Following the death of Caesar coinage was produced by the various parties fighting to succeed him but with Octavian's victory a uniform Roman coinage was once more established. In 84 BCE once again the link between warfare and coinage was evidenced when Sulla minted new silver and gold coins to pay his armies, a necessity repeated by Julius Caesar, who in 46 BCE, minted the largest quantity of gold coin yet seen in Rome, outproducing the state mint in the process. It was now no longer necessary to mark coins as Roman as there were no others in Italy and by the 1st century BCE Roman coins were now also being widely used across the Mediterranean. 141 BCE the bronze as was devalued so that now 16 were equivalent to one denarius. This was especially so following the acquisition of the silver mines of Macedonia from 167 BCE, resulting in a huge boom in silver coins from 157 BCE. In 46 BCE Julius Caesar minted the largest quantity of gold coins yet seen in Rome.Īs Rome expanded and took ever more treasure from her enemies silver began to replace bronze as the most important material for coinage. Due to financial necessity, gold coins (aurei) were also minted, a rare event not to be repeated until the 1st century BCE. Gradually, following the financial excesses of the Punic Wars, the weight of coins was reduced, as was the metal content of the bronze bars. These were worth two Greek drachmas and carried the legend ROMANO, later to become ROMA. The first silver coins were produced from the early 3rd century BCE and resembled contemporary Greek coins. The first Roman coins were probably the small bronze ones of low value produced at Neapolis from 326 BCE and carried the legend PΩMAIΩN.
As the Romans expanded over central Italy war booty meant coins could be produced using precious metals - gold, silver, and bronze. Despite their heaviness, this type continued to be produced up to c. These units were quite large as one unit was the equivalent of 324 g. The early Republic did not use coins but rather a system of bronze weights, the aes rude.
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