Coinage and Taxation: The State’s Point of View, a.d. 193–337

Coinage's Role in the Roman Imperial System

Coinage played a key role in the Roman imperial system, serving as a tangible representation of imperial power and economic unity.
Coins, abundant due to their preservation, offer insights into the Roman economy and culture, acting as daily signs of the emperors' power.
Coins presented complex religious and political meanings or messages.
Coinage standardization fostered economic and political unity across the diverse provinces of the empire.

Coinage and Imperial Division

The division of the empire among multiple co-emperors in the late third and early fourth centuries resulted in a proliferation of coinages with varying fineness and weight.
Despite variations, coinage remained widely accepted within and beyond imperial frontiers, functioning as a means of exchange, similar to a 'dollar' in the first centuries a.d.

Coinage as a Point of Reference

Coinage served as a reference point in the political, social, and military spheres of the Roman Empire.
It defined social status through the census and determined salaries, donatives, and retirement bonuses for the army.
Coinage also indicated the authority responsible for public works, bridging public expenditure and gift economy aspects.
This represented a novel position compared to the late Roman Republic and Hellenistic monarchies.

Economic Shift and Imperial Resources

The end of conquests, excluding Dacia, reduced resources from booty, leading emperors to rely on taxation to meet expenditures.
Emperors faced challenges in raising tax income without causing discontent.
They sometimes remitted taxes during disasters and standardized status among people and provinces, making everyone liable to taxation.

Interdependence of Coinage and Taxation

Coinage and taxation were closely linked, with the princeps redistributing precious metals collected through levies.
Ideally, emperors would levy a constant tax amount on production and trade, maintaining a stable money supply to cover expenses.
This balance, described by Michael Crawford's model of peasants/princeps/army, began to break down in the late second century due to invasions, instability, and plague.

Monetary Changes and Historical Context

Monetary, economic, and fiscal changes from the Antonines to Constantine should be understood within the context of invasions, instability, and plague.
Historians, influenced by 20th-century experiences, have often interpreted these changes in isolation or without sufficient context.

Historiographical Interpretations

Historians have often projected an image of stability onto Roman coinage, influenced by the ruling classes of the second century.
The accepted chronology involves alternating phases of crisis and stability, with a strong relationship between politics, coinage, and the economy.
Some scholars, using a 'Keynesian' approach, suggest devaluations stimulated the economy by releasing fresh coins, evidenced by urban constructions and trade booms.

Shift in Monetary Basis and Economic Structure

The chronology provides the framework for two major shifts: from silver to gold as the coinage basis and from the denarius to the solidus as the reference coin.
Another hypothetical shift involves a move from a monetized economy to a more 'natural' one, with increased deductions in kind, the growth of the colonate system, and a regionalization of the economy.

Monetary Manipulations and Their Effects

Conclusions about monetary manipulations' effects on the Roman economy are often based on comparisons with the Middle Ages or the 20th century.
Consequences such as the disappearance of 'good' coinage and socio-economic upheaval due to debasement need further proof.
It's crucial to re-examine coinage and tax systems within the specific context of the Roman economy, which differs from subsequent ones.

Coin Issues and Devaluations: Numismatic Data

Coins are well-preserved artifacts, and specialists can determine their date and place of issue, types, and metal content.
However, denominations and values of coins minted after the introduction of the antoninianus in the 3rd century are often unknown.
Diocletian’s Currency Edict of 301 provides some firm data on the contemporary value of coins.

Weight Standards and Coin Variations

Weight standards are approximations, and numismatists calculate 'theoretical weight' by estimating the Roman pound's value.
Observed weights vary due to manual flan production, monetarii potentially striking more coins per pound, wear, corrosion, and modern cleaning.

Analysis Methods and Monetary Reforms

Non-destructive analysis measures precious metal content and identifies metallic components, shedding light on debasement and reminting.
Gold coin analysis shows adulteration under Valerian and Gallienus due to non-purification of bullion.
Metallurgical analysis of the aurelianus suggests numbers on the coin indicate silver fineness, though interpretations vary.

Roman Coinage System

Roman coinage combines gold, silver, and aes (copper alloys) in varying proportions, aligning with the accounting unit's scale of values.
In the first and second centuries, the accounting unit was based on the sestertius, with divisions (dupondius, as) and multiples (denarius).
Gold coinage had an official relationship to silver, with the aureus worth 25 denarii.

Devaluations and Monetary Standards

Septimius Severus devalued the denarius by reducing its silver content while restoring its earlier weight.
The gold coin, the aureus, remained almost pure gold, allowing for a ratio between the two precious metals to be established.
The currency of the first two centuries was tri-metallic but based on silver, with the denarius as the reference coin.

Monetary Changes in the Third and Fourth Centuries

The third and early fourth centuries saw major changes, including the introduction of the antoninianus by Caracalla in 215 and subsequent reforms under Aurelian, Diocletian, and Constantine.
These reforms involved changes in the weight, metal content, and face value of coins, as well as the introduction of new denominations.

Caracalla's Monetary Reform

Introduced the antoninianus, a silver coin with the emperor's radiate crown, equal in silver content to the denarius but distinctly larger and heavier.
At the same time, the weight of the aureus was slightly reduced, and a new gold coin, the double aureus or binio, was produced as its multiple.

Aurelian's Monetary Reform

Marked a return to the system established by Caracalla in 215.
It was followed by another reform by Diocletian twenty years later (274 and 294/296).

Diocletian's Monetary System

Inspired by the monetary system of Nero, Diocletian's reform aimed to:
- Re-establish the original structure of the coinage.
- Strike 'good' gold and silver coins.
- Revive the bronze coinage, with a fixed relationship to the higher denominations of the range.

Constantine's Monetary System

Saw the introduction of a new monetary system, which settled down in 324 after reunification of the empire.
The key denomination was now the solidus, which maintained its weight for centuries.

Trends in Coinage Devaluation

A long-term trend of devaluation of the accounting unit in relation to precious metals can be observed.
A decline in the fineness of the silver coins, then of the silver-washed bronze in circulation.

Qualitative Aspects of Coinage

It's important to look at the weight of coins, weight relative to fineness, and the existence of marks as a guarantee of fineness.

Role of Monetarii and Coin Value

Debasement was not always initiated by the state; fraud occurred among the monetarii.
The value attributed to new coins significantly affected their significance, such as the antoninianus of Caracalla and the aurelianus introduced in 274.

Currency Edict of 301

Revealed devaluation without reminting, doubling the face value of the argenteus and the nummus.
Licinius later reduced the value of his debased nummus in the eastern part of the empire.

Factors Influencing Price Rise

Some suggest the fall in weight and silver content aimed to prevent the coin’s intrinsic value from rising above its nominal value.
Assessment of repeated devaluations focuses on the decline in silver fineness of the coin used as the accounting unit, and comparisons with prices of other commodities.

Estimates of Denarius Decline

Calculation appropriate for Septimius Severus and Diocletian as coins had the same weight (96 to the pound) but different silver contents.
Under Septimius Severus, the silver content of the accounting unit (denarius) was of 1.6 g.
On 1 September 301, when the argenteus was tariffed at 100 denarii, it contained just under 3.4 g of silver, making the accounting unit (denarius) correspond to 0.034 g of silver—a substantial decline over a century.

Data on Silver Coinage & Weight of Pure Metal

Analysis by D. R. Walker makes it possible to establish meaningful curves highlighting the successive stages of silver coinage decline.
S. Estiot's studies carry forward the series for the period 253 to 282, while the weight of pure metal was established by A. Burnett.
By reducing the weight of the aureus, and that from the reign of Caracalla onwards, the state tried to maintain the official rate of exchange of 1 aureus for 25 denarii for as long as possible.

Proliferation of Coins and Possible Interpretations

May be merely apparent and simply offset the loss of coinage from circulation.
Or to deal with the crises in the imperial finances as expenditures rose dramatically.

Reforms

Sometimes simpler modifications that did not involve new minting but merely changing the value of coins already in circulation.
September 301, Caracalla, Aurelian, Diocletian, and Constantine tried to impose new monetary standards.

Ways of Estimating Size of Issues

The number of mints and officinae, the number of known dies, and the number of surviving coins.

Factors That Make the Method Uncertain

Contents of hoards are not necessarily a representative sample of the coinage in circulation.
Histograms are drawn by S. Estiot to show the changes in output of antoniniani and aureliani for twelve periods between 238 and 282.
Until 260 Imperial mints, produce relatively stable quantities of antoniniani; 260, The hoards suggest that output was tripled.

Unification of Currency by End of the Century

Achieved when, in 296, issues of the Alexandrian tetradrachm ceases and Egypt joins the world of the nummus.
A novel status enjoyed from the reign of Tiberius Egypt uses its own coinage at Alexandria. The tetradrachm worth a denarius, in spite of having a lower intrinsic value.

Local Issues

Ceased in the West but authorize in Asia Minor, Syria, and the Balkans.

Decentralization

From mid-third century decentralization of minting becomes increasingly decentralized. In the West, Flavian period coins at Rome.

Circulation of Coinage

Provincial bronze in the rear is Widespread all over Italy, in Spain, in Africa, and even sometimes present in the eastern provinces, but they are not found in Gaul or Britain.

Phenomenon of Monetary Shortage

Official issues were not always adequate to meet the need for coinage.
Emergency issues. Inadequate supply of antoniniani also led to the production of cast denarii, which was concentrated near the legionary camps in Britain and the Rhineland, as well as certain large towns that later had their own mints.

Shift from Silver to Gold

Occurs During third century as well as respective roles of gold and silver. Silver coinage in which the content has fallen to very low levels and which is used for daily transactions.
Gold and silver ratios change depending on gold and silver.

Factors That Limit Potential for Minting

Declining stocks. Mining adds as metal, but the empire no longer acquires booty through conquests or reconquests, except on rare.

Benefits of Military Conquest

Played its part in the monetary experiments of Septimius Severus, Aurelian, Diocletian, and Constantine.

Coin Wear and Metal Loss

Roman coinage, foreign deficit trade caused a lack in monetary resources so they reduced the amount of metal in coins.
External and internal factors affect precious metals.

Hoarding and Enforced/Spontaneous Dishoarding

Individuals stored in order to have available reserves of savings held in a medium and the government sometimes required the precious plate melted down.
Imperial estates provided for the needs of the emperor and elite society.

Taxation's Importance for the Empire

Taxation was essential for the empire to function as a political and military organization as well for social standards.

Romans and Taxes: Diversity to Relative Uniformity

Tax revenues were unequal and diverse geographically leading to inequalities in terms of citizens.
Citizens paid only some and provinces the tributum, but time made them become similar.
Dio suggested two groups to fix this. ordinary revenues supplemented by a tax levy.

Munera and Taxation

Municipal matters also involved obligatory euergetism also for those taxed and their munus.

Traditional System of Taxation

System created by Augustus does not see any major changes as payments from taxes are well paid in the traditional system.

Tax Assessment and Collection

A census of people that happens once every 14 years makes them aware of taxes and how to collect or give them.

Difficulties of Tax Collection

Tax collection had its problems, and these can be seen in that there was a difficult period for state affairs (from end of century two to the fourth), but they still went on.

Coinage and Taxation (II)

The state only accepts what has been distributed. Even if everyone accepted it, a lot of that would end up with not worth much so this can be a problem.

Changes in Taxation: Rigidity or Growth?

Severans tried to put some changes toward taxation, from 238 there was a decrease in rate, but this was all for a good cause.

Taxes

Even with taxes, state and municipal level spending can put the emperors in difficult positions.