The victoriatus was a

silver coin Silver coins are considered the oldest mass-produced form of coinage. Silver has been used as a coinage metal since the times of the Greeks; their silver drachmas were popular trade coins. The ancient Persians used silver coins between 612–33 ...

issued during the

Roman Republic The Roman Republic ( la, Res publica Romana ) was a form of government of Rome and the era of the classical Roman civilization when it was run through public representation of the Roman people. Beginning with the overthrow of the Roman Ki ...

from about 221 BC to 170 BC. The obverse of the coin featured the bust of

Jupiter Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a mass more than two and a half times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined, but slightly less than one-thousandth t ...

and the reverse featured

Victory The term victory (from Latin ''victoria'') originally applied to warfare, and denotes success achieved in personal combat, after military operations in general or, by extension, in any competition. Success in a military campaign constitutes ...

placing a wreath upon a trophy with the inscription "ROMA" in exergue. The name ''victoriatus'' is an ancient term, attested by several contemporary texts and inscriptions. The coin was known as a ''tropaikon'' (τροπαικον, due to the trophy on the reverse) among

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

speakers. The coin originally weighed about 3.4

gram The gram (originally gramme; SI unit symbol g) is a unit of mass in the International System of Units (SI) equal to one one thousandth of a kilogram. Originally defined as of 1795 as "the absolute weight of a volume of pure water equal to th ...

s (3

scruples Conscience is a cognitive process that elicits emotion and rational associations based on an individual's moral philosophy or value system. Conscience stands in contrast to elicited emotion or thought due to associations based on immediate sens ...

), meaning that it was half the value of the quadrigatus, a coin weighing 6 scruples that was by this time no longer produced. The victoriatus was made of a more debased silver than the

denarius The denarius (, dēnāriī ) was the standard Roman silver coin from its introduction in the Second Punic War to the reign of Gordian III (AD 238–244), when it was gradually replaced by the antoninianus. It continued to be minted in very ...

, which was introduced at about the same time. Hoard evidence indicates that the coin circulated in southern Italy and later Gaul, indicating that the coin was intended as a replacement for the

drachma The drachma ( el, δραχμή , ; pl. ''drachmae'' or ''drachmas'') was the currency used in Greece during several periods in its history: # An ancient Greek currency unit issued by many Greek city states during a period of ten centuries, fr ...

or half- nomos instead of as part of the normal Roman coin system. When first issued the victoriatus had a value of about 3/4 of a denarius, however when the quinarius was reintroduced in 101 BC with a similar type, it was valued at 1/2 a denarius. This indicates that victoriati that were still in circulation at this time were worn and considered to be worth only half a denarius. The reintroduced quinarius was produced mainly for Cisalpine Gaul, where the victoriatus and imitations were popular. The reintroduced quinarius may have continued to be called a victoriatus, although there is no written evidence of this. The victoriati abruptly cease to be deposited in Italian hoards in the mid-second century BC, probably indicating that they were officially withdrawn from circulation.

References

Literature

* *

Michael Crawford Michael Patrick Smith, (born 19 January 1942), known professionally as Michael Crawford, is an English tenor, actor and comedian. Crawford is best known for playing both the hapless Frank Spencer in the sitcom '' Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em'' a ...

''Roman Republican coinage'' (London: Cambridge University Press, 1974) * John Melville Jones, ''A Dictionary of Ancient Roman Coins'', London 1990. Coins of ancient Rome {{AncientRome-stub

See also

References

Literature