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Roman Republic, Didrachm

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Roman Republic, Didrachm (obverse) Roman Republic, Didrachm (reverse)

Around the year 240 BC the rising super power of Rome began to reorganize its currency. Until then, Rome had issued minted silver coins solely for circulation in southern Italy. These pieces had featured the inscription ROMANO, [money] of the Romans.

The new Roman coins bore the inscription ROMA, Rome. The obverse showed a double head, commonly regarded as god Janus. The reverse depicted Jupiter and Victoria in a four-horse chariot. Such chariots were known as quadrigae in Antiquity, and afther this motif the new Roman didrachms were called quadrigati.

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