Roman Coins
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Roman Coins Roman Coin History By Josh White - Ezinearticles Paying for goods and services in Rome didn't start with the coin but certainly ended there. Before the common use of the coin was an economy that operated on the bartering of livestock. Then, came the early coinage in the form of bronze bars around 289 B.C. From here things began to change with the creation of 'change' and it never turned back. Roman coinage started with the Greeks. As Roman armies marched southward and encountered silver coinage within the Greek colonies, the appearance of silver began to show up in Rome's history. From here, Roman history would show itself on its coinage throughout time. To start, the earliest bronze coins had featured gods such as Janus, Mercury and Apollo. In 44 B.C. Caesar was the first to place a portrait of himself on the silver denarius and was the first living Roman to do so. With this, he started a tradition in which Hellenistic monarchs began portraying the...