Ancient Coins: The Roman Republican Denarius

Lets leave the empire for a bit and head back to the Roman Republic! This fascinating moment in Roman history saw a very noticeable diversity on designs for its denarius.
Every year, two aspiring politicians, the TRIUMVIR MONETALIS, would be chosen to oversee the central mint and pick the designs that would appear on that year´s minting. Today, lets explore some of these curious designs and what messages they carried.
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Recommended Literature (affiliate links)
100 Greatest Ancient Coins - amzn.to/3hKz1o4
The Handbook of Ancient Greek and Roman Coins - amzn.to/3iTB1vv
Greek Coins and Their Values - amzn.to/3mKng4S
Roman Coins and Their Values - amzn.to/3kEY6CS
music credits
Music: Greenlands by Alexander Nakarada (www.serpentsoundstudios.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons BY Attribution 4.0 License
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[@Yakitak]

For me, the Republican period is the most interesting area to collect. They are great coins of high silver content and illustrate a wide array of messages that promote family heritage, political messages, statesmanship, and glorifying Rome and its icons.

[@Yakitak]

@Blake Yes, good point... as silver became more scarce, the coins dropped in weight. Many Republican denarii are over 4g , but then 3.8g was the standard, then 3.6g, and by the time of Augustus, it was around 3.4, etc. the pattern continued. Still cool coins of high quality.

[@SilverStruck]

Super interesting video full of wonderful information! That last coin has such a nice reverse, excellent art work. The only Roman coin I have is 193-211 AD Sept Severus (Denarius). Lots to learn about these coins, so I haven't added many.

[@Sasseverk]

I never get tired of the stories you manage to tell from just a piece of metal!

[@ClassicalNumismatics]

Im just a vessel, the coins tell their stories :)

[@Yakitak]

@@ClassicalNumismatics You are a real talent for communicating great stories, weaving in historical facts, and painting a clear picture of the context and messages of the coins.

[@stevebrinkman5789]

I love Roman Republican coins, and I specialize in the origin of the denarius so this video is of particular interest to me. Your examples are excellent and your stories are interesting. Thanks for all the work you do to produce these.

[@MrEvanfriend]

I have zero interest in coin collecting (I'm more of a guns and beer steins kinda guy), but I do find Roman history fascinating, and so I really like this channel. It gives an insight into the history from a different point of view than you normally see, and the coins themselves are pretty cool too - just the fact that something so pedestrian, a thing that people used every day, have lasted literally thousands of years is really cool.

[@mikerichards5610]

You give a wonderful history lesson every time!!

[@samuelberg9196]

You have some fantastic coins there! I’m extremely envious.. Another informative and interesting video - please keep making these!

[@tuscanollie1242]

If I was to start collecting this is where I would want to start

[@hridgreximp6194]

Absolutely beautiful coins! In my opinion the republican coins, especially the later republic types are far more interesting than late imperial types. So many different and meaningful designs that truly represents roman civilization.

[@ClassicalNumismatics]

Thats true! This is something quite unique about the republican period. The lack of an imperial entity commanding over the state meant that there was a lot of flexibility for individual people to push their personal agendas through imagery. Being so personal, these allow for a closer glimpse of individual romans and their messages compared to the "cookie cutter" imperial messages. Good point!

[@isabelcrb]

The plautius plancus is out of this world!

[@Yakitak]

The Roman Republican denarii are fascinating when they became political statements and moved away from the standard Roma portrait with the Dioscuri, Quadriga, or Bigas on the reverse. The history of laws, key events, family heritage, minting approach, political propaganda, fighting scenes, etc. are really cool coins. As always, another great video....

[@q.valerius5353]

Thanks for the video! What is also interesting about republican coins is that the moneyers came from high ranking patrician families that in some way defined and influenced the history of Rome for a long time. I dont focus my collecting on the Roman republic, but I own 3 republican denarii of which I thought have an interesting history because of the moneyer and his family: one of M. Cassius Longinus, who was either a direct ancestor or other relative of the Longinus who co-conspired to kill Caesar, then one of Ti. Claudius Nero, a direct ancestor of the Emperor Tiberius (and relative of the entire Claudian dynasty), and one of C. Vibius Pansa, an ancestor of the Roman general Vibius Pansa Caetronianus, who fought alongside Hirtius and Octavian against Antonius.

[@buckroger6456]

Beautiful coins. I really wish I had some Roman republican coins my Roman coin collection starts with the Empire. I do plan on adding some in the future though.

[@ClassicalNumismatics]

Me too! As I get to a point where Im satisfied with my Roman Imperial collection, I might delve into the imperatorial period and then the Republican one

[@jadefurman2840]

Excellent content. Please share more!!!

[@ClassicalNumismatics]

Thank you! I certainly will :)

[@christopherevans2445]

I really like that reverse that shows someone voting. My first republic denarius was a very common one you might see with Roma on obverse and Jupiter on the reverse from 122bc. But the horses on the reverse with Jupiter showing all 4 of there legs running is amazing. Of course Senator M. Papirius Carbo put his name on it with a Carb/ Roma on the bottom. Another good episode.

[@nicolaerfe3164]

Fantastic channel!!!

[@asheland_numismatics]

Great video! And beautiful coins!!!

[@ClassicalNumismatics]

This video was a pleasure to make, these coins are so diverse in their designs! Thanks for the comment :)

[@TheScimitar2]

I have one roman republican coin in my Collection. Minted by C.Valerius Flaccus. The Obverse is The Goddess Victory and the Reverse has an Aquila with 2 standards. Minted probably at Massalia.

[@kayharker712]

Great Show !

[@MrBelugaable]

will you be adding the plavtivs design to the store? also a sanct deo soli elagabal shirt would be sick!

[@gregmiller9710]

kool coins man..good show! :D

[@AndrejBk]

very nice denars, I like republican coinage

[@aka99]

Thank you very much for explanation and showing these coins!

[@jl696]

How long would these coins remain in circulation? Could a late republican era coin still be used in the time of Trajan? Could a denarius from Trajan's time be used in the late empire? I suspect so because the silver content was so high but maybe these coins would eventually be removed from circulation by the state to be smelted and recast into more contemporary

[@ClassicalNumismatics]

Depends a lot of the coin. There's a corolary of economy called "Grascham's law" that states that "Bad money drives away good money". A coin from the republic, with very good silver content, will be driven out of circulation if people start noticing the emperor is debasing their coins. A well known example are the denarii of Marc Antony, minted during the late republic, these coins had less silver in them, and could still be found on hoards in Pompeii, showing they circulated for over a century! Base-metal coins, such as Ases and Sestertius, did not have precious metal content on them, resulting on them circulating for a veeeery long time. There are tons of coins you can get that have been worn completely flat, showing they circulated easily for at least 200 years.

[@pinkushatejar]

@@ClassicalNumismatics that's fascinating! I wonder what type of coin has had the longest circulation

[@officeguy3]

Great information. Thank you

[@CRASHOLA1]

Excellent content thank you!!!

[@albinlindmark1383]

Thank you, this was really good!

[@flaccidvs500]

Would really like to get my hands into some proper republican coins! I have one denarius but its a brockage so its virtually impossible to identify when/where its from

[@abcdbcd9330]

انا عندي

[@ROFLQuad]

. . . . these coins aren't cheap! It always amazes me the inventory you get your hands on. Both the rarity of some coins and the quality of the particular minting. I'm a noob and like researching your coins on vcoins just to learn what they should/could cost. . . that Plancus alone must be worth thousands of dollars!?

[@ClassicalNumismatics]

These are indeed quite pricy. Fortunately some very kind collectors with deeper pockets than me agree to film me their pieces

[@Matts_Ancient_Coins]

I have been searching for the anvil/ hammer coin for over a year now. I just cannot find one on the market. Easily the coin I want the most in my collection. Hopefully some day

[@Matts_Ancient_Coins]

Forgot I made this comment, but I finally found one. Had to send it to Italy but a success :)

[@Matts_Ancient_Coins]

I appreciate your videos a lot! I have a couple of Roman republic coins with bankers marks on them. Do you know if any websites where I can see where the marks were made? (I wasn’t able to find them) Thanks so much!

[@ClassicalNumismatics]

Idont think there is any academic work that nails down the bankers mark to specific people, times or places, sadly. That would be very interesting.

[@Matts_Ancient_Coins]

@@ClassicalNumismatics Thank you very much! Maybe in the future. I appreciate your response.

[@NoneNone-hc1yj]

I own a Denarius that was minted by someone who chose to remain anonymous. What do you think that might mean? Thank you.

[@jordanmontgomery7530]

That's a quite common thing. The earliest Roman Republic denarii(and the bronzes as well) were basically all anonymous in the sense that they didn't have moneyers' names on them, though some had symbols and letters which may have represented the authorities they were struck under. Later, once it became common to put your name on the coins minted under your authority as moneyer, some men still minted anonymously, and while I don't believe there's any ancient source that says why this is, it seems likely that some of these people didn't feel it was the right thing to do and didn't think they should be using the coinage to advertise themselves. A modern allegory of this is the situation with "VDB" Lincoln cents issued by the US mint. The mint started issuing Lincoln cents with the engraver's initials, VDB, prominently at the bottom of the reverse and people quickly complained because they felt it was too prominent. They then removed VDB before later putting it in a less-prominent location.

[@pnpn3477]

Hello i have very nice Roman Republic Ar.denarius 132BC. M.Aburius M.F.Geminus Can you tell me something about that type of republican Denarius? Is it rare? I try to find some information about that type of republican denarius but i failed :(

[@ClassicalNumismatics]

You should look at the online tools for Roman Republican Coinage to have an idea if that coin is uncommon or not. As per information about this coin. Well... its about research! You already got the hardest part sorted out, figuring out the mint official, the next step would be researching the man and his family and seeing if they were of any particular relevance to the republican history.

[@aka99]

Btw. if the coins in all your videos are owned by yourself personally, i bet you have spent hundredthousands of dollars on all your coins!

[@billcounterstrike]

I believe some of the coins are from his sponsors/partners at Savoca coins, which is an auction platform for classical coins.

[@ClassicalNumismatics]

The coins in my videos come from sponsors, channel anonymous contributors and a part from my personal collection.

[@aka99]

@@ClassicalNumismatics thank you for answering. the most fascinating fact about original made coins in the roman antique are, these were used by unknown romans 2000 years ago. we dont know their names, nor when they were born or how or what goods they paied with these coins, but these were used. AMAZING: A very long holder for future of a long past gone time.

[@grant1863]

@@ClassicalNumismatics It would interesting to know about how much some of these coins might cost now. Just as a guide. Wish my local coin show had coins like this but at least they have some ancients. Thanks for showing. Always a pleasure to watch and listen to the narrative.