Mint of Rome

You enter the Mint of Rome, where the coins that underpin the economy of the entire Mediterranean world are produced. The first things you notice are the heat, the sharp smells of hot metal and sweat, and the ringing noise of hammers striking bronze or iron dies. You remember that Livy termed the mint officina Monetae, "the workshop of Moneta" (6.20.13), and here the emphasis is definitely on work!

All Roman coins are struck by hand. Two meticulously engraved dies are used for all coins--bronze dies for precious metal coins and iron dies for base-metal coins. The anvil die (with the engraving of the obverse or "head" of the coin) is first placed into a heavy anvil. This die is filled with the "flan" (an appropriately sized circle of gold, silver, brass, or copper, probably heated). Finally the punch die (with the engraving of the reverse or "tail" of the coin) is held with tongs by a suppostor on top of the flan while a malleator strikes the whole assemblage with a heavy mallet to produce the coin (see drawing). The funerary relief above shows a mintmaster supervising these workers, and ancient coins themselves document the process, as in this brass coin or this fourth-century CE contorniate medal, and this denarius from 46 BCE with the head of Juno Moneta, whose reverse depicts the tools used to strike coins, including the mallet, tongs, and two dies (more information about Roman coin dies). Since several blows of the mallet are often required to strike a coin, sometimes a die (especially the hand-held punch die) moves between strikes, producing a "double-struck" coin with a shadow image, such as this denarius of Vespasian.

The coin dies are created by skilled engravers according to officially approved designs. From at least the second century BCE, coin designs were controlled by the three mint magistrates (sometimes called "moneyers" in English); in Latin they were called tresviri aere argento auro flando feriundo, literally "three men for striking and casting copper/brass, silver, and gold." Early Republican silver coins all bore standard designs, but by the late Republic mint magistrates began to exploit coin designs for self-promotion (see Coin Designs during the Roman Republic). However, during the Empire all coin designs are under the control of the emperor, since coins are a significant method of reaching huge numbers of people of all classes in Italy and the provinces and hence a major source of publicity and propaganda. For example, Tiberius minted a denarius with his portrait on the obverse and a seated female (Livia) representing Pax (Peace) on the reverse; this is widely believed to be the coin that Jesus held up in Jerusalem when asked whether it was lawful to pay tribute to Rome ("Render unto Caesar ..."). This coin appears years later in Britain, at the northernmost extent of the Empire, amid a hoard of Roman and Celtic coins from the Iceni tribe unclaimed after the defeat of their queen, Boudica, in 61 CE.

You see scrolls that explain the denominations and relative values of Roman coins and their weight and sizes; click on their names to read these scrolls. You will certainly need this information if you are to use your money wisely in VRoma.