The Metallurgy of Roman Silver Coinage From the Reform of Nero to the Reform of Trajan

The fineness of Roman imperial and provincial coinage has been regarded as an indicator of the broader fiscal health of the Roman Empire, with the apparent gradual decline of the silver content being treated as evidence for worsening deficits and the contraction of the supply of natural resources from which the coins were made. This book explores the composition of Roman silver coinage of the first century AD, re-examining traditional interpretations in the light of an entirely new programme of analyses of the coins, which illustrates the inadequacy of many earlier analytical projects. It provides new evidence for the supply of materials and refining and minting technology. It can even pinpoint likely episodes of recycling old coins and, when combined with the study of hoards, hints at possible strategies of stockpiling of metal. The creation of reserves bears directly on the question of the adequacy of revenues and fiscal health.

Part I. General Introduction: 1. Roman silver coinage and monetary history; 2. Roman silver coins and monetary stability; 3. A science on the margins of numismatics: the history of metrological and metallurgical studies; 4. Metrology and hoard analysis; 5. The issues of 'fineness', of instrumental analysis and of data quality; 6. Metallography and the production of denarius blanks; 7. The material sampled; Part II. The Denarius: 8. The Julio-Claudian background; 9. The reforms of Nero, AD 64–68; 10. The Civil Wars, AD 68–69: Rome; 11. The Western denarii of the Civil Wars; 12. From Vespasian to the reform of Domitian, AD 69–82; 13. The reforms of Domitian; 14. From Nerva to the reform of Trajan, AD 96–99; 15. The denarius: summary and conclusions; Part III. Provincial Silver Coinages: 16. Cistophori of Asia; 17. Other provincial silver of Asia Minor; 18. Caesarea in Cappadocia; 19. Syria; 20. Egypt; 21. Provincial silver coinages: summary and conclusions; 22. Summary of conclusions.

Kevin Butcher is Professor in the Department of Classics and Ancient History, University of Warwick. He is a Fellow of the Royal Numismatic Society and the Society of Antiquaries of London and has written extensively on Roman coinage and monetary systems.
Matthew Ponting is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology at the University of Liverpool where he lectures on artefact studies, numismatics and the scientific examination of archaeological artefacts. He has published extensively and is a Fellow of the Royal Numismatic Society and the Society of Antiquaries of London.