![]() ![]() They only saved the old denarii with a high silver content. The fact that citizens hardly saved contemporary coins anymore attests to their increasing unease. Denarii and antoninianii contained less and less silver. Once again, one took to debasing the money. Thus the national deficit increased dramatically and no emperor afterwards reigned long enough to consolidate the state budget. Everyone welcomed the denarius, townspeople and peasants, Roman citizens and the local population.īut in 235 AD, Maximus Thrax doubled the pay for the legionaries once more. The reason for this was probably the large number of territories in the Roman Empire which were not fully monetarised yet. This is about half of the rate the ECB is aspiring to for Europe. At the beginning of the 3 rd century, the inflation rate was approximately one percent. It was equivalent to two denarii, but it only contained as much silver as 1.6 denarii. Towards the end of his reign, Caracalla introduced a new coin, the double denarius, or – as numismatists say – the antoninianus. While the denarius had contained 3.65 g of silver in the late republic, its fineness sank to close to 1.5 g of silver during Caracalla's times. In order to be able to mint that many coins, their silver content was reduced. Thus the amount of annual costs rose to 600 million denarii. His son Caracalla added another half in 212. In 84 AD, Domitian raised the regular pay by a third. Especially since the individual emperors had bought the loyalty of the army by raising their pay. Later on, other emperors were also faced with financial gaps. The denarius worked the same way it had before. He drastically reduced fineness of the denarii, and nobody really cared. Nero made use of this when financing the rebuilding of the city after Rome had burnt down. Their silver content was of no relevance for that. Nevertheless, 100 denarii still remained 100 denarii. Individual pieces could weigh less or more. Al marco means that a certain amount of silver has to equate to a certain number of denarii. They were a counted, and they were minted al marco. The denarii were not a currency that was estimated according to fineness or weight after all. And if that was not enough, he would lower the silver content of the denarii. Sometimes he would raise a nonrecurring special tax. Or he would auction off superfluous treasures from the palace. He would often contribute sizeable funds from his personal assets. If it became apparent that the expenses would exceed the receipts, the princeps would take special measures. But what if there were higher costs to defray? Debt was not an option. The earnings roughly covered the expenses. This worked out fine during normal years. 13 million denarii under Augustus, but during the middle of the 2 nd century AD they had risen to 19 million.Ĭrop donations, official buildings and streets, infrastructure projects and the games probably took up between 5 and 15 million denarii.Īll in all the Roman state thus had to raise 130 to 140 million denarii. In addition there were costs for the constantly expanding administration. During a war, the sum would rise drastically. Every year is swallowed 100 to 120 million denarii – in times of peace. The biggest element of expenditure was the army. The Roman mint produced millions of denarii every year. It did not only circulate in all Roman provinces but also everywhere the Romans were trading. It was around the turn of the eras that the denarius was the most important currency in the entire Roman Empire. During the first century BC, the denarius was so omnipresent that there was no need any more to specify where it came from. The Roman money supply increased tenfold during the 100 years after the capture of Macedonia in the middle of the 2nd century BC due to its rich silver deposits. The denarius followed the Roman troops, first on a small scale and then on a larger one. It consisted of almost pure silver and weighed about 4.2 grams. The denarius was independent of all other monetary systems. Despite their economic crisis, the Romans introduced a new currency shortly before the year 211 BC. The denarius came to being as a gesture of defiance and pride in the war against Hannibal. But even a high age does not protect against a crisis of confidence as shown by the history of the Roman denarius. And yet the dollar is still functioning, and it has been functioning for more than 230 years. ![]() Every American is burdened with more than 60,000 U.S. Monetary crisis – The end of the denariusĮvery second, the government debt of the United States of America increases more than 35,000 U.S. ![]()
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