-The Euro-
And its Origins in Ancient History
By Max Paschall
The Euro, introduced on
In the years during the second
Punic war (218-202 B.C.), the
But the didrachm was not the only denomination of coinage. There were many different bronze denominations. This series of bronze coinage is known as Aes Grave. Aes Grave was cast; instead of being struck with was the normal coining method. There were many different denominations of Aes Grave, they included:
Decussis = 10 asses
Quincussis = 5 asses
Tressis = 3 asses
Dupondius = 2 asses
As = 12 unciae, 1/10 decussis
Semis = 6 unciae
Triens = 4 unciae
Quadrans = 3 unciae
Sextans = 2 unciae
Uncia = 2 semiunciae
Semiuncia = ˝ uncial
This method was used from circa 255 B.C. – 217 B.C., when the first struck coins in Roman history first appeared. This series of Republican struck coinage is known as Post-Reform bronzes. The list of denominations has all of the above, plus many more. One of the first struck bronzes was the smallest denomination of Roman coinage in history. This coin was the quartuncia. The quartuncia was essentially a test. It continued for two years; from 217-215 B.C., and is rare. Its production was put to a halt because of its minute value, for it could buy practically nothing.
But in 211 B.C., the Romans
finally introduced a silver coin of Roman origin. They called it the denarius. It was a small coin, only about 3 grams
of silver. On the obverse was the
head of Roma (the personification of the city) facing right with the letter X
behind (X represents the value, X=10 thus the denarius was worth 10 asses), and
on the reverse the two dioscuri (Castor and Pollux, sons of Jupiter) rode side
by side on horseback with, once again, the inscription of "ROMA” beneath. The denarius evolved many times over the
years and remained in use for 500 years, from 211 B.C. to the late
3rd century A.D. when it was debased into bronze. It was the main currency of ancient
As you can see, the Euro has the
exact same concept as the denarius.
The concept of a single currency being accepted everywhere with the same
value everywhere. But in ancient
times it was a lot easier to do so because the
Look similar? Despite rather obvious physical differences, they are exactly
alike in concept.
The USD (United States Dollar) is
actually not only used in
Then
Depending on which country a
certain Euro is minted in, it will have a design unique to that country
only. People who live in a country
which circulates had to convert their banking and checking accounts into Euros
by
COUNTRY VALUE TO 1 EURO
THE
Of course, the values of the different currencies to the Euro will change. I just put the chart up to give a general sense of what the value is.
Just like the denarius, the Euro
has fractions and multiples. For
instance, a 2 Euro coin is an antoninianus, for this denomination was worth two
denarii. The antoninianus was first
introduced by the emperor Caracalla in 214 A.D. Although the original name of the antoninianus
is unknown, we have named it after Caracalla. His real name was Marcus
Aurelius Antoninus; he was called Caracalla for the Gallic cape he wore. He introduced the antoninianus because he had debased
the silver content in the denarius to a minute 40%, which is VERY low for a coin
which is supposed to be 100% silver.
The public was bothered by the emperor’s incompetence; so the emperor
introduced a new currency to get his PR back. Yet he was still cheating the public out
of their money because the antoninianus, which was worth 2 denarii, only had
150% of the denarius’s weight. Initially the new antoninianus and older
denarius were both minted and circulated, but far more denarii were minted.
Twenty-five years after the antoninianus was introduce, Gordian III (known as the
"Boy Emperor”, since he was only 13 when he ascended the throne) replaced the
denarius with the antoninianus and made it the main currency of the
|
|
Gordian III denarius, c 3.2g, c. 19.5 mm Note the laureate bust right, laurel = denarius |
Gordian III antoninianus, c. 3.8g,
c. 21.5 mm |
As you can tell, the only two physical differences of antoninianii is size (which should not be used to differentiate between them), and head wear. If the emperor is wearing a laurel wreath, the denomination is a denarius. If the head wear is a radiate crown, the denomination is an antoninianus. You will often see dealers list the antoninianus as a double-denarius. They do this because an antoninianus was worth 2 denarii in ancient times.
Modern culture
is completely modeled on the past.
In everything we do, there is at least some part of it deriving in
Antiquity. Whether seeing a movie,
or driving a car; you can find hundreds of ancestors in ancient history. Especially in our modern monetary
system, not only the Euro but most culture’s currencies. The eagle on the back of a quarter is
almost identical to eagles on Roman provincials from
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. http://europa.eu.int/euro/html/dossiers/00232/html/index-EN.html
2. Roman Coins and Their Values, by David R. Sear, Millennium Edition, Vol. I, Spink
3. Leigh B. Paschall, VP of the European Division at Chase Manhattan