Roman monetary Workshops

The multiplication of the monetary workshops , place of striking of the currencies, is a phenomenon which tardily appears in the Roman Empire.

Establishment of the Roman monetary workshops

Under the Republic, and in the first two centuries of the Roman Empire, centralization is of rule: only Rome strikes the Roman Monnaie, the Roman Sénat emits the copper coins (from where their mark SC = Senatus Consulte ), and the imperial Atelier strikes the money and gold currencies. Exceptionally, by the mobile monetary workshops accompanied the army, at the time of the wars of Sylla in the East, or of the civil wars started by Jules César.

Creation under Auguste of a Second imperial monetary workshop important with Lugdunum is an exception, which stops into 82.

the explanation of this Lugdunaise exception is reduced to the assumptions: some advance the massive needs for cash of Gaulle lately conquered, and the most populated provinces. More probably, the stay prolonged as a Gaulle of Auguste between -15 and -13, then it near presence to the army of the Rhine, engaged in the campaigns of Germanic can justify the creation of this workshop.
the centralism does not exclude the presence from small provincial workshops, for the striking of the cash of low value, but of high weight (a Sesterce in Bronze weighs approximately 25g).

The crisis of the Roman Empire at the 3rd century, and its militarization cause the first decentralization, and multiply the workshops near the military, large zones consuming cash.

In a marginal way, the movements of usurpation create transitory workshops, like Ambianum (Amiens) at the time of the usurpation of Magnence, or Rotomagus (Rouen) at the time of that of Allectus.

The monetary reform undertaken under Dioclétien starting from 294 sees one second wave of creation of monetary workshops, squaring the various provinces, except for the Spanish sector: London, Carthage, Aquilée, Thessalonique, Nicomédie and Alexandria. Lastly, the successive imperial capitals of the Tétrarchie see the opening of some additional workshops.

The invasions of the 5th century reflect fine with the activity of the workshops of Occident and the Danubian zone.

Operation of the monetary workshops

A monetary workshop comprises one or more dispensaries, left station of production. To emit a series, the dispensary sand-gravel mix two Coin S or matrices, for the avers with the profile of the emperor, the other for the reverse with a reason and an inscription, then striking the side S.

The rough raw material, Gold, money, Copper, tin for the Bronze come from the mines, mainly the Hispanie (Spain) and the Dacie (Transylvania), sources which become exhausted about the 2nd century, and more largely of the recycling of the product of the rich conquests of country. There too this source becomes exhausted after the conquest of Dacie in 105. The noble metal deficit at the time of the monetary crisis of the 3rd century is overcome at the beginning of the 4th century by the confiscations carried out at the expense of the temples. Finally a continual recycling with the recoinage of moneys collected by the tax is largely practiced.

According to what the numismatists have, the quality of manufacture is as a whole good, in spite of sometimes of the defects of striking:

crushed part and presenting cracks on the edge,
badly centered reason, or shift of orientation enters the two faces
poor relief due to the wear of the corner.

The alloy techniques of copper and the money are controlled perfectly. The workshops can strike sides mixing with copper partly hardened, and the still fluid money to obtain parts on the silver plated surface. At the 4th century the production of the solidi carefully is controlled before the emission, and reached a precision of weight of each part to the 1/10 of gram.

The currency like imperial expression

At the 3rd century and the 4th century, the multiplication of the Donativum to the soldiers with each advent and each great event of the imperial reign is frequently the occasion of the emission of batches of new parts, whose reverses are the expression of imperial propaganda. Their topics are extremely varied:

they celebrate the victories, the achievements or the virtues of the emperor and sometimes those of his wife, or her son and had a presentiment of successor.
they call upon an obviously protective divinity of the emperor: Apollo, the Genius of Rome, Ground Invictus under Aurélien, Jupiter and Hercules during the Tétrarchie, Chrisme for Constantin Ier and his successors.
they launch true political slogans: CONCORDIA MILITUM: the harmony enters the armies. FIDES EXERCITUS: the fidelity of army PAX AETERNA: peace for always, etc

Marks of workshop

Each workshop generally marked the reverse of the parts of its production by the abbreviation of its name. If it comprised several dispensaries, they were specified by a letter of classification, Latin or Greek, generally preceding the mark by workshop, for example A.L, B.L, C.L, D.L for four dispensaries with Lugdunum, or the series P, S, T, Q for other workshops.

At the 4th century, the marks become more and more complex, with the use of prefix or suffix. For example the workshop of Thessalonique (TS or YOUR) also employs:

SMTS, for S (will acra) M (oneta), crowned currency, i.e. untouchable (in other words, the trimming is prohibited).
TESOB, for OB (ryziacus), out of pure gold, mark of certification introduced into various workshops into 368.

List Roman monetary workshops

The monetary workshops knew sometimes interruptions, according to the local political situation. The table below generally does not hold account of it.

With the the Lower Empire, the whole of the active workshops was the following:

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