Aureus Public Deposited
The best known of the Roman gold coins. It succeeded the Scripnlnm, and appeared toward the end of the Re- public, when Sulla in B.C. 87, Pompey in B.C. 81, and Julius Caesar in B.C. 46, issued a military gold coinage. This series forms part of the Nummi Castrenses (q.v.).
The regular coinage of the Aurei began under Julius Caesar, and their value was twenty-five Denarii. The weight of the Aureus gradually declined, and it was finally abolished when Constantine the Great established the Solidus.
Under Augustus quadruple Aurei called Quaterniones were issued.
Originally the Aureus was struck at the proportion of 42 to the Roman pound (327.45 grammes) but its weight gradu- ally tended to diminish, the reduction being approximately as follows:
In the time of Augustus the Aureus was one forty-second of a pound, i.e., 120.3 grains; in the time of Nero, one forty-fifth of a pound, i.e., 113.5 grains; in the time of Caracalla, one-fiftieth of a pound, i.e., 101.05 grains; in the time of Gallienus, one sixtieth to one-seventieth of a pound, i.e., 84 to 72 grains.
- Frey's Dictionary (American Journal of Numismatics, Vol. 50, 1916)