the Etruscan coin marked 𐌢, we may reasonably infer that, if the Romans had commenced coining silver a century earlier, their denarius or 10-as piece would have been the same weight as the Etruscan.