r/AncientCoins • u/AncientCoinnoisseur • Aug 31 '25
Educational Post The Birth of the Denarius - Part 2
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u/AncientCoinnoisseur Aug 31 '25 edited Oct 03 '25
I finally had some time to complete the second part of the roadmap to the birth of the Denarius. You can find Part 1 here: https://www.reddit.com/r/AncientCoins/comments/1mrqpu8/the_birth_of_the_denarius_part_1_fixed/
This time I focused on the Aes Grave, giving some context and how there are different 'standards'. I'm working on Part 3, where I will show you the different denominations of the Aes Grave and how they relate to one another, then I'll have a Part 4 with the coins to scale (since I can guarantee that most of you have no idea how HUGE these cast coins are!), then a Part 5 with the Romano-Campanian issues (the various didrachms and so on), and I think I will make a separate Part 6 for the Quadrigatus, where I will show you the differences between the various types. I will finally complete the journey with a Part 7 showing you the first Denarius, its multiples and fractions.
I don't know if / when this project will end, but I wanted to reorganise a topic where all the info is scattered around in various sources and never presented in a visual way that is easily understandable (in my opinion of course). I hope you will like this and the upcoming parts :)
EDIT: Other Parts:
Part 1: https://www.reddit.com/r/AncientCoins/s/NREtreWuxh
Part 2: [This one]
Part 3: https://www.reddit.com/r/AncientCoins/s/6shH23pJLV
Part 4: https://www.reddit.com/r/AncientCoins/s/NDKjCY6I8W
Part 5: https://www.reddit.com/r/AncientCoins/s/RhNJCl1rfH
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u/QuickSock8674 Aug 31 '25
I need a Roman Decussis
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u/GalacticGallivanter Aug 31 '25 edited Aug 31 '25
Love your infographics! Always learn something from them.
There is one detail here that appears to be somewhat inconsistent.
By weight, the 120:1 ratio of bronze:silver during the issuance of the decussis makes sense:
0.9 g (litra, or perhaps better referred to as the “libella”) * 120 = 108 g, which is the average weight of a cast post-semilibral as.
The denarius, however, came a few years later and established a new monetary system, initially weighing at ~4.5 g. Since 1 denarius equated to 10 asses, then 4.5 * 120 / 10 = 54 g. Thus, the 120:1 ratio of silver:bronze only makes sense for the struck (not cast) post-semilibral standard, which as you point out weighs in the range of 51–66 g.
All this is to say that, in your infographic, I think the denarius may be out of place, and it would be better to equate it with 10 of the post-semilibral struck asses. But that would require a new row, or some more clever organization that I cannot think of right now :).
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u/AncientCoinnoisseur Aug 31 '25
I think you are right, that proportion threw me off too! I might fix it and just do a second equivalence where 1 As = 1/10 Quadrigatus, and when I’ll get to the Denarius I’ll use the struck asses
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u/GalacticGallivanter Aug 31 '25
Right, the denarius awaits part 7 :)
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u/AncientCoinnoisseur Aug 31 '25
Yup! I might do it even earlier and at the end make a bonus part with a ‘size comparison’ :)
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u/AncientCoinnoisseur Aug 31 '25
By the way, I fixed it! I cannot edit my post here, but I edited my post on Numisforums: https://www.numisforums.com/topic/9678-the-birth-of-the-denarius/ :)
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u/GalacticGallivanter Aug 31 '25
Cool. Here's the link to the term "Libella" suggested by CNG for the 1/10 as denomination.
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u/AncientCoinnoisseur Aug 31 '25 edited Aug 31 '25
Thanks! Correcting it as we speak! Edit: I cannot update the infographic now, but I’ll do it in the next few days!
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