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Antoninianus
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Row 2: Gallienus (copper 253-268), Aurelian (silvered 270-275), barbarous radiate (copper), barbarous radiate (copper)
The antoninianus was a coin used during the Roman Empire that was valued at 2 denarii. It was initially silver, but was slowly debased to bronze.
Modern numismatists use this name for the coin because we do not know what it was called. The name was given to it because an ancient Roman document called the Historia Augusta (of generally low reliability) refers to silver coins named after an Antoninus on several occasions (several Roman emperors in the late second and early third centuries bore this name among others). Because Caracalla's silver coin was a new issue, an association was made with it, and although the association is certainly false, the name has stuck.
The coin was introduced by Caracalla in early 215 and was a silver coin similar to the denarius except that it was slightly larger and featured the emperor wearing a radiate crown, indicating that it was valued at twice as much. Antoniniani depicting females (usually the emperor's wife), featured the bust resting upon a crescent moon. Although valued twice as much as a denarius, the antoninianus had only one and a half times the silver content.
Its development therefore represents a kind of devaluation.