The Art of Roman Coins

The artistic worth of Roman coins is often considered poor when compared to the sublimity of their Greek predecessors. Whilst function often took precedence over artistic merit in Roman coin design, especially in the third century, when emperors and warlords were only interested in seeing their meagre metal supplies converted into the greatest volume of currency in the shortest possible time. Yet, even then Roman die-cutters were capable of work of the highest quality, especially on gold coins, whose higher value demanded greater care expended on their production, and on the larger bronze coins and medallions, whose greater surface area accorded the die artists a larger canvas for their creativity.

Unfortunately, we do not know the names of these talented artists. Whilst the names of some of the magistrates responsible for the running of the mints survive, both on coins and on inscriptions, there are no signatures, as on the Syracusan tetradrachms, of the artists themselves. This illustrates the low status accorded the craft in the Roman word, and the probably servile status of the men who carried out this work.
The production of coinage was under the supervision of the greater goddess Juno, who, in her guise of Juno Moneta, bestowed her supervision over the craftsmen and their product, and at Rome the mint was attached to her temple on the Capitol. We possess few images of the mint in operation, but of these the best

is probably on a wonderful contorniate medallion from the late 3rd or 4th century A.D., depicting a group of mint workers in the act of striking coins (see left). Another famous silver denarius of T. Carisius from 46 B.C. shows the tools of the monyer's craft: the hammer and tongs, and the anvil with the garlanded upper die poised above it (see right).
All this being said however, the low social status of these craftsmen in their Roman milieu should not prejudice us against, or blind us to, the quality of their work. At their best Roman coins are great works of art, with sensitive character-filled portraits of some of the most influential rulers from the ancient world combined with reverses of great beauty and details which bring to life aspects of the Roman world and experience.