Synopses & Reviews
This book discusses minting and financial policy in the first three centuries of the Roman Empire. By studying Roman coin-survivals in a wider context, the author uncovers important facts about the origin of coin hoards of the Principate. The resulting analyses use extensive coin material collected for the first time. Dr. Duncan-Jones builds up a picture of minting, financial policy and monetary circulation that adds substantially to our knowledge and that stands as the only study of its kind for this period.
Review
"No one who wants to understand the economy and fiscal policies of Rome under the principate or many of the technical aspects of coin production and the use of coins as historical evidence can afford to ignore this impressive book." Classical World
Synopsis
A discussion of minting and financial policy in the first three centuries of the Roman Empire.
Table of Contents
List of plates; List of figures; List of tables; Preface; Abbreviations; Part I. The Economics of Empire: 1. Surplus and deficit; 2. Money, prices and inflation; 3. The imperial budget; 4. Tax and tax-cycles; Part II. The Coin-Evidence: 5. Coin-hoards and their origin; 6. The implications of coin-hoards; Part III. Money and Money-Supply: 7. Coinage and currency: an overview; 8. The chronology of mint-output; 9. Reign-studies: the chronology and structure of coin-output; 10. The size of die-populations; 11. The size of coin-populations; 12. Mobility and immobility of coin; 13. Weight-loss and circulation-speed; 14. Wastage and reminting of coin; 15. Change and deterioration; 16. Contrast and variation in the coinage; Appendices: 1. Payments of congiaria; 2. The chronology of minting under Tiberius; 3. Variations in land-tax in Egypt; 4. Assessments of tax-revenue in the sources; 5. Tax comparisons with Mughal India; 6. Hoards below the sampling threshold; 7. Rates of donative; 8. Programs for finding negative binomial k and for estimating die-populations; 9. Die-productivity in medieval evidence; 10. Aureus and denarius hoards used in the main anlaysis; Bibliography; Index.