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6 - The Strangeness of Rome’s Early Heavy Bronze Coinage

from Part II - Material Sources

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 April 2023

Seth Bernard
Affiliation:
University of Toronto
Lisa Marie Mignone
Affiliation:
New York University
Dan-el Padilla Peralta
Affiliation:
Princeton University, New Jersey
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Summary

This chapter revisits the function of Rome’s earliest cast bronze coinages or aes grave (RRC 14, 18, and 19). Primary attention is given to the complex denomination system and new statistical analyses of the weights of known specimens. This new evidence is combined with known find spot data and comparative evidence from aes rude to suggest that the heaviness of these monetary objects met regional cultural expectations while also imitating Greek coinage styles. The chapter also demonstrates that these series are unlikely to conform to different weight standards, being all on a libral standard, with the existence of a so-called “supra-libral” standard being only a misinterpretation of the available data. The degree of variation in the data, with many “overweight” specimens among the lower denominations, strongly suggests that the intrinsic value of the raw materials was secondary to their face value.

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Chapter
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Making the Middle Republic
New Approaches to Rome and Italy, c.400-200 BCE
, pp. 103 - 131
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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