Book Description

During the two centuries before the birth of Christ, all the lands around the Mediterranean came under the control of the Romans. Their power extended into Europe as far as the Rhine and the Danube and into Asia as far as the Euphrates. Some use was made of coined money over the whole of that area before the Romans came; there were diverse currencies, based on a number of different systems. By the middle of the first century A.D. Roman gold and silver had taken the place of almost all other value currencies, and in much of the area Roman bronze and copper had taken the place of other kinds of small change. So much is clear, but much else remains far from clear. What purposes had the Roman government, and other authorities, in mind in deciding whether and when to issue currency, and in what quantities and denominations? Was Roman currency deliberately imposed, other currencies being deliberately suppressed? Was there an increase in demand for coined money during this period, whether as a result of Roman conquest or for other reasons? Was demand satisfied? Was currency being exported from the Roman world in sufficiently large quantities to cause a shortage already in the first half of the first century A.D.? -- pg. [1].