How did struck coins get transferred into the Roman economy?

I just thought about this today.

How did the coins struck in the mints around the empire get assimilated into the economy? I'm assuming that the pay for government officials and soldiers was one of the major avenues of distribution, but what about the average citizen or merchant? How did the coins get from point A to point B. There probably is some academic treatise dealing with this question, but I am curious to know what CT'ers think?

 

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I have always heard it was the payment for soldiers, goods, and services how they entered. The government always needs to buy things, including the gold, silver, and copper they converted into coins, so they paid for them with the newly struck coins. Then they circulated person to person from that point.

 

Also don't forget that largesses were a major distribution channel for many - it was a regular way for the emperor to shore up some good PR with the plebs

 

In the later empire now called Byzantium they used the money changers and tax officials. The would be responsible for changing currency into gold, all taxes had to be paid in gold and the change was given in billion and copper, the lower denominations continued to circulate and were replenished when needed.
In the 12th century the Military was paid in trachea.

 

Probably pretty similar to how it's done today, the government prints off money and distributes it by paying the private sector to do things, or by handing it out to individuals via social welfare programs.

Only big difference is that there was in inherent limiting factor to how much the government could print off back then, today there is not

 

For gold coins the first step from the mint/government coffers must have usually been for goods and paid services rendered to the government. It'd be interesting to know how much of that was soldiers pay/donatives vs private contractors.

For bronze coins, some may have also gone directly for services. I've read that in a roman army camp there was some kind of paymaster that would act as "bank" and give money to soldiers for everyday needs against their "account". There may have been other government providers also paid in bronze for lesser amounts, especially if it was a contractor who would then be divvying it out to workers. The government liked to receive gold (sometimes demanding it for taxes), and pay out bronze, so they likely did this as much as they could.

I believe there were also money changers, exchanging gold for bronze and vice versa, but not sure how they would enter the picture - obtaining coin directly from the government if supplies were imbalanced, perhaps, or maybe some of this was done by the government themselves (and would have provided an avenue for removing older coins from circulation).

Wealthy merchants and landowners employing citizen labor likely paid them in bronze too, at least at certain points in history (at one time a bronze nummus was a day's pay for a laborer). I wonder if they would have gone to money changers to exchange gold for bronze, or perhaps direct to the government which would then be another distribution channel for freshly minted bronze.

 

Thanks all. The answer to the question is becoming more clear...

 

Lately I've been reading this book, which follows a Sestertius through the Roman Empire. In the story, at least, the coin is minted in Rome, then is placed in a shipment of similar sestertii to Roman England. While it wouldn't seem very cost effective, due to the propaganda value it was in the emperor's interest for the coins to spread wide.



An English version is also available, but I prefer to practice my Italian by reading the original.

 

Sounds interesting. I need to brush up on my Italian, too.

 

This is a really great idea for a book. Thanks for the recommendation!

 

Not to highjack this thread but I came across this book/author earlier this week. It's a self-published book too! So kudos to the author on that! Women spies in Pontos...sound fun and entertaining.

Amazon.com: The Very Wolf: 9781916076006: Anderson, Rosie: Books

 

Is the author sufficiently famous in Italy that he sells copies of the book by placing his own photo so prominently on the front cover?

 

I thought I was the only one... most books in America tend to avoid shots of the author in the cover unless it’s a self-help of investment strategy type of book.

 

Not on the front cover, certainly! Unless it's a famous actor's or athlete's autobiography, most of which are ghost-written anyway, or maybe a book by someone like Martha Stewart or a famous chef. I guess he's sort of good-looking, but not enough for his photo to make me want to buy the book!

 

My understanding is he has his own TV show there and is relatively well-known.

Interestingly, going through his books on Amazon - all of the Italian versions have him on the cover, while the English, German, and Spanish translations don't.

 

The silver itself was attained via conquest & mining.

Usually the coinage itself got into the economy via the military.

For example under Tiberius the Roman legionaries demanded to be paid 1 denarius per day and they got it.

A Roman legion consisted of 5,000 legionaries. According to Polybius in the 3rd century BC the Romans sent 8 legions to stop Hannibal. That's 40,000 men.

"The Senate determined to bring eight legions into the field, which had never been done at Rome before, each legion consisting of five thousand men besides allies. ...Most of their wars are decided by one consul and two legions, with their quota of allies; and they rarely employ all four at one time and on one service. But on this occasion, so great was the alarm and terror of what would happen, they resolved to bring not only four but eight legions into the field.

— Polybius, The Histories of Polybius"


If we assume Polybius is correct that means that in the 3rd century BC the Roman government was spending tens of thousands of denarii per day to keep their legions in the field.

Later under Marcus Aurelius during the Marcomannic Wars there were a whopping 13 legions in the field. 65,000 men all being paid 1 denarius per day.

However the actual amount would've been MUCH higher due to certain ranks like centurions making ALOT more than normal legionaries.

What did legionaries do with that money?

They spent it. Roman armies often had camps of thousands of people following behind them to provide services to the soldiers. From cooks to prostitutes.

That's probably how the vast majority of money entered the population.

Another way that money entered the economy and is important to remember is the concept of "donativum" where new Emperors would pay huge amounts of money to soldiers and the Praetorian guard to buy their loyalty.


Lastly when Roman soldiers completed their 20 years (22 for the navy) of military service they were given a relatively large amount of cash (among other benefits such as land) on the spot. Under Augustus this payment was 10,000 sesterces (2,500 denarii).

This huge payment would've been equal to about 12 years pay and so with soldiers completing service every year I imagine vast amounts of money entered the economy this way.

 

In France, in the 1990-2000s, there was an entire collection of college textbooks and manuals from a well-reputed publisher (Presses Universitaires de France) with covers just showing the photo of the professors who had written them.

 

i don't know if that would make me more or less apt to study off them

 

I agree in general, but there were no denarii before 211 BCE.

 

That is true. Polybius notes that a normal soldier made 2 obols per day so they were still using Greek monetary standards.

He also mentions a centurion made 4 obols per day and a cavalryman made 1 drachma (presumably because they had to take care of their horses as well).