ROMAN
CURRENCY OF THE PRINCIPATE
Roman currency was based on a silver denarius,
struck at 84 to the Roman pound (322.5 grs.), 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. The rate of exchange was 1 aureus = 25 denarii =
100 brass sestertii = 400 copper asses. Romans reckoned large sums in the sestertii (abbreviated
HS), although they paid in aurei or denarii.
AUGUSTAN
CURRENCY SYSTEM
|
|
|
Equivalent Value |
|
Denomination |
Metal |
Weight |
In Denarii |
In Asses |
Aureus |
Gold |
7.90 grs. |
25 |
400 |
Quinarius |
Gold |
3.80 grs. |
12-1/2 |
200 |
Denarius |
Silver |
3.80 grs. |
1 |
16 |
Quinarius |
Silver |
1.90 grs. |
1/2 |
8 |
Sestertius |
Orichalcum |
25.00 grs. |
1/4 |
4 |
Dupondius |
Orichalcum |
12.50 grs. |
1/8 |
2 |
As |
Copper |
11.00 grs. |
1/16 |
1 |
Semis* |
Orichalcum |
3.25 grs. |
1/32 |
1/2 |
Quadrans |
Copper |
3.00 grs. |
1/64 |
1/4 |
*Denomination introduced by Nero, 64-68 A.D.
In 64, Nero reduced the standard of
the aureus to 45 to the Roman pound (7.20 grs.) and of the denarius to 96 to
the Roman pound (3.30 grs.). He also
lowered the denarius to 94.5% fine. Successive emperors lowered the fineness of
the denarius; in 180 Commodus reduced its weight by one-eighth or
108 to the pound.
FINENESS
OF DENARIUS, 64-192
Date Weight Purity Weight
64-68 3.18
grs. 93.5%
2.97 grs.
70-81 3.22
grs. 90.0%
2.87 grs.
82-85 3.33
grs. 98.0%
3.26 grs.
85-107 3.27 grs. 93.5% 3.04 grs.
107-148 3.21
grs. 89.0%
2.88 grs.
148-161 3.23
grs. 83.5%
2.68 grs.
161-168 3.23
grs. 79.0%
2.57 grs.
168-170 3.24
grs. 82.0%
2.67 grs.
170-180 3.26
grs. 79.0%
2.57 grs.
180-185 3.07
grs. 76.0%
2.34 grs.
186-192 2.98
grs. 74.0%
2.22 grs.
ROMAN
CURRENCY IN THE ERA OF INFLATION, 193-293
Severan emperors (193-235)
steadily debased the denarius from a standard of 78.5% to 50% fine; in
212 Caracalla reduced the weight of the aureus from 45 to 50 to
the Roman pound. They also coined aes
from a bronze alloy with a heavy lead admixture and discontinued fractional
denominations below the as.
DEBASEMENT
OF THE DENARIUS, 193-241
Date Weight Purity Silver
Weight
Pertinax 193 3.16
grs. 87.0% 2.75 grs.
Didius Julianus, 193 2.95 grs. 81.5% 2.40
grs.
Septimius Severus, 193-194 3.14 grs. 78.5% 2.46 grs.
Septimius Severus, 194-196 3.07 grs. 64.5% 1.98 grs.
Septimius Severus, 196-211 3.22 grs. 56.5% 1.81 grs.
Caracalla, 212-217 3.23 grs. 51.5% 1.66 grs.
Macrinus, 217-218 3.15 grs. 58.0% 1.82 grs.
Elagabalus, 219-222 3.05 grs. 46.5% 1.41 grs.
Severus Alexander, 222-228 3.00 grs. 43.0% 1.30
grs.
Severus Alexander, 229-230 3.24 grs. 45.0% 1.46
grs.
Severus Alexander, 230-235 2.94 grs. 50.5% 1.50
grs.
Maximinus, 235-238 3.07 grs. 46.0% 1.43 grs.
Gordian I & II, 238 2.77 grs. 63.0% 1.71 grs.
Pupienus & Balbinus, 238 2.80 grs. 55.0% 1.55 grs.
Gordian III, 241 3.03 grs. 48.0% 1.46
grs.
In 215 Caracalla introduced the antoninianus
(5.1 grs.; 52% fine) a double denarius, containing 80% of the silver of two
denarii. The coin invariably carried
the radiate imperial portrait. Elagabalus
demonetized the coin in 219, but the senatorial emperors Pupienus
and Balbinus in 238 revived the antoninianus as the principal silver
denomination which successive emperors reduced to a miserable billon coin (2.60
grs.; 2% fine).
DEBASEMENT
OF ANTONINIANUS, 238-274
Date Weight Purity Silver
Weight
Pupienus & Balbinus, 238 4.79 grs. 49.5% 2.38 grs.
Gordian III, 238 4.50 grs. 48.5% 2.20
grs.
Gordian III, 241 4.43 grs. 44.5% 1.98
grs.
Gordian III, 243 4.16 grs. 41.5% 1.62
grs.
Philip, 244 4.12
grs. 43.0% 1.74 grs.
Philip, 248 4.12
grs. 47.0% 1.94 grs.
Trajan Decius, 250 3.97 grs. 41.0% 1.64
grs.
Trebonianus Gallus, 251 3.46 grs. 36.0% 1.26 grs.
Aemilian, 253 3.53
grs. 35.5% 1.26 grs.
Valerian, 253 3.10
grs. 22.0% 0.68 grs.
Valerian, 255-60 3.07 grs. 19.0% 0.58
grs.
Gallienus, 260 3.03 grs. 18.0% 0.54 grs.
Gallienus, 261-63 2.97 grs. 15.5% 0.46 grs.
Gallienus, 263-65 2.75 grs. 13.0% 0.38 grs.
Date Weight Purity Silver
Weight
Gallienus, 265-66 2.81 grs. 9.0% 0.31 grs.
Gallienus, 267-68 2.69 grs. 6.0% 0.16 grs.
Claudius II, 268 2.95 grs. 3.0% 0.09
grs.
Claudius II, 269 2.60 grs. 2.0% 0.05
grs.
Claudius II, 270 3.39 grs. 3.0% 0.10
grs.
Aurelian, 270 3.15
grs. 2.5% 0.08 grs.
Aurelian, 274 3.88
grs. 5.0% 0.20 grs.
In 274, the emperor Aurelian reformed
the currency and his denominations remained in use until the great recoinage of
Diocletian in 293. Aurelian struck a radiate aurelianianus of
improved weight (84 to the Roman pound) and fineness (5% fine) that was
tariffed at five notational denarii communes ("common
denarii" or d.c.). The denomination carried on the reverse the
numerals XXI (or in Greek KA) to denote the coin as equal to 20 sestertii (or 5
d.c.). The aureus (minted at 50
or 60 the Roman pound) was exhanged at rates of 600 to 1,000 d.c., equivalent
to 120 to 200 aurelianiani. Rare
fractions of billion denarii, and of bronze sestertii and asses were also
coined. Simultaneously, Aurelian
reorganized the provincial mint at Alexandria, and he minted an improved
Alexandrine tetradrachma that might have been tariffed at par with the
aurelianianus.
The emperor Tacitus in 276 briefly
doubled the silver content of the aurelianianus and halved its tariffing to 2.5
d.c. (hence coins of Antioch and Tripolis (in Phoenicia) carry
the value marks X.I), but Probus (276-282) immediately returned
the aurelianianus to the standard and tariffing of Aurelian, and was the
offical tariffing down to the reform of Diocletian in 293.
MEASURES
IN THE ROMAN WORLD
MEASURES
OF CAPACITY
Romans measured dry capacity (grain) by the MODIUS
(8.75 liters or 1.1 peck; by weight just over 6-2/3 kilogrs. or 14-2/3
lbs.) and wet capacity (oil and wine) by the AMPHORA (26 liters or
nearly 7 gallons). The amphora was
three times the volume of the modius. In markets, oil and wine were usually
cited by the sextarius (0.539 liters or just under 1 pint).
DRY MEASURES LIQUID
MEASURES
1 modius = 16 sextarii 1
culleus = 20 amphorae
1 sextarius = 16 cyathi 1
amphora = 48 sextarii
1 sextarius = 16 cyathi
In the Price Edict (301), Diocletian
priced many items by the MODIUS CASTRENSIS ("camp modius"),
equivalent to 1.5 modii.
Greeks measured grain by the MEDIMNOS
(25 kilgrs. or 55 lbs.), equal to 6 Roman modii. In Egypt grain was measured by the ARTABA (18.75 kilgrs.
or 41.3 lbs.), equal to 4.5 modii. Greeks measured wet capacity by the METRETES,
divided into 12 choes = 144 kotylai = 864 kyathoi. The KOTYLE was half of the Roman SEXTARIUS.
In the Principate, an adult male required 4
modii as his monthly ration of wheat, which probably represented two-thirds
of his caloric intake (with oil, vegetables, and protein making up the other
third). The Roman soldier was allotted
1 cyathus (1/16 sextarius) of olive oil and 1 to 2 sextarii of wine per
day. A peasant family of four consumed
an annual minimum of 120 modii of wheat, 120 sextarii of olive oil, and
possibly 720 sextarii of wine (often mixed with vinegar as posca).
MEASURES
OF AREA
Romans measured area by the amount ploughed
in a day by a yoke of oxen. Land was
reckoned by the IUGERUM (28,000 square Roman feet or 5/8 of an
acre). A farm of 10 iugera (5-6
acres or 2.5 hectares) could provide a plebian family of most of its annual
subsistence needs. In Egypt, land was
measured by the AROURA (equal to 1.1 iugera).
MEASURES
OF DISTANCE
Romans measured distance by the mile, mille
passuum ("one thousand of paces"), equivalent to 1,620 English
yards or 92% of the English mile. 1
Roman mile = 1,000 paces (passus) = 5,000 feet (pedes). An average day's march for a Roman army was
15 to 17 miles; a forced march (magnum iter) was 20 to 25 miles.
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 B.C., 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:
1. 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:
Tetradrachma =
4 drachmae
Tridrachma =
3 drachmae
Didrachma =
2 drachmae
Drachma =
1 drachma
Hemidrachma =
1/2 drachma
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.
2. 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.
3. 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
AND PRICES IN THE ROMAN WORLD
(c.
50 B.C.-235 A.D.)
WAGES. Roman soldiers received top
pay for coveted full time employment. The
legionary from 46 B.C. to 84 A.D. 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.
Pompeian laborers in 50 B.C.-79 A.D.
earned daily wages of 5 to 16 asses, but employment was seasonal. In the second century A.D. skilled miners in
Dacia earned 6 to 10 asses per day plus room and board when hired on 6 or 8
month contracts.
PRICES. The best index of the
purchasing power of salaries comes from the price of grain, which represented
two-thirds to three-quarters of the caloric intake of an adult
male. Prices suffered regional and
seasonal fluctuations, but averages were as follows:
Rome 1
modius 1
to 1.5 denarii
Italy 1
modius 1
denarius
Asia Minor 1
modius ½ to 1 denarius
Africa 1
modius 6
asses to 1 denarius
Egypt[1] 1 modius ½ denarius
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 1/2 or 1
denarius per man. Each citizen could
thus buy 20-25% of his monthly needs for grain.
In Italy, 2 copper asses (1/8 denarius)
bought the minimum daily dietary needs so that 45 to 50 denarii per year was
the subsistence wage. In Asia Minor and
Syria, the equivalent price for daily need was one 1 bronze obol (= 2
assaria). Market wardens (agoranomoi)
of Ephesus in 150-200 A.D. fixed prices for 1 pound of wheat bread
(capable of feeding an adult male) at 2 to 4 bronze obols (= 1/4 to 1/2
denarius).