The coin was not established to a set weight for each coin, but rather a set number in each Roman pound. The better-known denarius was created in a revamp of coinage, which happened around 211 B.C. The denarii prototypes were probably the “quadrigati,” Silver coins with a Roman four-horse chariot on the reverse. This was a reference to its original exchange rate. The name “denarius” came from “deni,” which meant 10. Ten bronze asses (an aes grave with the image of Janus) made up a denarius once the denomination was established, though due to the rarity of Silver, that ratio was adjusted to 16 asses several years later, around 145 B.C. Silver coins from Greece slowly filtered into the Roman Republic, and Rome eventually created their own version. These coins were cast and could be manufactured in bulk, but they were too cumbersome for regular commerce and needed to be replaced with something of higher value. Originally the Roman Republic used bronze or lead ingots for their currency, Traditional Roman coins had been bronze and were known as aes grave, or “heavy bronze”. The denarius marked a change in Roman coinage, brought about by commerce with Greece. Its rise and decline are similar to what we see with many modern currencies, and its legacy still reverberates today. In the late Roman Republic through the early days of the Roman Empire, the denarius was the daily wage for laborers and regular legionaries. The name, however, survived, inspiring the medieval coinage known as the denier, denar, denaro and so on, including the medieval silver penny of Britain.Struck continuously through the golden age of the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire, the coin was one of the most commonly circulated in its time. The antoninianus was introduced in 215 to spark more interest in the silver coinage of Rome, but it didn’t work, and the last true denarii were struck in the 240s, “and attempts to reestablish the coin later in the third century met with no success,” according to Richard Doty in The MacMillan Encyclopedic Dictionary of Numismatics. The size, weight and silver purity of the denarius declined from the reign of Nero (54 to 68 A.D.) until its content was about 50 percent circa 193 to 211 during the reign of Septimius Severus. Today these coins regularly trade for hundreds of thousands of dollars. An estimated population of some 80 examples was known in 2008 when Berk’s book was published, “but many more than 80 people want one of these coins and can afford the $100,000-plus price tag.” “Caesar, a mere two years earlier, had been the first Roman to place his own portrait on Roman coins, and that was just the sort of monarchial innovation for which he had been assassinated,” Berk wrote.Įid Mar denarii were deliberately recalled and melted down by the victors of the second battle of Philippi on Oct. The design is notable for the irony of its use of a portrait of Brutus. The Eid Mar coins of mid-42 B.C., with the pileus or cap of liberty between the daggers that executed Caesar, is Brutus’ final coinage type. Brutus fled and soon waged war against Caesar’s successors.Īfter being proclaimed imperator, Brutus began issuing coins to pay his army. The conspirators, fearful of a tyranny ushered in by Caesar, expected to be hailed as liberators, but the Roman populace was horrified by Caesar’s murder and wanted the assassins punished. Berk.īrutus was one of two chief co-conspirators leading a cabal of Roman senators that surrounded and stabbed Caesar during a Senate proceeding. 1 in a survey of experts for the book 100 Greatest Ancient Coins by Harlan J. The dime-sized coin is famous for the image of its issuer, one of the assassins, Marcus Junius Brutus, on the obverse. The reference is to the assassination of the megalomaniacal dictator Julius Caesar two years earlier, on March 15, 44 B.C. silver denarius is known as the Eid Mar or “Ides of March” coin for the Latin legend EID MAR on the reverse. The pinnacle of self-promotion via numismatic means in ancient Roman times, however, was the Eid Mar silver denarius. The reverse features the Dioscuri, known individually as Castor and Pollux, the twin sons of Zeus and Leda. These young gods became widely popular as protectors in a moment of crisis, and a temple was built in their honor.Īs the decades passed, designs for the denomination made way for the political realities of a world where the moneyers (those who struck the coins) and later the rulers themselves, highlighted their own achievements, relationships, or both. Originally worth 10 bronze asses, the denarius coins were redenominated to 16 asses in 145 B.C., a value that was fixed until the final denarii were struck in the 240s A.D.Įarly denarii feature the head of Roma, patroness of the city, on the obverse.
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