Roman Silver Coins

The Roman Silver Coins, highlighting the peculiarity of the age or the people has a great importance in the whole historical and archaeological science. The roman coins are a mirror on the society reflecting the political, economical, artistic and social trends of the time during which it developed. These Roman coins are excellent sources of information on the centuries of kings their heirs, usurpers and tyrants who used this formidable propaganda instrument to hand down their ideas and customs. The Roman coins are expression of art as well as portrayals of history and it is known that both Pliny and Plutarch says that there were people who were interested in buying coins which were no longer in circulation at a price much higher than their face value.

Coinage:

The Roman coins did not have any denominations imprinted in them. The Roman silver coins of that era had close resemblance with those of the Greek states which include a didrachm weighing around 7.2 gm, commonly known as quadrigatus for the use of quadriga reverse design and the drachms or ½ quadrigatus approximately 3.6 gm. The monetary system as a whole underwent a change so the age saw the first appearance of the denarius which weighed around 4.5 gms. Several fractional silver coins were introduced like the quinarius which was half the weight of Denarius and sestertius at ¼ the weight. Though there was irregularity in the production of quinarius and sestertius till 40 BC the sestertius phased out completely leaving behind the quinarius that became a part of the imperial period.

Themes and Designs

There were certain restrictions imposed on the moneyers when they set out to design the coins. It was clearly stated that there should not be the portrait of any living persons on the coins. The designs which became popular and could be easily identified with the Roman Republic were the head of Roma with two horse or bigha, three horse or triga or four horse or quadriga with slight changes here and there. The moneyers even chose to portray famous relatives, battles, classical illusions abound with historical scenes, scenes from everyday life or architectural images. These coins were means of propaganda used and they depended entirely on the imaginative skill of the moneyers which sometimes brought about certain limitations.