Germ. 5), because their edges were notched like a saw, which appears to have been done to prove that they were solid silver, and not plated. Many have, on the reverse, chariots drawn by two or four horses ( bigae, quadrigae), whence they are called respectively bigati and quadrigati, sc. The earliest denarii have usually, on the obverse, the head of Rome with a helmet, the Dioscuri, or the head of Jupiter. Gronovius has given all the authorities upon the subject in his De Sestertiis The latter drachmae, however, appear to have fallen off in weight and there can be no doubt that they were at one time nearly enough equal to pass for equal. The Attic drachma was almost equal to 9¾ d., whereas we have seen that the denarius was but little above 8½ d. It has been frequently stated that the denarius p394 is equal in value to the drachma but this is not quite correct. If the denarius be reckoned in value 8½ d, the other coins which have been mentioned, will be of the following value:. No specimens of the libella are now found. ( De Sestertiis, II.2), however, maintains that there was no such coin as the libella when Varro wrote but that the word was used to signify the tenth part of a sestertius. Pro Rosc. Com. c4) and it is frequently used, not merely to express a silver coin equal to the as, but any very small sum (Plaut. In the time of Cicero, the libella appears to have been the smallest silver coin in use It is, however, improbable that the teruncius continued to be coined in silver after the as had been reduced to 1⁄ 16 of the denarius for then the teruncius would have been 1⁄ 64 of the denarius, whereas Varro only describes it as subdivision of the libella, when the latter was 1⁄ 10 of the denarius. V.174, ed. Müller) names it among the silver coins with the libella and sembella. which would have been so small a coin, that some have doubted whether it was ever coined in silver we know that it was coined in copper. 60 grains, the teruncius would only have weighed.XLI.13) which would fix the first coinage of the victoriati at Rome, B.C. 177 that is, 92 years after the first silver coinage. The Clodius, who proposed this law, is supposed to have been the person who obtained a triumph for his victories in Istria, whence he brought home a large sum of money Says that victoriati were first coined at Rome in pursuance of the lex Clodia and that previous to that time, they were imported as an article of trade from Illyria. Pro Font. 5), for the impression of a figure of Victory which it bore. The quinarius was also called victoriatus They were, the quinarius or half-denarius, the sestertius or quarter denarius, the libella or tenth of the denarius (equal to the as), the sembella or half libella, and the teruncius or quarter libella. The Roman coins of silver went at one time as low down as the fortieth part of the denarius, the teruncius. If the same method of reckoning be applied to the later denarius, its value will be about 7♵ pence, or 7½ d.īritish Museum. 80♷ grains of pure silver, the value of the best denarii will be 58/80♷ of a shilling, or 8♶245 pence which may be reckoned in round numbers 8½ d.58 grains of pure silver and since the shilling contains.If we deduct, as the average, 1⁄ 30 of the weight for alloy, from the denarii of the commonwealth, there will remain 60 grains, and those under the empire at.Mr. Hussey calculates the average weight of the denarii coined at the end of the commonwealth at Proves that 84 denarii went still to the pound, about the year B.C. 50 since if we reckon 96 to the pound, the proportion of the value of gold to silver is 7♸ to 1, which is incredibly low while the value on the other supposition, 8♹ to 1, is more probable. Some have conjectured that it was completed in Nero's reign and Mr. Hussey At what time this reduction was made in the weight of the denarius is uncertain, as it is not mentioned in history. There were originally 84 denarii to a pound ( Plin. The denarius was first coined five years before the first Punic war, B.C. 269. The principal silver coin among the Romans, was so called because it was originally equal to ten asses but on the reduction of the weight of the as, it was made equal to sixteen asses, except in military pay, in which it was still reckoned as ten asses A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, John Murray, London, 1875.
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