Before the third century B.C., Romans did not have their own coinage.

They used “Aes Rude” as money, which was jagged pieces of bronze with no precise measurement in weight or shape.

They then shifted into using “Aes Signatum,” which were rectangular-shaped bars.

The beginning of their coinage started when Rome expanded in the Italian peninsula.

They were introduced to silver coinage when Rome expanded in the Italian peninsula.

Soon after, two coinage systems were created: “Aes Grave,” a bronze cast that is built on the Roman weight methods, and a silver coinage that was based on the Greek methods.

In 217 B.C., silver denarius became known, which ultimately led to the creation of the Roman coinage system.

For the Republic and Empire, the standard coin was a denarius. Eventually, gold coins became less rare while bronze coins became more rare.

There were such a variety of materials for coinage: gold, bronze, silver, copper, and brass.

For the coinage, the extensive assortment of types of reverses, the “back” of the coin, and portraiture give an irreplaceable body of the material.

Understanding the Layout of Coins

Obverse and reverse signify the two flat sides of a coin, also seen with paper money. They offer an assorted variety of images and inscriptions to represent a specific person or significance. Most people don’t completely understand the meaning and intentions of the two faces of coins, especially Roman coins, but through the study of coins, one can identify that there are intentional differences between the two. The understanding and use of legends allow us to be able to broaden our knowledge and interpretations of coins.

Looking at inscriptions, coins that display a portrait are typically show a visual of the emperor so that he gets widespread recognition, while not specifically realistic. The portraits do not only show the present emperor but they also show his authority. The inclusion of crowns, which you will see in some of the coins on this page, was used as a way to show recognition from battle. Looking at coins without portraits, they were typically to show respect to a family member or the founding of a new city.

Obverse

The “heads side” of a coin is known as the obverse. Visually, this side of the coin typically displays a portrait of a ruler or his family. It also usually contains abbreviated inscriptions. These typically included the individual’s first and/or last name, their title, and assorted honorary titles. Thus, the image and the abbreviated inscriptions typically go hand-in-hand with each other in terms of content. This side of the coin can be easily identified, for most of the time, as the side with the larger scale image.

Reverse

The reverse of Roman coins, as opposed to the obverse, is not as straightforward. There is much more of a variety of typical images seen on them, so it would not be accurate to restrict your interpretations of them to one theme. Some types of images that we can see are, but are not limited to, ships, portraits, animals, legends, emperor/empress standing or seated, allegories, emperor slaying an enemy, captives, divinities seated or standing, monuments, altars, objects, wreaths, victory, and a character in a galley. However, we can identify that it is not uncommon to see the inclusion of Jupiter in Roman Coins. And, the late Roman coins usually show themes of the military. Now for the inscriptions, they typically give insight and/or description about the image on the coin.