Thp right of coinage, which at first was vest ed in the consuls and other magistrates, was now confined to a special board of t riunt rirf its (meta les (though at first the board of moneyers was not limited to three), and these early began to place their initials. monograms, or names upon their coins. We thus have a long series of coins (the so-called 'family' or 'consular' se ries) bearing the most noble names in Roman history from the third century u.c. to Julius Ca.sar, Pompey, Brutus, Cassius, and 1\1. Anto Mits. _!bout n.c. 150 the types begin to be very various on the silver coins. each inoneyer follow ing his own whim in recording family traditions, religious cults, or historical events. In n.c. 01 the great. uprising broke out which is known as the Social War. :Many tribes of Central Italy declared themselves independent of Rome, and formed an offensive and defensive alliance against Rome, striking coins with the name of their leader, Q. Pompedins Silo, with the type of the bull of Italy crushing the serpent of Rome. and with the name of their new republic, Italia, in Oscan or Latin letters. It required years for Rome to subdue this powerful union, and in B.C. 89 a financial crisis was again averted by the expe dient of reducing the coinage. The silver was not changed, but the as was made equal to the semi/nein uneia). This is called the somun eial system. This was the last change under the Republic. (told had not heretofore been coined in Rome (though gold pieces of 20, 40, and GO sesterees, Roma, had been struck after 13.C. 217 in the Romano-Campanian series); in the last century of the Repuldic, however, there were numerous emissions of demo irii unrci (or simply aurci), which, like the silver coins, bear the names of magistrates and generals. as Sulla, Pompey, and (;tsar. It was Julius C:csar who first placed his portrait on a Roman coin.
The standard work on coins of Republican Rome is Bal?elon, Description h ist oriqur rl ebilo uolopiryau des in mi net ies de lu r'puLliqur ro omful- (2 vols., Paris, 18S5). With this compare ;*thrfeldt Nue/it/10e (Ind Beriehtig (sari!. ...^:ur der isehen llepubli k (Vienna. lti'97 with supplementary volume. 1900). Con sult, also, ftirocci, Le in (met r OP halts' ant ira (Rome. 1885).
With Angustus C;esar lwgins the coinage of the Empire. a long and important series with an infinite number of varieties in gold, silver. and bnmze. Augustus took under his personal charge the coinage of gold and silver, leaving the bronze to the Senate; wherefore bronze coins from now till the third century hear the letters S. C. (se nut us consul o, 'by order of the senate'). The obverse of Imperial coins generally bears the ruler's with his name and titles; the re verse has a varying type (deity. personification.
group. monument. or the like). with explanatory inscription or contiimation of Imperial titles.
;un-; are: in gold. rhn,ii « writs (or simply a u rens). equal to 25 silver drnurii, and its half. the qu ina ri us au reu in silver, the (filo/rink, equal to four Rester, ii, and the qu rius, of two snstety1 : in bronze, the sestertius (so-called 'large-lironze'). of four nsses, dumm y/ins, of two asses (`middle bronze'). fIR (`middle semis (half-as, so-called and quadrans (quarter-as, also so-called 'small The scsi, inns and dupondins are of yellow bronze (orichalcutn),the as of red bronze. Further, the dupondins and as, \Odell are al most of a size, are generally distinguished by the fact that the former has the imperial head with radiate or spiked crown—the latter with laurel wreath. Down through the Antonine period we have a splendid series both artistically and tech nically, but from the reign of Commodus (1S0 1!92) coins begin to he debased both in quality and fabric. The denarins especially began to be small and of base metal. so that Caracalla intro duced a new silver coin, the antunininnus, double denarins, distinguished by the radiate crown for emperors, and a crescent at the neck for empresses. From this time all coins (except gold, which is rare) were more and more de based. Billon superseded silver, or the denarins became a copper coin Washed with silver. The larger bronze coins, sestertius. d [WW1 i us, as, disappeared forever. Cutler the later Empire mints were opened in all parts of the Roman world, and the sign of the mint appears on the coin, as PLON (pee/0/h/ Laudit nsis, mint of London), SAIANT (sacra moneln Antiochensis, mint of Antioch) etc. Constantine (Am. 312) fixed the gold unit at 1-72 of a pound, and named it .solidus, with divisions, the s,missis or half, and tricns or third. Ile reestablished silver coins, notably the miliarense and the siliqua; and coined in bronze the maiorina and eenteniOnaliS. These coins endured till the fall of the Western Empire. The art of the Roman coins is best expressed hy their portraiture. During the first two centuries the portraits are masterpieces; ill the third century they are either gross or brutal; and in the fourth and fifth they are unnatural and absurd.
The reference work on Imperial coins is Cohen, Description historique des monnnieR trap pl'es sous /'empire domain (2d ed.. Paris. 1880 90). Consult also: Stevenson, Dictionary of loin Ulb Coins (London. 18891 ; Onceehi, Monde rmnane (Milan, 1896) ; Illanchet, Les monnaies romnines ( Paris. 1896).