That was especially true of coins from the eastern mints. Depending on the mint, the portrait might vary. It was customary to have the subject showing the right side of his face, but there were exceptions. When Augustus became princeps civitatis (“first citizen” aka emperor) in 27 BC, he continued the tradition of having his profile on the “head” side of the coins. Julius Caesar and other prominent generals were also illustrated. The first may have been that of Pompey in 46 BC after his murder.
At the end of the Republic, portraits of real humans appeared. Coins of the imperial period are especially useful since they include the portrait of the emperor and enough information about his titles and offices to provide a narrow range of possible dates for the minting of a specific coin.ĭuring the Republic, the obverse of most Roman coins featured an image of a deity. The Roman coins help archeologists date different layers as they dig. They have located many sites that were inhabited in antiquity.
#COMMON ROMAN COINS BATTLE SCENE FREE#
A large number of history buffs are willing to spend their free time sweeping the countryside of former Roman provinces, like Britannia where the Frome Hoard was found in 2010. The availability of reasonably priced metal detectors has transformed the way promising dig sites are found. While a layer might be much younger than the date of a coin found there, it can’t be older. Part of the hoard of more than 52,000 Roman coins found by Dave Crisp using a metal detector near Frome in Somerset, EnglandĬoins are especially valuable in dating archeological sites because they can provide a definitive terminus post quem, a point in time after which a particular level in a dig was actively inhabited. What Roman province was allowed to mint its own small-value coins without the portrait of the emperor?
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