Roman Currency
Although there were various different coinage over the thousand year span of the Roman Empire, I have only presented here the currency which existed during my campaign's time period.
The Roman Republic began with the barter system. They used cattle, pecus, as the standard of exchange. From the word pecus derives the word pecunia, or money. In addition to pecus, pieces of bronze became a form of exchange. They called these chunks Aes rude.
At the beginning of the third century BC markings were added to the bronze pieces to denote weight and worth. The As weighed a Roman pound, Libra (about 335.9g or 0.74lb.) and became the basic unit of exchange. It was divided into twelve smaller units called Aes grave, weighing a Roman ounce. The lesser denomination's names were as followed: Semis (half-as), Triens (third), Quadrans (quarter), Sextans (sixth) and Uncia (ounce or twelfth).
In 269 BC contact with the Greeks prompted the use of silver in their coinage. Romans used a Greek style silver coin in addition to the As for about another one hundred years. Then in about 187 BC they reorganized the system. From this overhaul came the Denarius, a silver coin worth about ten Asses. The Punic Wars had decreased the value of the As and then in about 130 BC it depreciated again to about 16 per Denarius. The As and the Denarius remained the most common coins and their use fluctuated throughout the remainder of the Roman civilization.
With the dawn of the Imperial age under Augustus new coins went into circulation. They used four metals: gold, silver, brass, and bronze (or copper). The gold Aurei introduced during the Second Punic War became more widely used and the As and Denarius remained in circulation. Typically the gold and silver coins had official use, like salaries, while the brass and bronze coins played an everyday role.
The Republic money was minted in the Temple of Juno Moneta on Capitoline Hill. The name Moneta is where the word money comes from. The responsibility for the minting of the coins lay in the hands of the Senate. Junior magistrates called tresviri monetales were responsible for minting the coins. During the Empire minting took place in several cities across the empire. The Emperor had sole responsibility of the gold and silver coins while the brass and copper coin minting spread through out several provinces.
The two sides of the coins were referred to as the obverse and the reverse. The markings on each side changed as the Empire grew and the Roman's world view evolved. In the days of the Republic the obverse of the bronze coins displayed the head of a deity while the reverse had the prow of a ship and marking of worth. The silver coins had the head of Roma on the obverse and the that of Dioscuri on the reverse.
During the period of growth and as the role of the Emperor grew the coins became a vehicle of propaganda. Images of the Emperor of the obverse and the deity to match his nature of the reverse let those throughout the empire get a glimpse of their leader. Variations occurred with architectural marvels displayed and legends of Rome depicted. Romulus and Remus became a popular source for coin markings.
Roman currency was based on a silver Denarius, struck at 84 to the Roman pound (322.5 grams), that was exchanged against gold coins or base metal fractional denominations collectively called Aes (a term that refers to copper and any of its alloys). The gold Aureus, struck at 40 to the Roman pound, and the Denarius were minted from virtually pure metal (99-99.5% fine). In 23 B.C. Augustus reformed theaes so that fractional denominations were struck in two metals orichalcum or brass (75% copper; 20% zinc; 5% tin) and pure copper. Romans reckoned large sums in the Sestertii although they paid in Aurei or Denarii.| Coin | Metal Used | Exchange Value |
| As | Copper | 400 |
| Aureus | Gold | 1 |
| Denarius | Silver | 25 |
| Dupondius | Orichalcum | 200 |
| Quadrans | Copper | 1600 |
| Quinarius | Gold | ½ |
| Sestertius | Orichalcum | 100 |
Greek Provincial and Civic Currency of the
Roman Empire
In the Greek-speaking East, provincial and city mints struck traditional currency based on a silver drachma. Each drachma was divided into six
Obols; each Obol was in turn divided into 8 Chalci. The exchange was 1 Drachma = 6
Obols = 48 Chalci. In the Classical age, the Greeks minted silver Drachmae and
Obols, along with their multiples and fractions of the drachma or Obol. Since weight standards varied throughout the Greek world, the weight of the drachma varied from city to city. In the second century
BC, the Greeks cities also created a base metal fractional currency premised on either a bronze
Obol or in Egypt, a bronze Drachma. The result was a bewildering array of local silver and bronze coins in the Roman East. The major currency systems were as follows:
Attic Standard;
The international standard of the Greek world based on a silver drachma of Athens that was equal to the Roman
Denarius. Greek authors cite large sums of money in Attic Drachmae rather than Roman
Denarii or Sestertii. The following silver denominations were minted in the Roman age:
| Coin | Exchange Value |
| Drachma | 1 |
| Didrachma | 2 |
| Hemidrachma | ½ |
| Tetradrachma | 4 |
| Tridrachma | 3 |
The Attic standard was used in Greece, Macedon, eastern and southern Asia Minor
(Lycia, Cilicia, and Cappadocia), and the southern Levant (Phoenicia, Judaea, Arabia). In the Near East silver coins of Attic weight were called "silver of the standard of Tyre," the Phoenician port famed for her trade coins, the silver tetradrachmae with the striding eagle. Judas received Tyrian tetradrachmae as his thirty pieces of silver. Most cities minted bronze fractions based on an obol (1/6 of a denarius) that stood in no convenient relationship to Roman base metal coins. Large bronze didrachmae and drachmae were struck as proxies for silver coins, but cities usually minted a wide array multiples and fractions of the obol and
chalcus.
Cistophoric Standard;
This was based on a silver drachma that was only 75% the weight of the denarius; the standard was used in Crete, Rhodes, western Asia Minor (Asia,
Bithynia, and Pamphylia), and in northern Syria (where it was called the Antiochene standard). The most famed silver coins of this standard were silver cistophori (= 3 denarii) struck by the Asian cities of Pergamum and Ephesus, and tetradrachmae (= 3 denarii) of Antioch in Syria. Fractional bronze coins were based on a bronze obol that was exchanged against 2 Roman asses (or assaria in Greek) so that bronze coins in this system were easily equated to Roman
aes.
Alexandrine Standard;
This was the standard of Alexandria, capital of Egypt. Initially, the Romans employed Ptolemaic regal coins: the bronze
Obol and Drachma, and low grade silver Tetradrachma tariffed at 1.5 Denarii. In 41/2 A.D. Claudius introduced
Tetradrachmae (four Drachmae pieces) minted from billon, an alloy less than 25% silver, and equal to 1 silver
Denarius. Bronze fractions were based on the Drachma and Obol. Egyptian provincial coins were thus
fiduciary so that Roman authorities enforced them as the sole legal tender and excluded all other coins, especially gold and silver coins. The exchange was 1 billon
Tetradrachma = 4 bronze Drachmae = 24 bronze Obols. In Roman tax collection, premiums were charged on payments in bronze so that the
Tetradrachma was often exchanged at rates of 25 to 29 Obols.
|
Wages ( 50 BC - 235 AD) |
| Roman soldiers received top pay for coveted full time employment. The legionary from 46
BC to 84 AD received a daily wage of 10 Asses or 225 Denarii per year. Praetorian guardsmen received 2
Denarii per day or 720 Denarii per year. Domitian raised legionary annual pay by
one third to 300 Denarii. Septimius Severus in 195 and Caracalla in 215 raised the annual pay to 400 and 600
Denarii respectively.
Farm labourer with meals = 25 Denarii The market price of an adult male's annual need of grain, 60
Modii, was 60 Denarii in Italy or 26.7% of the annual salary of a legionary. A peasant family of four required annually 150
Modii of grain priced in the market at two-thirds of the annual salary of a legionary. Aristocratic patrons during festivals in Italian and African towns handed out sportula to poorer citizens at the rate of
½ or 1 Denarius per man. Each citizen could thus buy 20-25% of his monthly needs for grain. |