Drachmas Doubloons and Dollars: The History of Money
(Exhibition Home)
Ancient Rome
Introduction
Early Italian and Roman Republican Coinages (c. 500-88 BC) - Julius Caesar and the Late Republic (88-27 BC) - Augustus and the Roman Principate - Nero (AD 54-68) and Propaganda - Biblical Coins - Roman Provincial Coins - The Severan Family (AD 193-235) - Economic and Political Decline - The Late Roman Empire (AD 284-476)
Early Italian and Roman Republican Coinages (c. 500-88 BC)

Beginning in the 6th century BC, Italians used cast bronze ingots as money. In about 300 BC, Rome struck the first silver coin, inspired by those of the Greek colonies in southern Italy. Rome introduced a new coinage in 212 BC, during the war against Hannibal and the Carthaginians. Based on the silver denarius and the bronze as, this currency system existed for many centuries.
Cast bronze ramo secco ("dry branch") bar (3rd century BC).
Cast bronze aes grave (3rd century BC), depicting the head of the god Apollo.
Silver didrachmon (270-260 BC), with a she-wolf and the twins Romulus and Remus, carrying the inscription "[money] of the Romans."
Silver quadrigatus (c. 225 BC) depicting Jupiter in a chariot.
Bronze as (211-210 BC) depicting the prow of a ship.
Silver denarius (209-208 BC) with the head of Roma; the X for the Roman numeral 10 is a value mark.
Silver denarius (113-112 BC) showing Roman citizens voting.
Etruscan gold 50 as piece (211-210 BC) with stylized lion's head.
Silver denarius (90-88 BC) struck by insurgent Italian allies of the Marsic Confederation. The Marsic bull gores the Roman she-wolf; this scene proclaimed allied discontent over Roman refusal to extend citizenship.