Coinage in the Roman Economy, 300 B.C. to A.D. 700 (Ancient Society and History) (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "The objective of this book is an examination of how the Romans used coined money-its role in payrolls, tax collection, trade, and daily transactions-over the..." (more)
Key Phrases: million denani, bronze drachmae, orichalcum sestertius, Asia Minor, Marcus Aurelius, Julius Caesar (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

""This thought-provoking work... should be important reading for scholars in a variety of disciplines. It challenges, for example, the long-held belief that a large-scale drain of Roman specie went to India and the East in the early centuries of the Roman Empire and the concept that the western provinces of the Roman Empire were never completely monetized. These reinterpretations and others, presented forcefully with careful documentation, should arouse the attention of anyone interested in ancient or medieval history, economics, or numismatics." -- History

Book Description

Richly illustrated with photographic reproductions of nearly three hundred specimens, Coinage in the Roman Economy offers a significant contribution to Roman economic history. The first comprehensive history of how Roman coins were minted and used.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 472 pages
• Publisher: The Johns Hopkins University Press (June 19, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0801852919
• ISBN-13: 978-0801852916
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.6 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #938,524 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Tough to read, July 18, 2000

By	A Customer (BUENOS AIRES Argentina) - See all my reviews

I found this book scholarly, and I think it is intended to be so. Were this book otherwise organized, it could be easier to manage. I found that the many (fifty or more per chapter) footnotes were cumbersome to look at, being grouped together apart from the main text. Furthermore, most of them refer just to the origin of data. But some have more extensive contents. I could have done without many of them, but not of all of them. That kept me jumping around. Plates with illustrations are similarly placed, but this is not so annoying.

This overview of the roman monetary system and coinage in use for a millennium in the Roman world is compelling. Prices and wages are also analyzed, as far as extant documents allow.

Politicians from around the world could learn a lot about how Gresham's law, the economic principle that bad money drives out good (good money automatically disappears because of hoarding) works; Rome provided good example that people can't be fooled easily.

Rating this book with four stars, I'm judging it as a numismatist interested in roman history and economics. I'd like to see ratings from people with other concerns.

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars First rate information about the role of coins in Rome, October 18, 2002

By	Bruce Trinque (Amston, CT United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

A previous Amazon.com reviewer of Kenneth Harl's "Coinage in the Roman Economy" expressed an interest in seeing a review of the book from the viewpoint of other than a numismatist. I suppose that I can at least partly do this. Although I do collect some ancient Roman coins, I am quite casual in my approach to it and, in truth, I am more interested in the history and people behind the coins than the coins as objects in themselves. In looking on the Internet for information about the use and "real world" value of coins in the Roman Empire, I came across mention of Professor Harl's book. Wanting to better understand how those discolored bits of silver and bronze had come to be and how they were used, I understood that there was no better source.

"Coinage in the Roman Economy" is unabashedly, unflinchingly academic in its approach to its subject. Expect no whimsical anecdotes about mad emperors; don't imagine that there will be thrilling descriptions of great battles. It is safe to say that Brad Pitt's agent is not negotiating for screen rights to the book. Page after page, Harl details the intricacies of Roman monetary policy, how emperors gradually (and sometimes not so gradually) diluted the precious metal content of the coins, reduced their weight, and repeatedly altered exchange rates in efforts to achieve financial stability. Yet, there is an oddly compelling flow and rhythm to that description of one thousand years of coin history as we watch the story of this instrument of Roman power and art play out against a distant background of civil wars, invasions, foreign wars, and calamities. To tackle this book, a reader should already be familiar with the central events and personalities in the long history of Rome. Otherwise, the information presented cannot be integrated with the larger story. But for the student of Roman history, there is much here not readily available elsewhere, including insights into the standard of living in those distant centuries.

For collectors of ancient coins, of course, there is another entire realm of information contained in this book: explanations of the how those treasured bits of metal were manufactured and distributed, how much a denarius could buy under Augustus and how little under Claudius Gothicus, why new eras brought new coins such as the aurelianus and the nummus.

The ideal reader of "Coinage in the Roman Economy" is one who blends interests in both Rome and the coins themselves. It is not light reading, by any means, but effort expended will be rewarded by a new appreciation of the real importance of these small pieces of metal to that complex and now-vanished world.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Addresses what many numismatic works don't, August 16, 2007

By	Michael K. "smichaelk" - See all my reviews

This volume is the only one I have come across to satisfactorily treat the question of economic context and actual usage patterns of Roman coins. It is both scholarly (containing voluminous footnotes) and readable. Of particular interest is the information pertaining to the frequently neglected period of the third and fourth centuries.