Among the coins studied is an early duplex plated denarius of Caesar Augustus, probably an early forgery produced during his lifetime in clear violation of his edict. By this time (280 c.e.), the silver coinage of the empire had almost totally lost its value and had to be reconstituted by Diocletion. Eventually, the surface coating was so thin that it quickly rubbed off after the coin left the mint. This produced a lower-cost coin with an apparent value equal to the previous ones. The final stage of the denarius was a duplex plated coin with a neatly copper core and a silver surface.
A centralized currency also simplified tax collection. The government minted and circulated the gold Aureus and silver Denarius to provide citizens with a reliable medium of exchange.
ROMAN CURRENCY DENARIUS SERIES
The microstructures of a series of Roman denarii taken from thi stime period are used to illustrate these changes. The Romans built their monetary system on precious metals. This Roman ancient coin is known as the ‘Tribute Penny’ named after the coin Jesus would have been speaking of when he said the famous phrase: Then Jesus told them, Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s. This degradation occurred more rapidly in the provinces than in Rome. Tribute Penny, Roman Denarius coin of Cesar Tiberius (14 A.D.).
Over the next 270 years, the silver content of the denarius declined gradually and then precipitously to about 2%. Initially, the denarius weighed an average of 4.5 grams of high purity silver (95-98. It was initially established as the value of 10 bronze asses, though the relative scarcity of silver to copper led the denarius being revalued to 16 asses about 141 B.C. By decree of Caesar Augustus in 15 b.c.e, It was nearly pure silver, 95–98%, and had a fixed weight and value in relationship to the rest of the Roman monetary system. The denarius denomination was introduced in 211 B.C. The basic silver coin of the Roman Empire was the denarius.
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