The hoard of 175 silver Roman coins, worth tens of thousands of dollars in today's money in just face value alone, was found in 2021 near Livorno in Tuscany.Image credit: Franco Sammartino
Posted on 04/21/2023 11:08:53 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
A hoard of 175 silver coins unearthed in a forest in Italy may have been buried for safe keeping during a Roman civil war.
The coins seem to date from 82 B.C., the year the Roman general Lucius Cornelius Sulla fought a bloody war across Italy against his enemies among the leaders of the Roman Republic, which resulted in Sulla's victory and his ascension as dictator of the Roman state.
But historian Federico Santangelo, a professor who heads Classics and Ancient History at Newcastle University in the United Kingdom, said it also could have been buried by a businessman who wanted to keep his money safe during turbulent times... Santangelo was not involved in the discovery...
Researchers discovered the coin hoard buried in a terracotta pot in 2021 but kept it secret so that the site could be completely investigated.
Lorella Alderighi, an archaeologist with the provincial office for archaeology, told Live Science the coins were discovered by a member of an archaeological group in a newly-cut area of forest northeast of the city of Livorno in Tuscany. Archaeological investigations revealed the earliest coins dated from 157 or 156 B.C., while the most recent were from 83 or 82 B.C., she said.
The area was probably forested then as it is now, on a small hill overlooking a swamp. The remains of a Roman farm had previously been found about half a mile (1 kilometer) away, she said...
A few years earlier, Italy had been gripped by the Social War between Rome and its Italian allies, while in 82 B.C. Sulla had just returned with his legions from Asia to confront his enemies in Rome, having already attacked the city in 88 B.C. and been declared a public enemy in 87 B.C.
(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...
The hoard of 175 silver Roman coins, worth tens of thousands of dollars in today's money in just face value alone, was found in 2021 near Livorno in Tuscany.Image credit: Franco Sammartino
Roman coins can’t have “face value” in today’s terms. Neither Rome nore the monetary units Rome used exist any longer.
Cool. I’m just heading out the door to do a little treasure myself. I found a patch of old forest in a park that I haven’t visited yet, so going to check it out. Wish me luck.
Military payroll?
One of the chief uses of money was to pay soldiers. The ruler could collect coins through taxation, then use the coins to pay the military, who in turn spent them for supplies and weapons.
I believe they were paid roughly 40 ounces of silver per week... or about one ounce of gold.
This would be a months pay
Notice that pure silver doesn’t tarnish
Super find.
I think they spelt numismatic value wrong.
Not even close!
https://www.vindolanda.com/blog/roman-soldiers-pay
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denarius
Definitely!
Flowing hair
The Eisenhower dollar
And others
The traditional gold:silver ratio is 15:1.
All that old silver I have must not be pure. Lol.
Yes.
You beg the question
Is Gold too expensive or is silver under valued?
I had a guy once come into pawn shop where I worked claiming he had an uncirculated Roman silver coin. He also claimed he had a 1000 carat opal. He was about 6’5”, 300 lbs and unwashed for maybe a week. Seemed a bit nervous.
I was glad I had my Glock 30
Uncirculated, riiiiiight. :^D
1000 carat opal, hmm, not unheard of I guess, that’s almost enough opal to make a bowling ball, which obviously would make any bowler the envy of the tournament, unless Walter brandished a firearm.
I often wonder what happened to the person who buried such stashes and why they could not return to claim them.
Sulla was a bad dude, but young lifeguard Joe Biden taught him a lesson.
In this case, they were probably buried on orders from a commander just before a battle, so a) no one ran off with the cash and b) no one got paid unless the commander prevailed, and for that matter, c) if the other side won, they’d have no prize.
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