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Early Roman Coinage, bronze bar with an eagle on thunderbolt on obverse,…
Early Roman Coinage
Coined Silver
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the earliest Roman silver used a weight standard of about 7.3 g, derived from Italian coinages, especially Neapolis
Also, it was about 93% silver
early legends read ROMANO, later legends read ROMA - shows Rome experimenting with how to label itself on coinage
Roman coinage designs changed often, unlike many Italian coinages, which tended to keep stable types
this shows that early Rome was already experimenting with design, not just copying
Aes grave
large cast bronze discs, 'heavy bronze'
they used denominational marks, for example the mark 'I' was an as
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shows that Rome is applying a clear denominational system to bronze, and that this is still a bronze-heavy monetary culture, not a silver-dominated one
Context
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early roman coinage emerged c. 300 BC within a wider Italian and Greek monetary environment, especially southern Italy
by the late 4th century BC, southern Italy already had active coin-producing cities, including Neapolis, Taras, Heraclea
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Coined Bronze
the first Roman struck bronze copied Neapolitan types, using Apollo / man-headed bull
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Greek/Italian influence
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a silver didrachm of c. 300 BC, possibly minted at Metapontum, shows Mars on the obverse and a horse's head on the reverse with ROMANO
This would suggest that Rome entered coinage through the monetary world of southern Italy, rather than inventing a wholly independent system
Money before coinage
The Twelve Tables already show fines and social statues expressed in monetary terms, but this did not require coinage
in central Italy, value was traditionally measured in bronze, not silver
military pay, stipendium, comes from pendere "to weigh", suggesting soldiers may have originally been paid in weighed bronze
bronze bar with an eagle on thunderbolt on obverse, pegasus on reverse. Marked ROMANOM. date: 280-242 BC
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