''Roman Imperial Coinage'', abbreviated ''RIC'', is a British catalogue of Roman Imperial currency, from the time of the Battle of Actium (31 BC) to

Late Antiquity Late antiquity marks the period that comes after the end of classical antiquity and stretches into the onset of the Early Middle Ages. Late antiquity as a period was popularized by Peter Brown (historian), Peter Brown in 1971, and this periodiza ...

in 491 AD. It is the result of many decades of work, from 1923 to 1994, and a successor to the previous 8-volume catalogue compiled by the numismatist Henry Cohen in the 19th century. It is the standard work for

numismatic Numismatics is the study or collection of currency, including coins, tokens, paper money, medals, and related objects. Specialists, known as numismatists, are often characterized as students or collectors of coins, but the discipline also inclu ...

identification of coinage struck by authorisation of the Roman emperors.

Production

The production of a chronological catalogue of Roman Imperial coinage was started in 1923 by Harold Mattingly, a

numismatist A numismatist is a specialist, researcher, and/or well-informed collector of numismatics, numismatics/coins ("of coins"; from Late Latin , genitive of ). Numismatists can include collectors, specialist dealers, and scholar-researchers who use coi ...

at the

British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...

, assisted by Edward Allen Sydenham. Their catalogue differed from its predecessor, produced by Henry Cohen in the 19th century. Cohen had classified the coins by emperor, and then alphabetically by the legend (text) on them. Mattingly broke down the classification further into which foundry, and in which series, each coin came from. Mattingly and Sydenham were joined by C. H. V. Sutherland in producing volumes IVb (1938) and IVc (1949), and by Percy H. Webb for volumes Va (1927) and Vb (1933). After 1930, the editorship of each of the final volumes was given to a specialist of the period. After Mattingly's death in 1964, Sutherland and R. A. G. Carson jointly took over editorship of the work. In 1984, Sutherland published an expanded edition of the first volume of 1923, which was not as detailed as those that followed.

The RIC comprises 13 volumes: * volume 1 :

Augustus Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian (), was the founder of the Roman Empire, who reigned as the first Roman emperor from 27 BC until his death in A ...

– Vitellius (31 BC–69 AD), by H. Mattingly and E. A. Sydenham, London, 1923 (revised by C. H. V. Sutherland and R. A. G. Carson, 1984) * volume 2 :

Vespasian Vespasian (; ; 17 November AD 9 – 23 June 79) was Roman emperor from 69 to 79. The last emperor to reign in the Year of the Four Emperors, he founded the Flavian dynasty, which ruled the Empire for 27 years. His fiscal reforms and consolida ...

–

Hadrian Hadrian ( ; ; 24 January 76 – 10 July 138) was Roman emperor from 117 to 138. Hadrian was born in Italica, close to modern Seville in Spain, an Italic peoples, Italic settlement in Hispania Baetica; his branch of the Aelia gens, Aelia '' ...

(69–138), by Harold Mattingly, Edward Allen Sydenham, London, 1926 * volume 3 :

Antoninus Pius Titus Aelius Hadrianus Antoninus Pius (; ; 19 September 86 – 7 March 161) was Roman emperor from AD 138 to 161. He was the fourth of the Five Good Emperors from the Nerva–Antonine dynasty. Born into a senatorial family, Antoninus held var ...

–

Commodus Commodus (; ; 31 August 161 – 31 December 192) was Roman emperor from 177 to 192, first serving as nominal co-emperor under his father Marcus Aurelius and then ruling alone from 180. Commodus's sole reign is commonly thought to mark the end o ...

(138–192), by H. Mattingly, E.A. Sydenham, London, 1930 * volume 4a :

Pertinax Publius Helvius Pertinax ( ; 1 August 126 – 28 March 193) was Roman emperor for the first three months of 193. He succeeded Commodus to become the first emperor during the tumultuous Year of the Five Emperors. Born to the son of a freed sl ...

– Geta VII and

Caracalla Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (born Lucius Septimius Bassianus, 4 April 188 – 8 April 217), better known by his nickname Caracalla (; ), was Roman emperor from 198 to 217 AD, first serving as nominal co-emperor under his father and then r ...

(193–217), by H. Mattingly, E. A. Sydenham, London, 1936 * volume 4b : Macrinus– Pupienus (217–238), by H. Mattingly, E.A. Sydenham, C. H. V. Sutherland London, 1930 * volume 4c : Gordian III– Uranius Antoninus (238–253), by H. Mattingly, E. A. Sydenham, C.H.V. Sutherland, London, 1949 * volume 5a : Valerian– Florian (253–276), by Percy H. Webb, London, 1927 * volume 5b : Marcus Aurelius Probus– Maximian (276–310), by Percy H. Webb, London, 1933 * volume 6 : The Diocletian Reform– Maximinus II (294–313), by C. H. V. Sutherland, London, 1967 * volume 7 :

Constantine I Constantine I (27 February 27222 May 337), also known as Constantine the Great, was a Roman emperor from AD 306 to 337 and the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity. He played a Constantine the Great and Christianity, pivotal ro ...

– Licinius (313–337), by P. M. Bruun, 1966 * volume 8 : The Family of Constantine I (337–364), by J. P. C. Kent, London, 1981 * volume 9 : Valentinian I–

Theodosius I Theodosius I ( ; 11 January 347 – 17 January 395), also known as Theodosius the Great, was Roman emperor from 379 to 395. He won two civil wars and was instrumental in establishing the Nicene Creed as the orthodox doctrine for Nicene C ...

(364–395) * volume 10 : The Divided Empire, 395–491, by J. P. C. Kent, London, 1994 **

Western Roman Empire In modern historiography, the Western Roman Empire was the western provinces of the Roman Empire, collectively, during any period in which they were administered separately from the eastern provinces by a separate, independent imperial court. ...

: Flavius Honorius– Romulus Augustus (395-476) ** Eastern Roman Empire : Flavius Arcadius–

Zeno Zeno may refer to: People * Zeno (name), including a list of people and characters with the given name * Zeno (surname) Philosophers * Zeno of Elea (), philosopher, follower of Parmenides, known for his paradoxes * Zeno of Citium (333 – 264 B ...

(395-491) Each emperor is given a detailed history of the coinage of his reign, with a classification of the type of money, and within each type a registration, from its inscription. For each coin listed, there is a description of both the obverse and reverse sides of the coin ("heads and tails"), and a notation depending on the rarity of known examples: * C: common * R1: rare, only twenty or so known * R2: between five and fifteen known * R3: four or five known * R4: two or three known * R5: only one known, unique In the endpapers of each volume is a table of the coins that have reproductions.

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Production

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See also

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