Most people have some idea what Greeks and Romans coins looked like, but few know how complex Greek and Roman monetary systems eventually became. The contributors to this volume are numismatists, ancient historians, and economists intent on investigating how these systems worked and how they both did and did not resemble a modern monetary system. Why did people first start using coins? How did Greeks and Romans make payments, large or small? What does money mean in Greek tragedy? Was the Roman Empire an integrated economic system? This volume can serve as an introduction to such questions, but it also offers the specialist the results of original research.

"The Monetary System of the Romans" provides a comprehensive and visual portrayal of the evolution of the Roman monetary system from its inception in the late fifth century BC to the bronze reform of Anastasius in 498AD. It chronologically traces the key developments in the coinage of the Roman world, covering topics such as denominations, metrology, alloys, mints, monetary edicts and more. For every issuing authority, whether it be the Senate, imperator, usurper or emperor, exemplary specimens of each denomination are discussed and clearly illustrated. With 820 pages and over 2000 full colour high resolution photographs from the world's most esteemed auction houses, this novel format provides a comprehensive introduction to the subject of Roman numismatics and will be useful to both students of history and collectors alike.

Excerpt from History of Monetary Systems: Record of Actual Experiments in Money Made by Various States of the Ancient and Modern World, as Drawn From Their Statutes, Customs, Treaties, Mining Regulations, Jurisprudence, History, Archaeology, Coins, Nummulary Systems, and Other Sources of Informati The origin and progress of Private Coinage has also been an object Of attention. Private coinage, or, as it is now euphemized, free coinage, namely, the license granted to private individuals to coin the precious metals without limit, or to compel the State to make coins for them and to confer upon such coins the legal functions Of money, coupled with license to export and melt down the coins, was unknown to the ancient world. In the great states of antiquity money was apillar of the constitution. In the republics Of Greece and Rome it was a social instrument, designed, limited, stamped, issued, and made current by the State, - in short, in vented, owned, and regulated by the State. It is now generally admitted that the so-called gentes coins of Rome were not of private fabrication, but issued by the State, and stamped with the gens mark of the State moneyers. There appears to have been no private coin age in Europe before the issuance of Mahomet's Koran and its scornful repudiation of the Roman religion and political system. The baronial and ecclesiastical mints of the middle ages, when not authorized by the German Em pire, or by the princes Of the Western States, were baronial or ecclesiastical only in name; they were really robbers' dens, and were so termed in the oflicial proclamations Of the time. Their trade Of private coin age was both surreptitious and unlawful, and was often expiated with the lives of the proprietors; The Plantag enet kings broke up some thousands of them. After the fall of the Roman Empire in 1204 the prerog ative of the coinage was exercised for a brief period by the emperors of Germany, but soon afterward fell to the various independent states that rose upon the ruins of the Old Empire. In a process commenced by the procureur-general under Philip IV., against the Comte de Nevers, for melting down the coins of the realm, it was held that this was a royal prerogative which be longed to the king alone, and which in case of neces sity he might employ, not indeed for his private advantage, but in defense of the State. The prerogative was, however, much more fully and completely laid down by Sir Matthew Hale in the celebrated case Of the Mixed Moneys. Its unwilling surrender by the Crown took place under the Stuarts. Events have dem onstrated that the Act is wholly inconsistent With the safety of the State, and that it demands revision. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

The Roman monetary system was highly complex. It involved official Roman coins in both silver and bronze, which some provinces produced while others imported them from mints in Rome and elsewhere, as well as, in the East, a range of civic coinages. This is a comprehensive study of the workings of the system in the Eastern provinces from the Augustan period to the third century AD, when the Roman Empire suffered a monetary and economic crisis. The Eastern provinces exemplify the full complexity of the system, but comparisons are made with evidence from the Western provinces as well as with appropriate case studies from other historical times and places. The book will be essential for all Roman historians and numismatists and of interest to a broader range of historians of economics and finance.

This authoritative study of the Roman monetary system offers a fascinating glimpse into the economic history of the ancient world. Drawing on original sources and extensive research, the author provides a detailed account of how money was minted, distributed, and used in the Roman Empire, shedding new light on the economic policies and practices of one of history's most powerful civilizations. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.