In the Roman currency system, the denarius (plural: denarii) was a small silver coin first minted in 211 BC. It was the most common coin produced for circulation but was slowly debased until its replacement by the antoninianus. The word denarius is derived from the Latin dēnī "containing ten", as its value was 10 asses; it may also be the origin of the word dinar (see that page for further discussion).
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An early form of the denarius was first struck five years before the first Punic War, in 269 BC[1] with a weight of 6.8 grams on average at the time or 1⁄48 of a Roman pound. Contact with the Greeks prompted a need for silver coinage in addition to the bronze ases the Romans were using at that time. This was a Greek-style silver coin, very similar to didrachm and drachma struck in Metapontion and other Greek cities in Southern Italy. These coins were inscribed for Rome, but closely resemble their Greek counterparts. They were most likely used for trade purposes and seldom used in Rome.
Around 225 B.C. the first distinctively Roman silver coin appears.[2] Classic historians often cite these coins as denarii, but they are classified by modern numismatists as quadrigatus. The name quadrigatus comes from the quadriga or four-horse chariot on the reverse, which was the prototype for the most common designs used on Roman silver coins for the next 150 years.[3][4][5]
Rome overhauled its coinage around 211 BC and introduced a standardized denarius alongside a short lived denomination called the victoriatus. This standardized denarius contained 4.5 grams on average at the time or 1⁄72 of a Roman pound of silver. It was the backbone of Roman currency through the Roman Republic with fair consistency at this weight. [6]
The denarius began to undergo slow debasement towards the end of the Republic. Under the rule of Augustus its silver content fell to 3.9 grams (a theoretical weight of 1⁄84 of a Roman pound). It then remained at near this weight until the time of Nero, when it was reduced to 1⁄96 of a pound, or 3.4 grams. Debasement of the silver continued after Nero. Later Roman emperors reduced it to a weight of 3 grams around the late 3rd century.[7]
The value at its introduction was 10 asses, giving the denarius its name which translates to "containing ten". In about 141 BC it was re-tariffed at 16 asses, to reflect the decrease in weight of the as. The denarius continued to be the main coin of the Roman Empire until it was replaced by the antoninianus in the middle of the 3rd century. The last issuance for this coin seems to be bronze coins issued by Aurelian between AD 270 and 275, and in the first years of the reign of Diocletian. For more details, see the article 'Denarius' in A Dictionary of Ancient Roman Coins by John R. Melville-Jones (1990).[8][9]
It is problematic to give even rough comparative values for money from before the 20th century, as the range of products and services available for purchase was very different. The coin's purchasing power in terms of bread in the first century AD has been estimated as equivalent to US$21 in 2005. Classical historians often say that in the late Roman Republic and early Roman Empire the daily wage for an unskilled laborer and common soldier was 1 denarius (with no tax deductions) or about US$20 in bread. By comparison, a laborer earning the minimum wage in the United States makes US$58 for an 8-hour day, before taxes. The silver content of the denarius under the Roman Empire was about 50 grains, or 1⁄10 troy ounce. In June 6 2011, this corresponded to approximately US$3.62 in value if the silver were 0.999 pure (which it wasn't).
The fineness of the silver content varied with political and economic circumstances. By the reign of Gallienus, the antoninianus was a copper coin with a thin silver wash.[10]
Even after the denarius was no longer regularly issued, it continued to be used as a unit of account, and the name was applied to later Roman coins in a way that is not understood. The Arabs who conquered large parts of the Roman Empire issued their own Gold dinar. The lasting legacy of the denarius can be seen in the use of "d" as the abbreviation for the British penny prior to 1971.[11] It survived in France as the name of a coin, the denier. The denarius also survives in the common Arabic name for a currency unit, the dinar used from pre-Islamic times, and still used in several modern Arabic-speaking nations. The major currency unit in former Yugoslavia and currently in Serbia is the dinar. The Macedonian currency denar is also derived from the Roman denarius. The Italian word denaro, the Spanish word dinero, the Portuguese word dinheiro, the Slovene word denar and the Catalan word diner, all meaning money, are also derived from Latin denarius.
The gold aureus seems to have been a "currency of account," a denomination not commonly seen in daily transactions due to its high value. Numismatists think that the aureus was used to pay bonuses to the legions at the accession of new emperors. It was valued at 25 denarii.
1 gold aureus = 2 gold quinarii = 25 silver denarii = 50 silver quinarii = 100 bronze sestertii = 200 bronze dupondii = 400 copper asses = 800 copper semisses = 1600 copper quadrantes
The Bible refers to the denarius as a day's wage for a common laborer (Matthew 20:2 [1]; John 12:5 [2]).The value of the denarius is referred to, though perhaps not literally, in the Bible at Revelation 6:6: "And I heard something like a voice in the center of the four living creatures saying, 'A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius [Latin Vulgate: bilibris tritici denario et tres bilibres hordei denario, δηναρίου in the original Greek]; and do not damage the oil and the wine.'"
6. Denarius – A roman soldiers daily pay!
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