This document discusses Roman finance from the founding of Rome in 753 BCE through the 4th century CE. It covers Roman coinage such as the sestertius and denarius, banking and money lending, taxes, and alternative forms of currency. Bankers called argentarii exchanged money and held deposits for customers. Senators, equites, and even emperors engaged in money lending. The state derived revenues from taxes on ports, mines, public lands, manumissions, imports, and tribute from provinces. Taxes were often paid in kind or in gold and silver coins. Games of chance like dice and knucklebones were also part of Roman financial culture.
2. Timeline: Rome and Finance
753 BCE Founding of Rome
c. 325 Argentarii (bankers) cited in Rome
211 The sestertius (HS) introduced
200 BCE-14 CE Period of Expansion
122 Grain Dole in Rome starts
31 Battle of Actium: End of Republic
and start of the principate.
c.1-100 CE Moneylending regularly attested
214 Introduction of the antoninianus
235 The Crisis of the Third Century Begins
284 The ascension of Diocletian
294 The nummus introduced
301 Price Edict of Diocletian / Edict of Maximum Prices
305 Diocletian resigns
4. As [Bronze]
2.5 Asses=
Sestertius [Silver in Republic]
(3rd-2nd c. BCE)
2 Asses =
Dupondius [Bronze]
4 Asses=
Sestertius [Silver in Republic,
Bronze in Principate]
(2nd c. BCE on)
10 Asses= Denarius [3rd-2nd c. BCE]
16 Asses= Denarius [Silver] (2nd c.
BCE onward)
25 Denarii= 1 Aureus [Gold]
ROMAN COINAGE
(A SELECTION)
5. The Sestertius
• Abbreviation: HS, about the size of a US half dollar, ¼ of a denarius
• A loaf of bread cost half a sestertius
• In 79 AD, a modius of bread in Pompeii cost 7 sestertii
• Slave being sold at auction = 6,252 sestertii.
• First century AD: The ordinary legionary soldier was paid 900 sestertii per
annum,
• Rising to 1,200 under Domitian (81-96 AD)=3.3 sestertii per day ($40-50$ per
day today). Half of this was deducted for living costs, leaving the soldier (if he
was lucky enough actually to get paid) with about 1.65 sestertii per day.
• Typical income = 1,000 sestertii.
• A modern salary: in 2010 a private soldier in the US Army (grade E-2) earned
about $20,000 a year.
A sestertius minted
under Nero. On the
reverse is a depiction
of Portus.
6. Roman Counterfeiting
Leaden forger’s mold made off of a coin of
Septimius Severus. (Northhamptonshire,
UK)
Ceramic coin mold from the Severan
period found along the Thames.
(c. 193-235 CE)
7. Alternative Coinage
Spintria, Æ 4.25 g. Erotic scene.
(Date: Tiberian)
Bronze “Provincial Coin” from
Abila
depicting Lucius Verus (161-169
CE);
8. Moneta:
Personifying Trust and Legitimacy
Aureus of Septimius
Severus
(RIC4 135A; BMC 287.668v)
Moneta seated L holding scales
and a cornucopia
(Rev.) MONETA AVGG
Denarius of Republican
Moneyer T Carisius (c. 46 BCE)
(Crawford 464/2; Sydenham 982)
(Obv.) Head of Juno Moneta right
(Rev.) Cap of Vulcan over anvil, tongs &
hammer, all within laurel wreath.
9. Temple of Juno Moneta
(L) Reconstruction of the Temple of Juno Moneta (Copyright the Rome Reborn
Project).
10. Fourth century CE depiction
of a Roman mint worker and
(presumably) a mint overseer.
Chieti, National
Archaeological Museum of
the Abruzzi. Credits:
Barbara McManus, 2010.
11. Bankers
• Argentarii (τραπεζίται): bankers or
money changers.
• C. 350 BCE first mention in text
• Had macella on a long bench called a
bancus.
• Augustus on Equites: “He censured
some because they had borrowed
money at low interest and invested it
at a higher rate” (Suet. Aug. 39).
• Services:
– Money Exchange
– Auction agents
– solidorum venditio: buying new coin
from the mint
– Holding money safe
• Books and receipts issued ‘Arch of the Bankers’ between the Forum
Boarium and the Forum Romanum.
12. Roman Debt
• Senators, equites, even the
emperor lent money
• Debt cancellation policies
• Columna Maenia
– “And are they so badly off for
persons to accuse that they
must try to snatch my own
case out of my hands, instead
of finding themselves victims
of their own social standing
in the neighborhood of the
Maenian Column?”
—M. Tullius Cicero
14. How Did the State Get Money?
• No income taxes
• Vectigalia: Anything brought into the
imperial treasury.
– Rent from those who let cattle graze on
public lands
– Ports
– Mines
– Rent from public lands
– Manumission
– Poll tax
– Tribute
– Bachelor Tax
• Senate had authority over fiscal policy
normally. Keep in mind: All senators
needed to have a minimum of 1 million
HS (sesterces)
• Publicani entrusted with contracts to
collect taxes.
The Parable of the Pharisee and the Publican,
Ravenna, 6th century CE (Luke 18:10-13).
15. Rome and the Tax Rate
• Taxes levied v. Taxes transmitted
• Genetic explanation: Taxes replaced booty in times of
stability
• Structural: Profiting from empire
• Hopkins: “10% of the minimum GDP”
• Often needed to be paid in gold and silver
• Egypt: A special case with special coinage
• Land taxes often paid in kind: allows government to get
revenues in under-monetized areas.
• Purchasing power of Rome v. Population ‘brakes’ and the
pulling of farmers from their field
• Rome was an “economic motor”
