The
siliqua is the modern name given to small, thin, Roman silver coins produced from 4th century and later.
The term siliqua comes from the
siliqua graeca, the seed of the carob tree, which in the Roman weight system is equivalent to 1/6 of a scruple (1/1728 of a Roman pound or about 0.19
gramThe gram , ; symbol g, is a 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...
).
The term has been applied to the various silver coins on the premise that the coins represented that were valued at 1/24 of the gold
solidusThe solidus was originally a gold coin issued by the Romans, and a weight measure for gold more generally, corresponding to 4.5 grams.- Roman and Byzantine coinage :...
(which weighed 1/72nd of a Roman pound) and therefore represented a siliqua of gold in value.
Discussion
Ask a question about 'Siliqua' Start a new discussion about 'Siliqua' Answer questions from other users |
The
siliqua is the modern name given to small, thin, Roman silver coins produced from 4th century and later.
The term siliqua comes from the
siliqua graeca, the seed of the carob tree, which in the Roman weight system is equivalent to 1/6 of a scruple (1/1728 of a Roman pound or about 0.19
gramThe gram , ; symbol g, is a 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...
).
The term has been applied to the various silver coins on the premise that the coins represented that were valued at 1/24 of the gold
solidusThe solidus was originally a gold coin issued by the Romans, and a weight measure for gold more generally, corresponding to 4.5 grams.- Roman and Byzantine coinage :...
(which weighed 1/72nd of a Roman pound) and therefore represented a siliqua of gold in value. Since gold was worth about 14 times as much as silver in ancient Rome, such a silver coin would have a theoretical
weightIn the physical sciences, the weight of an object is the magnitude, W, of the force that must be applied to an object in order to support it in a gravitational field. The weight of an object in static equilibrium equals the magnitude of the gravitational force acting on the object, less the effect...
of 2.7 grams.
There is little historical evidence to support this. This has not prevented the term from being applied to silver coins issued by Constantine, which initially weighed 3.4 grams, or the later silver coin of
Constantius IIFlavius Iulius Constantius, known in English as Constantius II was a Roman Emperor of the Constantinian dynasty.-Early life:...
, which weighed about 2.2 grams and 18mm, and is sometimes called a "light" or "reduced" siliqua to differentiate it.
The term is one of convenience as no name for these coins is indicated by contemporary sources. Thin silver coins to the 7th century which weigh about 2 to 3 grams are known as siliqua by numismatic convention.