Forgive me if this is a naive question, but how does one determine if a coin is "Roman Imperial" vs a "Roman Provincial" issue? I understand that "Roman provincial currency was coinage minted within the Roman Empire by local civic rather than imperial authorities." (Wikipedia) That doesn't really help me much, since I don't know how to tell on a given coin whether the issuer was a local or imperial authority. Other sources say imperial coins used the Roman denominations whereas provincial coins used other denominations. That doesn't seem wholly satisfying either, since I see denarii that are categorized as Roman Provincial.
A simple way is to know your Latin, as almost all provincial coinages have legends in Greek with a few slight exceptions (Viminacium, etc.) One can assume that official Roman and Provincial coins circulated at the same time in the provinces, with the Provincials holding a fixed value to the Imperial coinage. In Egypt however, the coinage was struck specifically for that country only and Imperial coins were not used.
Thanks for the comment. So even in provinces like Spain, Gaul, and Britain, where presumably Greek was not spoken, the Provincial coinage will have inscriptions in Greek?
Provincial coinage was much more plentiful in the eastern part of the Empire with its koine Greek speaking population. In the West it was Imperial. There were a few locations in the West that struck "provincial" coinage - Colonies established by Augustus and populated with retired soldiers, these coins were in Latin
There’s quite a bit of colonial/provincial coinage in Spain throughout the first century, though, which will have Latin legends. It’s still usually easily distinguished from Imperial coinage by the art styles, which tend to be cruder and rather unique.
There were a number of eastern provincial mints that struck coinage in Latin, as the coin below illustrates. Roman legionnaires were often encouraged to retire in the east along with their families, hence you'll see Latin being used there in some areas. Antioch, Pisidia, Gordian III, AD 238-244, AE 34 mm, 26.43 gm, 6 h.
Thanks James . You're right, for a large provincial coin it's an unusually good strike. Most bronze provincial coins don't turn me on but this one I had to have .
The Latin coins from eastern regions were often 'Colonies' as COL VIM and COL ANT. They do not usually have S - C on the coins as that was a prerogative of the Senate in Rome, that controlled the issue of bronze (imperial) coins.
This is the big difference. It was a great honor to be a Colony rather than just a city in a Province. Colonies were allowed to strike coins with Latin legends Most will have COL in the reverse legend. Most Provincials (with a few Major exceptions) bear a reverse legend spelling out the genitive plural "of the people of xxxxx". Imperials rarely named a place where the coin was minted until Diocletian's reform ended Provincial coins everywhere and started the mintmarking by city. Again there are a few exceptions but those tended to use initials rather than spelling out the city.
Archeocultura, Wayne G. Sayles writes in his book Roman Provincial Coins "The large sestertius-sized issues of Septimius Severus and later rulers, bear the letters SR which apparently stand for Senatus Romanus." Maybe this is another version of SC.
It's less clear with early coins; Most coins of Augustus are inscribed in Latin, even the ones of cities where Greek was everyone's first language. The explosion of Greek-inscribed provincial coins comes with Nero (who was a Hellenophile) and further expanded with the Flavian dynasty, and continued until the provincial mints were converted to imperial under the later Crisis emperors - by the time of Aurelian's death, it was pretty much only Alexandria striking provincial coins, and Alexandria was stripped of that privilege in 297 for supporting the rebellion of Domitianus. Bosporus struck the absolute last provincial coins, under Rhescuporis VI around the time of Constantine and Licinius. Imperial coins are usually fairly easy to distinguish, as they follow fairly strict patterns; Even in the latin-inscribed provincial coins, you never see reverse legends along the lines of "PM TR P XIII COS III PP", "ANNONA AVGG", "VICT PART MAX" etc, and except for Antioch, the provincial coins almost never bear SC on them, which was mandatory for all Imperial bronzes.
And... then... you have Provincial coins under the REPUBLIC: RR Macedon occupation Alexander - Club Coin chest Quaestor Chair wreath Aesillas Quaestor AR Tet Thessalonika Mint BC 90-70 RR Prv Macedon Amphipolis AE Semis 187-131 BCE Zeus Prow giraffe shape SNG Cop 69
It’s only since 1988 that K.Butcher introduced the expression “Roman provincials coins” instead of the old “Greek imperial”.
@savitale, there are many good responses above. I'd add that a very useful site for answering this question is the online Roman Provincial Coinage project. Their introduction pages include answers to questions such as... What is Roman provincial coinage? Why is provincial coinage interesting? What designs are on the coins? What is the writing on the coins? ...and more
Well, that clears things up. Maybe distinguishing between the two is something that becomes easier over time as opposed to learning a simple rule. I found this definition from Roman Provincial Coinage Online to be perhaps useful, though intellectually unsatisfying: ‘Provincial coinage’ is defined pragmatically as including all those coins which are not ‘imperial’ (i.e. those not listed in the publication Roman Imperial Coinage or found on the Online Coinage of the Roman Empire website).
Provincial coins can be interesting because they seem to have a much more varied array of designs and types.
"Roman" means they were struck during Roman times and within the Roman empire, but "provincial" is the key word. They were struck in the provinces for local use. Therefore, they almost always have the name of the city where they were struck on them. Typically, they depict one or more members of the imperial family on the obverse and the name of the city on the reverse. Sometimes, the name of a local moneyer is also given. A couple of examples should clarify things: Gordian III, AD 238-244. Roman provincial Æ Pentassarion, 13.30 g, 27.1 mm, 7 h. Thrace, Anchialus, AD 238-244. Obv: ΑVΤ Κ Μ ΑΝΤ ΓΟΡΔΙΑΝΟC ΑVΓ, radiate, draped and cuirassed bust, right. Rev: ΟVΛΠΙΑΝWΝ ΑΓΧΙΑΛΕWΝ, Nude athlete standing facing, head right, holding palm branch and wreath. Refs: AMNG II, 632.3, p. 276; Mionnet Suppl. 2, 136; Corpus Nummorum Thracorum 21318. This is "Roman" because it depicts the Roman emperor, Gordian III. The obverse legend names him: ΓΟΡΔΙΑΝΟC, which is transliterated into Latin as Gordianus. It is "provincial" because it was struck in the (Greek-speaking) provinces, specifically by the citizens of Anchialus. The name of the city is on the reverse: ΑΓΧΙΑΛΕWΝ, which is transliterated as Anchialeon ("of the Anchialeans"). ~~~ Here's another: Septimius Severus, AD 193-211. Roman Provincial Æ 20.5 mm, 5.63 gm. Bithynia, Nicaea AD 193-211. Obv: ΑΥ ΚΛ CΕΠ CΕΥΗΡΟC CEB, laureate head, right. Rev: ΝΙΚΑΙΕΩΝ, Asklepios standing facing, head left, holding serpent-staff. Ref: Mionnet Suppl. 5, 589; RG 333, citing a retouched specimen in Milan, AE 21 with illegible obverse legend. This is "Roman" because it depicts the Roman emperor, Septimius Severus. The obverse legend names him: CΕΠ CΕΥΗΡΟC, which is transliterated into Latin as Sep Severus. It is "provincial" because it was struck in the (Greek-speaking) provinces, specifically by the citizens of Nicaea. The name of the city is on the reverse: ΝΙΚΑΙΕΩΝ, which is transliterated as Nicaeeon ("of the Nicaeans"). ~~~ Yet another: Julia Mamaea, AD 222-235. Roman provincial Æ 23.4 mm, 9.73 g. Thrace, Deultum, AD 222-235. Obv: IVLIA MAMAEA AVG, diademed and draped bust right. Rev: COL FL PAC DEVLT, Homonoia standing left, holding patera and cornucopiae. Refs: Varbanov 2337; Moushmov 2623; Jurukova 164; SNG Bobokov 535. This is "Roman" because it depicts the Roman empress, Julia Mamaea. The obverse legend names her: IVLIA MAMAEA. It is "provincial" because it was struck in the provinces, specifically the colony of Deultum. Being a colony gave them the privilege of using Latin language inscriptions on their coins. The name of the colony is on the reverse: COL FL PAC DEVLT, which is short for Colonia Flavia Pacensis Deultum, (roughly, "the peaceful Flavian colony, Deultum").
Thanks, that is super helpful. Roman portrait on obverse, name of city on reverse. Or Roman portrait on obverse, inscriptions in Greek. I understand there may be exceptions to that rule, but if it applies most of the time I’m satisfied.