Roman currency "talents"
The Roman currency "talents" was the largest unit of weight in antiquity. Large sums of money were also measured against it. But what about the old coin system and how much was a talent worth?
The Roman currency "Talents" was very popular at that time, especially in the Roman Empire, because it reflected a larger amount of money or money. a certain amount of weight again.
Development of the Roman currency
- It was around 200 BC when the first bronze and silver coins appeared in denarius and sesterce values. The denarius in particular was considered the modern currency for Rome and Italy.
- Around 50 BC, the Roman Emperor Caesar wanted another coin to represent his empire represented even better, and let the first gold coins, which were titled as "Aureus", to produce.
The Roman Empire had a monetary system that consisted entirely of coins. This progress also made the empire very popular economically.
- Talents, or rather the "talent", was originally a unit of weight. But a certain amount of coins was also called talent. So you could say: a bundle of money equals a talent.
Even if the term Goldmark is widely used, there was never an official ...
Talents and units
- The Aegean talent was around 37.44 kilograms. The Aegin-Attic talent was approx. 36.39 kilograms, the old Attic trading talent around 39.3 kilograms and the Solonic-Attic talent 26.196 kilograms. Since talent used to be synonymous with a lot, it is only possible in context find out whether it is the weight, an amount of coins or even a certain category of goods acted.
Attic talents were often traded during the Roman Empire. An Attic talent was calculated to be around 20.40 kilograms. Conversion into other currencies such as drachmas or litrai was also possible and trade was able to flourish. Usually large amounts of trading sums were given in talents.
- Silver talents were widespread, although there were also gold talents. It is said that one gold talent was ten silver talent. But there were also other known units and Conversions in ancient Rome.
- The aureus and the denarius were important coins. One aureus was 25 denarii. One denarius in turn corresponded to four sesterces. One sesterce corresponded to two deposits. A Depondius was followed by two aces and an ace by four quadrants. Thus the Roman coin system was a very sophisticated one.
Conclusion: The currency of Roman talents was widespread throughout the Mediterranean. Mostly they meant silver talents, although there were also gold coins.
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