In the period of the republic in Rome, the general control over the issue of coins and the treasury was exercised by the senate. The abbreviated inscription ex SC - ex senatus consulto on the coin testifies to the control of the Senate over the issue of coins.
Sometimes there were also non-regular, extraordinary coin issues, due to economic or political circumstances. In such cases, the responsible persons were either an edil or a quaestor , but these coins were also issued with the permission of the senate. Sometimes the right to coin a coin could be transferred to an individual - commander-in-chief, consul or dictator, which was caused by extraordinary circumstances, for example, during the civil wars of the first century. BC er This was called military coinage.
To such issues belong the coin series of Julius Caesar , Gnea Pompey , Brutus and others. From coins of the reign of Julius Caesar minted to 49 BC. e., this denarius with the elephant and the attributes of the priests. There are also coins depicting Gallic weapons on the reverse of Albin Brutus and on the obverse of Gostilia Saserna, where the Gallic warrior and woman are depicted. Images of Ceres and Bacchus refer to the cheap distribution of bread and wine, the head of Venus - to the legendary history of the Julius. There are coins, on the obverse of which a portrait of Caesar is placed. Probably some coins in 48 BC. er were issued in the provinces on his behalf or by the proconsul of Sicily.
Interestingly, during their Eastern campaigns, Pompey and Caesar rarely minted coins, and used mostly local currency.
Notes
- ↑ Obverse and reverse, 2016 , p. 91.
Literature
- Obverse and reverse of history / [Ed. col .: A.V. Mityaeva et al.]. - M .: International Numismatic Club , 2016. - 216 p. - ISBN 978-5-9906902-6-4 .
- L.N. Kazamanova. Introduction to antique numismatics. 1969 Moscow State University Publishing House
- Harold Mattingly "Coins of Rome. From ancient times to the fall of the Western Empire. " Collectors books. 2005