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The aureus (pl. aurei — "golden") was a gold coin
Gold coin

A gold coin is a flat, disc-shaped piece of gold that has been minted and issued by a government or private organization....
 of ancient Rome
Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC....
 valued at 25 silver denarii
Denarius

The ancient Roman currency system included the 'denarius' after 211 BC, a small silver coin, and it was the most common coin produced for circulation but was slowly Debasement until its replacement by the antoninianus....
. The aureus was regularly issued from the 1st century BC to the beginning of the 4th century AD, when it was replaced by the solidus
Solidus (coin)

The solidus was originally a gold coin issued by the Ancient Rome.The solidus was first introduced by Diocletian around 301, struck at 60 to the Roman pound of pure gold and with an initial value equal to 1000 denarius....
.






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Aureus Septimius Severus 193 Leg Xiiii Gmv
The aureus (pl. aurei — "golden") was a gold coin
Gold coin

A gold coin is a flat, disc-shaped piece of gold that has been minted and issued by a government or private organization....
 of ancient Rome
Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC....
 valued at 25 silver denarii
Denarius

The ancient Roman currency system included the 'denarius' after 211 BC, a small silver coin, and it was the most common coin produced for circulation but was slowly Debasement until its replacement by the antoninianus....
. The aureus was regularly issued from the 1st century BC to the beginning of the 4th century AD, when it was replaced by the solidus
Solidus (coin)

The solidus was originally a gold coin issued by the Ancient Rome.The solidus was first introduced by Diocletian around 301, struck at 60 to the Roman pound of pure gold and with an initial value equal to 1000 denarius....
. The aureus is approximately the same size as the denarius, but is heavier due to the higher density of gold
Gold

Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and atomic number 79. It is a highly sought-after precious metal, having been used as money, as a store of value, in jewelry, in sculpture, and for ornamentation since the beginning of recorded history....
.

Before the time of Julius Caesar
Julius Caesar

'Gaius Julius Caesar' , July 13, 100 BC ? March 15, 44 BC,) was a Roman Republic military and political leader. He played a critical role in the transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire....
 the aureus was struck very infrequently, usually to make large payments from captured booty. Caesar struck the coin more frequently and standardized the weight at 1/40 of a Roman pound (about 8 gram
Gram

The gram , ; symbol g, is a Physical unit of mass.Originally defined as "the absolute weight of a volume of pure water equal to the cube of the hundredth part of a metre, and at the temperature of melting ice" , a gram is now defined as one one-thousandth of the SI base unit, the kilogram, or Scientific notation kg, which itself is...
s). The mass of the aureus was decreased to 1/45 of a pound (7.3 g) during the reign of Nero
Nero

Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus , born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, also called Nero Claudius Caesar Drusus Germanicus, was the fifth and final Roman emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty....
.

, circa 30 BC.]] After the reign of Marcus Aurelius
Marcus Aurelius

Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus was Roman Emperor from 161 to his death in 180. He was the last of the "Five Good Emperors", and is also considered one of the most important stoicism philosophy....
 the production of aurei decreased, and the weight was further decreased to 1/50th of a pound (6.5 g) by the time of Caracalla
Caracalla

Caracalla , born Lucius Septimius Bassianus and later called Marcus Aurelius Antoninus and Marcus Aurelius Severus Antoninus, was the eldest son of Septimius Severus and Roman Emperor from 211 – 217....
. During the third century, gold pieces were introduced in a variety of fractions and multiples, making it hard to determine the intended denomination of a gold coin.

However, regardless of the size or weight of the aureus, the coin's purity was little affected. Analysis of the Roman aureus shows the purity level usually to have been in excess of 99%, compared to 91.7%(22k) for the British sovereign
British Sovereign coin

A Gold Sovereign is a gold coin first issued in 1489 for Henry VII of England and still in production as of 2009. While the coin typically had a money of account of one pound sterling or 20 shillings, the sovereign was primarily an official piece of bullion with no mark of value anywhere on the coin itself....
 and the 90% for the US gold dollar
Gold dollar

The gold dollar was a United States United States dollar coin produced from 1849 to 1889. Composed of 90% pure gold, it was the smallest denomination of gold currency ever produced by the United States federal government....
.

Due to runaway inflation caused by the Roman government issuing base-metal coinage but refusing to accept anything other than silver or gold for tax payments, the value of the gold aureus in relation to denarii grew drastically. Inflation was also affected by the systematic debasement of the silver denarius
Denarius

The ancient Roman currency system included the 'denarius' after 211 BC, a small silver coin, and it was the most common coin produced for circulation but was slowly Debasement until its replacement by the antoninianus....
 which by the mid-third century had practically no silver left in it.

In 301 AD one gold aureus was worth 8331/3 denarii; by 324 AD the same aureus was worth 4,350 denarii. In 337 AD, after Constantine converted to the solidus
Solidus (coin)

The solidus was originally a gold coin issued by the Ancient Rome.The solidus was first introduced by Diocletian around 301, struck at 60 to the Roman pound of pure gold and with an initial value equal to 1000 denarius....
, one solidus was worth 275,000 denarii and finally, by 356 AD, one solidus was worth 4,600,000 denarii.

Constantine introduced the solidus
Solidus (coin)

The solidus was originally a gold coin issued by the Ancient Rome.The solidus was first introduced by Diocletian around 301, struck at 60 to the Roman pound of pure gold and with an initial value equal to 1000 denarius....
 in 309, replacing the aureus as the standard gold coin of the Roman empire
Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was the Roman Republic phase of the Ancient Rome, characterised by an autocracy form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
. The solidus was a larger diameter and flatter coin, while the aureus was smaller and chunky and similar to the denarius in fabric.

See also

  • Roman currency
    Roman currency

    The main Roman currency during most of the Roman Republic and the western half of the Roman Empire consisted of coins including the aureus , the denarius , the sestertius , the dupondius , and the As ....


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