The Roman Empire is one of the most magnificent countries of Antiquity, which received such a name in honor of its capital - the city of Rome, the founder of which is Romulus.
Interesting facts about the Roman Empire
The territory of the empire was striking in its size: it stretched from north to south from Great Britain to Ethiopia, from east to west from Iran to Portugal.
In terms of development, the ancient Romans were far ahead of their time. It was here that Roman law was born and gained its distribution, such architectural phenomena as a dome and arch also first appeared in Rome. Sewerage worked in the empire, there were excellent baths and saunas with hot water, water mills, by the way, were also invented here, not to mention roads that are in perfect condition and are still in operation.
Culture and life of the ancient Romans
The official language of the Roman Empire was Latin, the one that currently stands for most medical terms. In those days, they knew how to treat many diseases, including fractures, problems with teeth (during excavations they found a skull with sealed teeth), they performed surgical operations.
In general, the standard of living in the Roman Empire was the highest in those days. She successfully resisted the barbarians, conducted several wars with Carthage, wiping out a formidable enemy from the face of the Earth, and also conducted powerful campaigns to seize neighboring territories.
We know a lot about the ancient rulers, science, culture and life of the Romans due to the fact that they kept detailed records of all the outstanding events in the life of the country, many of which have survived to our times.
Form of government and civil liberties
The Romans managed to create and maintain a republican form of government. Even slaves here had their rights and opportunities. The inhabitants of the country adhered to their own ideology, which subsequently allowed expanding the territory of the country and making it a huge superpower of that time.
In Rome, patriarchy reigned. But, despite the fact that the head of the family was the older man and all other members of the family were under his authority, women had some rights and freedoms. So, a woman was engaged in household affairs, had the right to freely move around the city or country, go to visit friends, attend public meetings.
Only men were involved in politics, but women from high society were allowed certain privileges. And yet, the fair sex did not have the right to own real estate, as well as sons to the death of their father. The financial affairs of the family also dealt with the head of the clan. He could also recognize the child as his own and contain him or order him to kill.
Education
In the Roman Empire, education was born, which can rightfully be considered the forerunner of the modern education system. Girls and boys entered school at the age of seven. Education was divided into three stages: primary, secondary and higher. At the first two stages, general information was given in each subject, and in high school the emphasis was on the study of oratory.
Wealthy families preferred home education for their children, it was considered very prestigious to have a Greek teacher, who, as a rule, was a slave.
There were schools where girls and boys studied together. At 17, young men had to undergo military training. For girls, education was also compulsory, but it was more practical in nature - knowledge and skills were to help them fulfill the duties of a housewife and raising children.
It was very fashionable to get higher education in Greece. Mostly they studied rhetoric in schools on the island of Rhodes, which was far from a cheap pleasure, but gave great prospects.
The financial system in the early stages of the formation of Rome
At the dawn of the emergence of the empire, the Italians' economy was built on commodity exchange. Suppose a family specialized in the production (baking of bread), she grew grain, collected, ground and made flour, which she later used. Family members exchanged the finished bread for the goods they needed.
Later, cattle began to play the role of money. With the rise of the country's economy, small bars of copper and gold appear, which have become more convenient substitutes for money. Over time, they transformed into the first Roman coins. So weight money appeared.
The first money is copper coins
In the 4th century BC e. on the territory of the state, the first Roman bronze coins, which were called "assy," began to be minted. There were two types of aces: imperial and sea, which paid salaries to sailors.
Greek coins - drachmas are actively used. But Roman silver coins begin to be minted in 268 BC. e. These coins depicted gods, rulers and prominent figures of the state, various animals.
Coins of the Roman Empire, photos of samples of which are given below, are found everywhere in the former territory of the state.
The Senate and a special unit, the prototype of the mint, were engaged in the manufacture of coins. There are records that during the reign of Gaius Julius Caesar, a Roman gold coin was minted by the mint, and sometimes he produced coins, specially underestimating the sample of metal, in other words, counterfeit money.
Gold coins were issued in various denominations: 60 aces (3.5 grams), 40 (2.2 grams) and 20 (1.2 grams) aces.
A variety of silver and copper coins
There were four types of silver coins:
- Denarius, worth 10 aces. Their weight was 4.5 grams.
- Victory, the cost of which was equal to 7.5 aces, and the weight was 3.4 grams.
- Quinarium. The equivalent in assy was 5 coins. Weight - 2.2 grams.
- Sisters (2.5 assa - 1.1 grams).
Denarius was the most common currency made from silver. Such coins participated both in domestic and foreign trade. Double denarius - it was the most expensive Roman silver coin.
The Roman copper coin, besides the Asces, had several more species, the main difference of which was their size and weight.
- ass - 36 grams;
- semis - 18 grams;
- triens - 12 grams;
- quadrans - 9 grams;
- sextans - 6 grams;
- ounce - 3 grams;
- Semunts - 1.5 grams.
Silver deficit and new gold coin - aureus
The minting of gold coins stopped after the end of the second Punic war and resumed already after 100 years, during the reign of Sulla. The reason for the restoration of this monetary system was the lack of silver and a surplus of gold in the state, as well as the need to finance the impending war against the Marians.
The new Roman gold coin began to be called aura, which translates from Latin as "gold". The weight of the coin was 10.5 grams. The rare ancient Roman coin Pompey Magna, minted due to a shortage of silver, dates back to this time. After the Sertorian war, the Aureans are no longer in use.
Financial reform
A new monetary reform was carried out in 141. Its need was caused by a constant drop in the value of aces. Now Roman coins had a new symbol instead of the “X” symbol - asterisks or crossed out tens.
Silver coins, such as the Sestercia and Quinarius, also disappear a few years after the reform.
Copper money almost did not change until the beginning of the 1st century, after which it gradually disappears from the arena. At that time, the Roman Empire already had impressive dimensions, so the financial needs of the state were met by local coinage: tetradrachms of Macedonia, cystophores of Asia Minor, bronze coins of Spain, and other provinces of Rome. There was a credit, bill system, as well as debt receipts.
Bronze was cheap enough material, and to give the coins purchasing value, they printed a special abbreviation - SC, which stands for Senatus Consulto. Almost all bronze coins issued before the 3rd century had this sign on the back.
On the coins of later times Aurelian and Postum, this sign is absent, but on all the others it is, and almost without variations in spelling. Also during the period of the Empire's prosperity, several rare coins from precious metals were issued, with the abbreviations EX, SC. Historians believe that these Roman coins were minted from senatorial ingots of a higher standard.
Image of rulers on money and decoding of inscriptions
Money from different eras depicted rulers corresponding to that time. Roman emperors on coins stood out clearly enough, inscriptions and abbreviations usually went around their heads.
For example, a ruler’s profile is shown on a coin from the time of Domitian, and the following inscription can be seen around: IMP CAES DOMIT AVG GERM PM TRP XII
IMP XXII COS XVI CENS P PP.
We will analyze this inscription in more detail.
- The abbreviation IMP means "Emperor" - the commander in chief of the Roman army. The title was updated after every victorious war.
- The number after the title of Emperor means how many times this title has been awarded to this person. If there is no number, then he received the title only once.
- CAES - means Caesar. The imperial title, originating in the time of Julius Caesar, in whose name you can see this designation.
- AVG - August. Another imperial title. For a long period of time, the rulers wore both titles: Caesar and Augustus, as a more modern definition. Later, the title Caesar began to refer to the younger representative of the imperial family.
- PM - Pontific Maximus, or Supreme Pontiff. If there are several rulers at the same time, then this title passed to the eldest of emperors, all the rest were simply listed as pontiffs. With the adoption of Christianity, this designation was no longer used. And over time, the title began to belong to the Pope.
- TRP - translated as a tribune of the people, which was a very honorary position in the Republican Rome. The number next to the abbreviation means how many times the ruler has performed the duties of the aforementioned position.
- COS - Consul - the highest position in Rome since the republic. During the empire, it was often performed by members of the ruling family, but only the Emperor could become Consul more than once. The number shown next shows how many times Caesar acted as Consul. In the case of Domitian, we see the number 16.
- PP - Father of the Fatherland. The title was given to emperors several years after their reign. Domitian received it in the 12th year of his stay in power. In the case of Emperor Hadrian, the Mint made a mistake. In the first year of the emperor’s reign, a batch of coins was issued with the title of Father of the Fatherland assigned to him, in the next decade this title was not on coins.
- GERM - German. It served as a reminder and glorification of a particular emperor as a conqueror and winner of the tribes.
- CENS P - censor position. As a rule, the emperor performed it for life.
There are a number of other interesting abbreviations, such as, for example, on coins from the time of Constantine I, II and Licinius II.
On these coins, in addition to the notation already known to us, the following abbreviations appear.
- MAX - Maximus, i.e. the greatest. The title was assigned to Constantine I, better known as Constantine the Great.
- SM, P - Sacra coin, or petsunia (money), sometimes included in the hallmark of the college for minting coins.
- VOT - Vota - an oath. Each emperor took an oath in which he promised to serve his people. Usually it was repeated after a certain time.
- PERP - Perpetus - eternal. The definition was used in conjunction with other titles.
- DN - Dominus Noster, can be translated as "our master." The ceremony of coming to power of the new Caesar began with these words.
- DV - Divus, which means "divine." This title was awarded to the deceased deified ruler.
- PT - Pater, father. This inscription appeared on coins with Constantine the Great, which were issued by his sons.
- VNMR - Venerebilis memorial, or eternal memory. Inscription on coins dedicated to Constantine the Great.
Images of gods on coins of various eras
Besides Caesars, Roman coins carried images of their gods. Such coins were widely used in Greece, which was already part of the Roman Empire.
The following deities were mainly depicted:
- Asclepius, the patron saint of medicine.
- Apollo is the god of music and the arts.
- Liber Bacchus is the god of winemaking and entertainment. A coin was issued during the time of Septimius Severus.
- Demeter is the goddess of agriculture.
- Celeste is an African goddess whose cult was especially popular in Rome during the reign of the North.
- Artemis is a goddess-hunter. The coin was issued during the time of Julius Domna.
- Hercules is a demigod, the son of Zeus and a mortal woman. It was a symbol of strength and unwaveringness. Depicted on the coins of the period of Septimius Severus.
- Isis is an Egyptian goddess who was very popular in the Empire at the end of the 3rd century AD. e. It can be seen on the denarii of the time of Julius Domna.
- Janus often appeared on republican denarii, but was extremely rare in the Empire.
- Juno is the wife of the supreme god Zeus. The coin was minted during the time of Julius Mesa.
- Zeus - Sisters of the North.
- Ares, Mars - the bloody god of war. It was popular during the time of Septimius Severus.
- Nemesis, the goddess of revenge. It is found on the denarii of the emperor Claudius.
Coins of the Holy Roman Empire can be purchased at auctions starting at $ 50 apiece, or from collectors for a bargain price. They are a frequent exhibit among admirers of antiquity.
Roman coins, photos of which are published in online auctions, can be examined in detail before purchase. But the rare finds that can be seen in museums in Europe, become public.