Ancient Coins: An Amazing History Lesson
People have been making coins for millennia and in lots of different cultures. Ancient coins are made of different materials and using different processes than modern coins. Ancient coins, just like modern ones, reflect the culture they came from, and learning about these coins teaches you a lot of pretty cool stuff about the history of that culture.
Ancient Roman Coins
Rome began making coins about 290 BC. At first they were made out of whatever metal was handy and the value was determined by the weight of the coin. Coins at that time were really just a standardized form of barter.
When people began putting images on ancient coins, they initially chose the images of gods. Various world conquerors saw themselves as gods, and began to put their images on ancient coins, as well. Julius Caesar was the first emperor of Rome, and Roman coinage from his time bears his image.
Ancient coins from Rome tell the story of the Roman Empire. They tell you who the emperor was, what was going on, and would be made to commemorate events that were important.
Roman coins are fun to collect because of the history, but also because there are lots of them. Coins from Rome are found all across Europe—wherever the Roman Empire reached. Just like today, whenever the empire needed cash to fund a new coliseum or war, they minted more money. Ancient coins from Rome are relatively easy to find and an inexpensive way to begin collecting ancient coins.
Ancient Chinese Coins
As with everything else, China was minting coins while the Western world was still using pretty rocks for money. Rome used coins as early as 290 BC, but China was minting coins as early as 350 BC. In 250 BC they started using a round, minted coin with a square hole in the middle, and that’s what Chinese coins looked like for 2,100 years.
Chinese coins tell history, too, with each dynasty memorialized in its coinage.
Other Ancient Coins
The other ancient empires had their coins, too. There are Scythian coins, Parthian coins, Greek coins, and Babylonian coins. The oldest known coin is the Daric, used in the Persian Empire prior to 500 BC when it was conquered by Alexander the Great, who replaced it with his own coins that had his portrait on them. There may be coins older than that, but we don’t know about them yet. If and when more ancient coins are found, however, they will tell us more about the history of the people who made them.
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