A dictionary of Greek and Roman . 121*26grains: and as the weight was afterwards dimi-nished, we may take the average at 120 seems to have been no intentional alloy inthe Roman gold coins, but they generally containeda small portion of native silver. The average alloyis The aureus of the Roman emperors, therefore,contained ^jjg = *4 of a grain of alloy, and there-fore 119*6 grains of pure gold. Now a sovereigncontains 113*12 grains of pure gold. Therefore thevalue of the aureus in terms of the sovereign isfi§ : 13 = 1*0564 = II Is. Id. and a little morethan a halfpen
A dictionary of Greek and Roman . 121*26grains: and as the weight was afterwards dimi-nished, we may take the average at 120 seems to have been no intentional alloy inthe Roman gold coins, but they generally containeda small portion of native silver. The average alloyis The aureus of the Roman emperors, therefore,contained ^jjg = *4 of a grain of alloy, and there-fore 119*6 grains of pure gold. Now a sovereigncontains 113*12 grains of pure gold. Therefore thevalue of the aureus in terms of the sovereign isfi§ : 13 = 1*0564 = II Is. Id. and a little morethan a halfpenny. This is its value according tothe present worth of gold ; but its current value inRome was different from this, on account of the dif-ference in the worth of the metal. The aureuspassed for 25 denarii; therefore, the denariusbeing 8|o?., it was worth 17s. 8±c/. The ratio of thevalue of gold to that of silver is given in the articleArgentum. The following cut represents anaureus of Augustus in the British Museum, whichweighs 121 grains. |. Alexander Severus coined pieces of one-half andone third of the aureus, called Semissis and tremis-sis (Lamprid. Alex. Sev. c. 39), after which timethe aureus was called solidus. Constantine the Great coined aurei of 72 to thepound ; at which standard the coin remained tothe end of the empire. (Cod. x. tit. 70. s. 5 ;Hussey, On Ancient Weights and Money; Pond. &c.) [P. S.] AURUM CORONARIUM. When a generalin a Roman province had obtained a victory, itwas the custom for the cities in his own provinces,and for those from the neighbouring states, to sendgolden crowns to him, which were carried beforehim in his triumph at Rome. (Liv. xxxviii. 37,xxxix. 7; Festus, s. v. Triumphales Coronae.) Thispractice appears to have been borrowed from theGreeks ; for Chares related, in his history of Alex-ander (ap. Athen. xii. p. 539. a.), that after theconquest of Persia, crowns were sent to Alex-ander, which amounted to the weight of 10,500talen
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Keywords: ., bookauthorsmithwilliam18131893, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1840
