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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;RichardT, post: 4657464, member: 100005&quot;]Close! The problem with the paragraph is that it refers to outdated information, and in one case has speculation stated as fact.</p><p><br /></p><p>The paragraph&#039;s figures for the denarius fineness uses data from Alan Walker&#039;s book, <i>The Metrology of the Roman Silver Coinage</i>, published in the mid 1970s. The problem is, Kevin Butcher and Matthew Ponting have published a book, <i>The Metallurgy of Roman Silver Coinage</i> in 2015 where they comprehensively demonstrated how and why Walker&#039;s figures are wrong.</p><p><br /></p><p>Furthermore the statement that Domitian debased the denarius in 85 due to a financial crisis is just speculation: no one knows the true reason, just as no one knows why he revalued it in the first place.</p><p><br /></p><p>I think this is too much detail but I hope the point is clear. Kevin Butcher&#039;s book was printed in 2015. It&#039;s been five years but Wikipedia is still using the outdated figures. </p><p><br /></p><p>Why? No idea. Wikipedia is still a great source for general reading. But I do not recommend using it for serious research.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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