Just What Is a Nummus?

Discussion in 'Ancient Coins' started by kevin McGonigal, Jan 11, 2022.

  1. dltsrq

    dltsrq Grumpy Old Man

    Interesting word just previous: nummularius ("money changer"). Checking the etymology online, I find nummus (coin, money) + -ulus (diminutive suffix, i.e. "small coin" or "small amount of money") + -arius (denoting "dealer, agent").

    Embedded in the word nummularius is the word nummulus which I was able to find used by Cicero in a letter to Atticus (8.13.2) written 49 BC, describing attitudes of both town and country folk amid the civil strife: Nihil aliud curant, nisi agros, nisi villulas, nisi nummulos suos ("They care for nothing except their fields, their little villas, their little coins"). One published translation reads "They really think of nothing except their fields and their bits of farms and investments."
     
    Last edited: Jan 13, 2022
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  3. GinoLR

    GinoLR Well-Known Member

    In late 5th - early 6th c. Carthage, under the Vandals, they minted coins of 4 nummi with the mark of value on the reverse : N(ummi) / IIII.
    (1.34 g, not my coin):
    4 nummi.jpg
    Is this the only ancient coin on which the word nummus can be read? These coins are probably contemporaneous with the Anastasian reform.
     
  4. dltsrq

    dltsrq Grumpy Old Man

    Here are three other Vandalic coins with "N", apparently for nummi, civic 42 nummi (NXLII) of Carthage and silver 500 nummi (DN) of Gelimer and Gunthamund (images courtesy CNG).

    4-7O8K8.jpg 4-CLOFZ.jpg 671828.jpg
     
    Last edited: Jan 13, 2022
  5. kevin McGonigal

    kevin McGonigal Well-Known Member

    I had no idea that the N stood for nummi on these coins. By the way, I think there may actually have been a one nummus coin sometime early in the Byzantine period, maybe Anastasios or Justinian, though I don't recall ever actually seeing one.
     
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  6. savitale

    savitale Well-Known Member

    I think dealers in ancient coins should start referring to themselves as a nummularius.
     
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  7. 7Calbrey

    7Calbrey Well-Known Member

    Here's a Nummus struck under Emperor Leo, as well as a Decanummium (10 Nummi) wich was struck under Ostrogoth king Theodoric.

    LEO Eastern.JPG LEO R.JPG Theodoric    Roma.JPG Theodor R       Ostrogoths.JPG
     
  8. kevin McGonigal

    kevin McGonigal Well-Known Member

    How large is that nummus of Leo? Diameter and weight?
     
  9. 7Calbrey

    7Calbrey Well-Known Member

    I posted this coin twice before. It's now in my old folders. I guess it's nearly 10 mm. with a weight of nearly 1 g. It's a tiny coin.
     
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  10. kevin McGonigal

    kevin McGonigal Well-Known Member

    I don't know how many of these one nummus coins were minted but I'll bet a high percentage were lost and never recovered in ancient or modern times.
     
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  11. hotwheelsearl

    hotwheelsearl Well-Known Member

    I have a tiny 9mm example of Anastatius.

    upload_2022-1-14_16-22-5.png
     
  12. hotwheelsearl

    hotwheelsearl Well-Known Member

    You can lose one of these in a shag carpet and never find it again for years
     
  13. kevin McGonigal

    kevin McGonigal Well-Known Member

    I don't think too many folks would have torn the house apart looking for one of these coins.
     
  14. kevin McGonigal

    kevin McGonigal Well-Known Member

    Seeing this tiny nummus coin gives me new respect for the humble follis of Anastatios being worth (M) forty of these nummi.
     
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  15. 7Calbrey

    7Calbrey Well-Known Member

    Here's the very precise dimensions of the Leo nummus. Weight: 1.11 g. As for diameter : 11 mm. The Decanummium of Theodoric the Great weighs 3.49 g.
     
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  16. hotwheelsearl

    hotwheelsearl Well-Known Member

    I too have a Leo I nummus. This is larger and thicker than Anastasius, but I don't have the weight with me right now. It's 10mm, just 1mm larger than Anastasius.
    Leo I RIC X 701.JPG

    A denominated pentanummium(sp?) of Justin II is 5-nummi, and only 12mm. These little guys were quite small. I don't think there's 5 times as much metal in the 5-nummus than even the smallest 1-nummus.
    Justin II (2020_11_18 03_38_31 UTC).JPG
     
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