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Sestertius

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Anonymous AR sestertius
Helmed Roma head right, IIS behind Dioscuri riding right, ROMA in linear frame below. RSC4, C44/7, BMC13
AR 0.96 g – RSC4, C44/7, BMC13

The sestertius (pl.: sestertii) or sesterce (pl.: sesterces) was an ancient Roman coin. During the Roman Republic it was a small silver coin issued only on rare occasions. During the Roman Empire it was a large brass coin.[1][2]

The name sestertius means "two and one half". It refers to the nominal value of two and a half asses, a value useful in commerce because it was one quarter of a denarius, a coin worth ten asses. The etymology is ancient. Latin writers derive sestertius from semis "half" and tertius "third", where "third" points to the third as, since two asses and half of a third equal two and a half.[3]

English-language sources routinely use the Latin form sestertius, plural sestertii. Older literature frequently uses sesterce, plural sesterces, since terce is the English equivalent of tertius. A common shorthand for values in sestertii is IIS (Unicode 𐆘). In this sign the Roman numeral II is followed by S for semis, and the whole is written with a horizontal strike. Where this symbol is impractical, HS is often used instead, with the crossbar of H standing for the strike across II.[4][5][6]

History

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Sestertius of Hadrian, dupondius of Antoninus Pius, and as of Marcus Aurelius

The sestertius was introduced c. 211 BC as a small silver coin valued at one quarter of a denarius, and therefore one hundredth of an aureus. A silver denarius was set at about 4.5 grams, valued at ten asses, with the silver sestertius valued at two and a half asses at about 1.125 grams. In practice, pieces can be underweight.[7]

When the denarius was retariffed to sixteen asses, a change that followed the gradual reduction in the size of bronze denominations, the sestertius was revalued to four asses while remaining one quarter of a denarius. Republican silver sestertii were produced only sporadically through 44 BC.[8][9]

Example of a detailed portrait of Hadrian AD 117–138

In or about 23 BC, during the coinage reform of Augustus, the sestertius was reintroduced as a large brass denomination. The as, now copper, was set at one quarter of a sestertius. Augustus fixed the sestertius at one hundredth of the gold aureus. The sestertius remained the largest regularly issued brass denomination until the late third century AD. Production centered on the mint of Rome. From AD 64, during the reign of Nero and again under Vespasian, the mint of Lyon (Lugdunum) supplemented production of aes coinage.[2][10]

The brass sestertius typically weighs about 25–28 grams, measures about 32–34 mm in diameter, and is about 4 mm thick. Romans distinguished bronze from brass, calling brass orichalcum, also spelled aurichalcum, a term that alludes to its gold-like color when newly struck.[11][9]

In the Antonine period the aes coinage shows distinct thematic programs for each denomination while minting evolved. Hadrian used the large orichalcum sestertius for a sustained "travel series" at Rome about AD 130 to AD 133, pairing obverses with reverses that personified provinces such as Britannia or depicted the emperor addressing soldiers during imperial arrivals.[12][13][14] Under Antoninus Pius the orichalcum dupondius, identified by a radiate head, announced civic and provisioning programs through reverses for Salus feeding a serpent, Aequitas holding scales, Fides clasping hands, and Africa carrying grain, usually with S C in the fields.[15][16][17][18][19] Under Marcus Aurelius the copper as stayed the base unit with a laureate portrait of the emperor and reverses that marked the Marcomannic War by showing Germania standing over bound captives.[20][16]

Hostilian AD 251

Orichalcum was treated as roughly twice the value of copper by weight, which explains why the dupondius of orichalcum is similar in size to the copper as but worth two asses.[9][1]

Despite the silvered antoninianus dominating production in AD 251, Hostilian, who rose from Caesar to briefly become Augustus, received one final short aes series at Rome before bronze issues largely declined. The first Hostilian sestertii carry the legend PRINCIPI IVVENTVTIS ("to the prince of youth") to present him as heir, part of a dynastic series that also included similar types for his co-heir Volusian in the summer of AD 251.[21][22][23][24] Hostilian had at least seven variations of sestertii minted during his rein.[25]

Sestertii continued to be struck until late in the third century. Metal quality and striking declined, although portraiture often remained skillful. Later issues often reused metal from older sestertii. Repeated melting reduced zinc content because zinc boils at about 907 °C while copper melts at about 1085 °C. Mint workers then replaced losses with bronze or other copper alloys, which made later sestertii darker and their preparation cruder.[26][27][28][29]

Inflation driven by the debasement of the silver coinage reduced the purchasing power of the sestertius and of smaller denominations such as the dupondius and the as. In the first century AD daily small change was dominated by the dupondius and the as. By the second century the sestertius had become the dominant small change in circulation. In the third century the silver content of the coinage fell sharply. The Antoninianus became the main small coin by the 260s and 270s and it was mostly bronze by that date. Although the antoninianus was theoretically worth eight sestertii, the average sestertius often contained more valuable metal.[30][31]

Some of the last sestertii were struck by Aurelian (AD 270–275). During the last phase, when sestertii were reduced in size and quality, the double sestertius was introduced, first by Trajan Decius (AD 249–251) and later in large quantity by the Gallic emperor Postumus (AD 259–268). Postumus often overstruck worn earlier sestertii, placing his image and legends over the older fabric. The double sestertius can be recognized by the radiate crown on the imperial portrait, the same device used to distinguish the dupondius from the as and the antoninianus from the denarius.[32][33][34]

Eventually many sestertii were withdrawn by the state or by counterfeiters to melt for the debased antoninianus, which amplified inflation. The coinage reforms of the fourth century did not include the sestertius.

Unit of account

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The sestertius also served as a standard unit of account and appears on inscriptions as the monogram HS. Large sums were recorded as sestertium milia, thousands of sestertii, with milia often omitted by context.[6][30] The wealthy late Republican general and politician Crassus was said by Pliny the Elder to have had estates worth 200 million sesterces.[35][36]

A loaf of bread cost roughly half a sestertius in some Pompeian accounts. A sextarius (about 0.5 L) of wine could range from less than half to more than one sestertius, depending on quality. One modius (about 6.67 kg) of wheat at Pompeii in AD 79 is recorded at seven sestertii, with rye at three sestertii, a bucket at two, a tunic at fifteen, and a donkey at about five hundred, in price notes that illustrate daily expenses rather than a state tariff.[37][38]

According to Tacitus' Annals, 1.17.4–5, soldiers in the Rhine mutiny said that they were paid ten asses a day and demanded a denarius a day, which they obtained.[39][40] In the first century AD an ordinary legionary received about 900 sestertii annually, rising to 1,200 under Domitian (AD 81–96). Contemporary papyri and later literary evidence confirm these levels as gross pay, before deductions for equipment and rations.[41][42]

Documents from Londinium record a sale of a Gaulish enslaved girl named Fortunata for 600 denarii, equal to 2,400 sestertii, to a buyer called Vegetus, an assistant slave of a palace slave. The tablet is dated to about AD 75–125 and is the clearest evidence for slave sale contracts in Roman Britain.[43][44]

Numismatic value

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A sestertius of Nero, struck at Rome in AD 64. The reverse shows the emperor on horseback with a companion. The legend reads DECVRSIO, "a military exercise". Diameter 35 mm

Early brass sestertii are prized by numismatists. Their broad flans gave engravers space for detailed portraits and complex reverse types. The most celebrated series are often those of Nero from about AD 64–68. Specialists praise the realism of the portraits and the invention of the reverse designs.[1]

Renaissance artists and medalists studied Roman sestertii for imagery and technique. Humanists admired the size and high relief of imperial bronzes, and Renaissance numismatic imagery directly borrowed Roman types.[45][46] The series of Hadrian (AD 117–138), which recorded his travels, includes an early coin representation of Britannia. The allegory was revived under Charles II and remains a fixture of British coinage.[1]

As production ceased in the fourth century and many pieces were withdrawn and remelted, sestertii are less common overall than many other Roman bronze types. Fully struck examples with sharp detail command high premiums at auction.[11]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d Burnett, Andrew (1987), Coinage in the Roman World, Seaby
  2. ^ a b Mattingly, Harold (1984), The Roman Imperial Coinage, Volume I: From 31 BC to AD 69, Revised Edition, Spink
  3. ^ Varro (1938), On the Latin Language, Book 5, Loeb Classical Library, translated by Roland G. Kent, W. Heinemann, pp. V.173
  4. ^ Kennedy, Benjamin Hall (1930), The Revised Latin Primer, London: Longmans, p. 214
  5. ^ U+10198 Roman Sestertius Sign, Unicode Consortium, 2008
  6. ^ a b de Bree, Floris (2019), "Roman Monetary Notations for Small Change", The Numismatic Chronicle
  7. ^ Crawford, Michael H. (1974), Roman Republican Coinage, vol. 1, Cambridge University Press
  8. ^ Crawford, Michael H. (1985), Coinage and Money Under the Roman Republic: Italy and the Mediterranean Economy, University of California Press
  9. ^ a b c Pliny the Elder (1952), Natural History, Volume IX: Books 33–35, Loeb Classical Library 394, translated by H. Rackham, Harvard University Press
  10. ^ Mattingly, Harold (1928), Roman Coins, Methuen
  11. ^ a b Sear, David R. (1981), Roman Coins and their Values, London: Seaby, pp. 10–12, ISBN 0-900652-57-8
  12. ^ Abdy, Richard A.; Mittag, Peter F. (2024), The Roman Imperial Coinage II.3: From AD 117 to AD 138, Hadrian, Spink Books
  13. ^ Coin, Hadrian, Sestertius with Britannia reverse, British Museum Collection Online, 2025
  14. ^ Coin, Hadrian, Sestertius, haranguing the army, British Museum Collection Online, 2025
  15. ^ Amiro, Francesco (2022), "New Methods for Differentiating Imperial Dupondii and Asses", American Journal of Numismatics
  16. ^ a b Mattingly, Harold; Sydenham, E. A. (1972), The Roman Imperial Coinage, Volume III: Antoninus Pius to Commodus, Spink
  17. ^ Coin, Antoninus Pius, Dupondius, Salus reverse, British Museum Collection Online, 2025
  18. ^ Coin, Antoninus Pius, Dupondius, Aequitas reverse, British Museum Collection Online, 2025
  19. ^ Coin, Antoninus Pius, Dupondius, Africa reverse, British Museum Collection Online, 2025
  20. ^ Coin, Marcus Aurelius, As, Germania reverse, British Museum Collection Online, 2025
  21. ^ Harl, Kenneth W. (1996), Coinage in the Roman Economy, 300 B.C. to A.D. 700, Johns Hopkins University Press
  22. ^ Mattingly, Harold (1972), The Roman Imperial Coinage, Volume IV, Part III: Gordian III to Uranius Antoninus, Spink
  23. ^ Antiqueira, Moisés; da Silva, Gilvan Ventura (2022), "An unpromising dynastic succession in the third century: Hostilian and Volusian as PRINCIPES IVVENTVTIS on Roman imperial coinage", Classica et Christiana
  24. ^ Sestertius of Hostilian, RIC IV(C) 216a, Harvard Art Museums Collections, 2025
  25. ^ Hostilian – Roman Imperial Coinage selections, WildWinds, 2001
  26. ^ Caley, Earle R. (1964), Orichalcum and Related Ancient Alloys: Origin, Composition, and Manufacture, with Special Reference to the Coinage of the Roman Empire, Numismatic Notes and Monographs 151, American Numismatic Society
  27. ^ Dungworth, David (1996), "Caley's Zinc Decline Reconsidered", The Numismatic Chronicle, 156: 228–234
  28. ^ Royal Society of Chemistry (2025), Copper – Element information
  29. ^ Royal Society of Chemistry (2025), Zinc – Element information
  30. ^ a b Duncan-Jones, Richard (1994), Money and Government in the Roman Empire, Cambridge University Press
  31. ^ Harl, Kenneth W. (1996), Coinage in the Roman Economy, 300 B.C. to A.D. 700, Johns Hopkins University Press
  32. ^ Trajan Decius – Roman Imperial Coinage selections, WildWinds, 2025
  33. ^ van Heesch, Johan (2018), "Overstriking on Roman Coinage in the Third Century AD" (PDF), Revue belge de Numismatique
  34. ^ Examples of Aurelian bronze sestertii in auction catalogues, acsearch.info, 2025
  35. ^ Pliny the Elder (1952), Natural History, Book 33, Loeb Classical Library 394, translated by H. Rackham, Harvard University Press
  36. ^ Pliny, Natural History 33 (English), Attalus, 2019
  37. ^ Cooley, Alison E.; Cooley, M. G. L. (2014), Pompeii and Herculaneum: A Sourcebook (PDF), Routledge
  38. ^ CIL IV 5380, Pompeii: daily expenses from an inn, Portale Numismatico dello Stato, 2020
  39. ^ Tacitus (1931), Annals, Loeb Classical Library, translated by J. Jackson, Harvard University Press
  40. ^ Tacitus, Annales 1.17.4–5: Enimvero militiam ipsam gravem, infructuosam: denis in diem assibus ... ut singulos denarios mererent ...
  41. ^ Alston, Richard (1994), "Roman Military Pay from Caesar to Diocletian" (PDF), Journal of Roman Studies, 84: 113–123
  42. ^ Roth, Jonathan P. (1999), The Logistics of the Roman Army at War (264 B.C.–A.D. 235), Brill
  43. ^ Britannia 34.22: Deed of sale of the girl Fortunata, Roman Inscriptions of Britain, 2003
  44. ^ Writing tablet: deed of sale of Fortunata, Museum of London, 2016
  45. ^ Pollini, John (2013), Peter, Ulrike; Weisser, Bernhard (eds.), Translatio Nummorum: Römische Kaiser in der Renaissance: Roman Imperial Coins as an Inspiration for Renaissance Numismatic Imagery, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
  46. ^ Antico: Master of Renaissance Bronze, The Frick Collection, 2012
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