The antoninianus initially was made of silver and was set at two denarii. The debasement of the denarius continued with the introduction of the antoninianus in 215 AD under the emperor Caracalla (198-217). Under the emperor Commodus (177-192 AD), the silver content fell to 70%, and then following a brief period of civil war, the emperor Septimus Severus (193-211) lowered the silver contentto 45%.įoreign wars, a vast empire to police and finance, a restless population where there were soon more on the dole than there were working gave rise to a series of monetary crises. It continued to be lowered under later emperors but it was towards the end of the third century AD that a more serious debasement got under way. Under Nero (54-68 AD) it was reduced again, to 3.4 grams. Under the emperor Augustus (27 BC – 14 AD) the silver content fell to 3.9 grams. Its debasement began near the end of the Republican period and the start of the period known as the Roman Empire. It formed the backbone of the Roman Republic. In terms of measurement, it contained 4.5 grams of silver. Initially, the denarius contained roughly 90% silver. Two-and-a-half asses were equivalent to a sestertius 25 denarii equalled a gold aureus. The denarius was set at a price of 10 bronze asses (no jokes, please). It came into use around 212 BC and was a kind of successor to the Greek drachma, which was the reserve currency during the period of the Greek empire. The Roman denarius was the reserve currency of the Roman Empire. It reminded me of the chart of the loss of US$ purchasing power since 1774. I found the chart showing the decline of the silver content of the Roman denarius quite fascinating. Trajan Decius (249-251 AD) followed Phillip the Arab (244-249 AD). That period saw the reign of Trajan (98-117 AD). Note: on the chart above, the listing of Trajan Decius between the emperors Titus (79-81 AD) and Hadrian (117-138 AD) looks to be a mistake.
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