logo_moneymuseum

Roman Empire, General Issues of the Cities, Bronze Coin (AE III)

back

Roman Empire, General Issues of the Cities, Bronze Coin (AE III) (obverse) Roman Empire, General Issues of the Cities, Bronze Coin (AE III) (reverse)

Such small folles were minted in great numbers throughout the Roman Empire at the same coin standard. From London in the northwest to Alexandria in the southeast, a tight network of mints supplied the population with money. This shows impressively how efficient the Roman imperial bureaucracy still was in the beginning of the 4th century AD.

Our follis was produced in Augusta Treverorum, today's Trier. The obverse depicts a bust of the goddess Roma. The reverse shows the Roman she-wolf nursing the twin boys Romulus and Remus – an image of the legend after which the later founders of the city of Rome survived thanks to the maternal instincts of a wolf.

back

Signet Sunflower Foundation