RCC/I mint, Therefore I exist

I mint, Therefore I exist

by Paul Landsberg

Coins have been recognized as symbols of the right to govern throughout history. Even today the Europeans are struggling to reconcile the inherent pride and sovereignty symbolized by a national coinage with the greater economic good of an pan-European economic union. Indeed, the Romans struggled with the same issues.

When the Roman empire became an imperialistic society that was intent on expanding its borders, it had to find a solution as to what coinage would be permitted in conquered territories. The Romans, being highly pragmatic, decided that vassal kingdoms could retain coinage similar to earlier coinage as long as homage was paid to the Roman emperor (usually his portrait was on the obverse) and most importantly, taxes and tribute were paid to Rome. Rome allowed clients states to continue minting coins in the same denominations they had, and inscribed in the same language they had. Clearly it served Rome's interest to impose its will and yet not rile the general public through massive coinage or religious upheaval. Note: the Romans similarly allowed client states to continue practicing whatever religions were in effect. It has even been suggested that the Romans created serrated denarii (a soldier's pay per day at the time) in order to gain acceptance in Rome's frontier with the Germanic tribes. However, as the Roman Empire solidified its administrative hold over outlying regions, the currency became more and more uniform throughout the empire.

In the particular case of Egypt, where self rule effectively ended with the death of Cleopatra, Augustus, the first true Roman Emperor declared Egypt the private preserve of the emperor. It should be remembered that Egypt, via Alexandria, supplied Rome with huge amounts of grain. Without this grain for public distribution, Rome would have experienced tremendous social unrest. Anyone wishing to enter or leave required the emperor's permission and the coinage of Egypt was specifically kept different (cast and debased) in order to insure that Egypt remained closed. For numismatists this had the effect that coins in Roman Egypt tended to circulate for extremely long times (decades and probably even centuries) so nice specimens are difficult to find. Concurrently, even the minting techniques used in Roman Egypt throughout most of the first three centuries A.D. (which relied upon casting as opposed to the much more aesthetically pleasing minted coins available throughout the rest of the Roman Empire) underwent tremendous upheaval as usurpers, weak emperors, divided empire and monetary chaos wracked the empire from approximately 275 A.D. until just after 300 A.D. Interestingly enough, the Roman Provincial mints during this time slowly declined their coinage output and by the time Constantine I (The Great) re-united the empire, the provincial mints were stilled.

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