MONETARY STANDARDS

When Augustus established himself as the absolute ruler over the Roman Empire, he quickly realised the need for a stable monetary system across the Mediterranean. However, instead of fashioning an entirely new system, he reinstated the bimetallic standard that his uncle, Julius Caesar, put in place a few years earlier (47–46 BC). The Augustan monetary system was the following:

1. 4 bronze asses = 1 brass sestertius, 15 grains

2. 4 sestertii = 1 silver denarius, about 60 grains

3. 25 denarii = 1 gold aureus, 125 grains

Hence, the ratio between silver and gold was 12:1. The coins were of fine metal; in fact, aurei were struck at forty to the Roman pound, while denarii were struck at eighty-four to the Roman pound. The silver denarius was restored to 97.7–98 per cent fineness until the reign of Nero, while at least until the reign of Galba the aureus remained 98.33 per cent fine. Apart from the main denominations as they are described above, the Roman mints also issued half-aureus and half-denarius pieces, called gold and silver quinarius respectively. Apart from the stabilisation of the monetary system, Augustus was also responsible for the increasing production of lower-denomination coins. Orichalcum was used for the striking of sestertii (25 g) and dupondii (12.5 g) and copper was used for the as (11 g) and its quarter, quadrans (3 g). Despite the use of two different metals, all of these four denominations covered the need for small change in daily transactions.