How to read Roman coins #

Roman imperial coins are pretty easy to decipher. Larger denominations (most often collected by numismatists) almost always have the portrait of the emperor (or empress, rarely other members of imperial family) with their names and titles written in the legend.

Legends are written in Latin using Latin letters – the same we use right now.

There are slight differences – for example Latin “v” is soft and sounds similar to “w’ in “wine” and “ae” sounds like “ai”, but it’s still much easier to read than something written for example with Greek letters (for non-Greeks 😉 ) or with script used by ancient Indian kingdoms.

Legends around the portrait usually consist of two major parts – name or names and titles.

Some most common titles:

“IMPERATOR” – “emperor”

“AVGVSTVS” – “August” (title bestowed upon Octavian, the first Roman emperor. Notice there’s no “U” in Latin and it’s written with “V” instead)

“CAESAR” – pronounced like “KAISAR”, name of Julius Caesar adopted by later rulers as title.

“CONSVL” – “consul”

“TRIBVNICIA POTESTAE” – “tribunician powers”

“PATER PATRIAE” – “Father of the Fatherland”

“PONTIFEX MAXIMVS” – “Highest priest”

“PIUS” – “pious”

“ARMENIACVS” – “victor over the Armenians”

“BRITANNICVS” – “victor over the Britons”

“GERMANICVS” – “victor over the Germans”

“PARTHICVS” – “victor over the Parthians”

These titles were rarely written in full, they were usually abbreviated to save some precious space. That’s why “IMPERATOR” was usually written as “IMP”, “AVGVSTVS” as “AVG”, “CAESAR” as “CAES”, “CONSVL” as “COS”, “TRIBVNICIA POTESTAE” as “TR P” or “TR POT”, “PATER PATRIAE” as “PP”, “PONTIFEX MAXIMVS” as “PM”, “ARMENIACVS” as “ARM”, “BRITANNICVS” as “BRIT”, “GERMANICVS” as “GERM” and “PARTHICVS” as “PARTH” and so on.

Some names commonly found on Roman coins are:

“ANTONINVS”

“MARCVS”

“CLAVDIVS”

“SEPTIMIVS”

“AVRELIVS”

“TRAIANVS”

“HADRIANVS”

“FAVSTINA”

Names were abbreviated as well. For example “ANTONINVS” could’ve been written as “ANT”, “AVRELIVS” as “AVR” or “AVREL” and “TRAIANVS” as “TRAIAN”.

Here is an example of such legend full of abbreviations. It says (notice that there is no space between words on the coin and you’ll have to learn where those spaces have to be):

IMP CAES M AVREL ANTONINVS AVG

so the full version is:

IMPERATOR CAESAR MARCVS AVRELIVS ANTONINVS AVGVSTVS

Fortunately for us ancient die engravers were professional artists and Romans for a long time preferred realism (up to the point of making emperor Nero more and more obese on the coins the longer he reigned). That means it’s quite easy to recognize the person visible on the coin just by looking at their portrait. Browsing various auctions and shops and becoming familiar with those portraits can pay off in the future and make identifying Roman imperial coins way easier.

On the other side of the coin (“reverse”) there are usually gods/goddesses, personifications or some “propaganda” material. Roman pantheon was quite big so there is quite a lot of divine beings depicted on coins, but they often are shown with specific attributes. Mars for example is wearing helmet and holding spear and sometimes a trophy.

Annona (personification of grain supply) is shown with corn ears, with modius (measure unit of grain), galley prow and anchor (alluding to grain imports by sea). Sometimes name of the depicted divine being or personification is written on reverse legend – like “ANNONA AVG” or “IVNO”.

Propaganda material is related to various situations like victory in the war (with bound captives and trophy made of their weapons and armor), well-being of the citizens thanks to good rule (with emperor shown giving citizens free money) or other.

Sometimes it’s easy to pinpoint the moment of minting the coin to the specific year, thanks to Roman love of offices. “COS” (meaning the emperor served his term as a consul), “TR P” (that he was given tribunician powers) and “IMP” (that he was given “right to command”) were numbered (if there’s no number it means the first term).

Here is an example of such coin. The legend says:

P M TR P XIX IMP III COS III

It means, in addition to the information that the emperor was also the highest priest (“P M”), that when this coin was struck he already received tribunician powers nineteen times, was given “imperium” three times and served three terms as consul as well. Because we know from various documents when different emperors received such titles and when they served those terms – we can narrow the minting of this particular coin down to 164-165 CE.

Situation looks a bit different with Roman republican coins, because they were minted when Rome was a republic – therefore there was no emperors depicted on them. Most of those coins had the helmeted head of Roma on obverse (sometimes other gods as well). The reverses show more variety and, most importantly, the name of moneyers (officials responsible for managing the mint).

This coin was minted when Marcus Junius Brutus was one of such moneyers.

How to read Greek coins #

Many Greek coins have legends on them as well, so the easiest way of determining where and by whom they were minted is to read the legend.

No extensive knowledge of ancient Greek language is necessary. The only thing needed is basic knowledge of the Greek alphabet. Wikipedia pages about it can be found here and here. For example on this coin there’s only one word, and by using the labels on the wikipedia pages you can find out that the Greek letters form the word “ALEKSANDROY”.

You don’t have to know right now that it’s written in genitive case (“of Alexander”, according to Greek custom meaning “[coin] of Alexander”) – just the word “ALEKSANDROY” alone should point you to Alexander the Great because it simply sounds quite similar to the word “ALEXANDER”.

Here is another Greek coin with a legend.

There are two words which, “deciphered” with the pages about Greek alphabet, are “BASILEOS LYSIMAKHOY”. “Basileos” is a Greek word for “king”. “Lysimakhoy” is the king’s name – in this case it’s Lysimachos. The whole legend means “of king Lysimachos” and that’s why among coins of this particular king the owner of this coin should continue their search.

It may seem difficult at first, but in time reading Greek letters will become as natural as reading Latin letters. Here is the list of some common words and names used on Greek coins, memorizing them would greatly help you identify many Greek coins very quickly:

(“AY”, “EY” and “OY” should be pronounced as “AU”, “EU” and “U”)

AΛEΞANΔΡOY – “ALEKSANDROY” – “of Alexander”

ANTIΓONOY – “ANTIGONOY” – “of Antigonos”

ANTIOXOY – “ANTIOKHOY” – “of Antiochos”

AΡΣINOHΣ – “ARSINOES” – “of Arsinoe”

BAΣIΛEΩΣ – “BASILEOS” – “king”

BAΣIΛIΣΣA – “BASILISSA” – “queen”

ΔHMHTΡIOY – “DEMETRIOY” – “of Demetrios”

ΦIΛIΠΠOY – “FILIPPOY” – “of Philip”

KAΣΣANΔΡOY – “KASSANDROY” – “of Kassander”

KΛEOΠATΡAC – “KLEOPATRAS” – “of Cleopatra”

ΛYΣIMAXOY – “LYSIMAKHOY” – “of Lysimachos”

MAKEΔONΩN – “MAKEDONON” – “Macedon”

MENANΔΡOY – MENANADROY” – “of Menander”

MIΘΡAΔATOY – “MITHRADATOY” – “of Mithridates”

NIKOMHΔOY – “NIKOMEDOY” – “of Nikomedes”

ΠEΡΣEΩΣ – “PERSEOS” – “of Perseus”

ΠTOΛEMAIOY – “PTOLEMAIOY” – “of Ptolemy”

ΠYΡΡOY – “PYRROY” – “of Pyrrhos”

ΣEΛEYKOY – “SELEYKOY” – “of Seleucus”

TIΓΡANOY – “TIGRANOY” – “of Tigranes”

Because Roman emperors minted coins in old municipal mints in eastern, Greek part of their empire – the so called “provincial coins” of Roman emperors also had Greek legends because majority of people using them were speaking Greek, instead of Latin. Here are some Greeks names and titles present on those coins:

(in time old Greek letter “Σ” was replaced by “C”)

AΔΡIANOC – “ADRIANOS” – “Hadrian”

ANTΩNINOC – “ANTONINOS” – “Antoninus”

ΑΥΤΟΚΡΑΤΟΡ – “AYTOKRATOR” – “Imperator”

AYΡHΛIANOC – “AYRELIANOS” – “Aurelian”

AYRHΛIOC – “AYRELIOS” – “Aurelius”

ΔIOKΛHTIANOC – “DIOKLETIANOS” – “Diocletian”

ΔOMITIANOΣ – “DOMITIANOS” – “Domitian”

ΦAYCTEINA – “FAYSTEINA” – “Faustina”

ΓAΛBAC – “GALBAS” – “Galba”

ΓAΛΛIHNΩC – “GALLIENOS” – “Gallienus”

ΓETAC – “GETAS” – “Geta”

ΓEΡMANIKOΣ – “GERMANIKOS” – “Germanicus”

ΓOΡΔIANOC – “GORDIANOS” – “Gordian”

IOYΛIA ΔOMNA – “IOYLIA DOMNA” – “Julia Domna”

IOYΛIA MAICA – “IOYLIA MAISA” – “Julia Maesa”

IOYΛIA MAMAIA – “IOYLA MAMAIA” – “Julia Mamaea”

KAIΣAΡ or KAICAP – “KAISAR” – “Caesar”

KAΡINOC – “KARINOS” – “Carinus”

KΛAYΔIOΣ – “KLAYDIOS” – “Claudius”

KΛOΔ AΛBEINOC – “KLOD ALBEINOS” – “Clodius Albinus”

KOMMOΔOC – “KOMMODOS” – “Commodus”

MAPKOC – “MARKOS” – “Marcus”

NEΡΩN – “NERON” – “Nero”

NEΡOYAΣ – “NEROYAS” – “Nerva”

OΘΩNOΣ – “OTHONOS” – “Otho”

OYHΡOC – “OYEROS” – “Verus”

OYECΠACIANOC – “OYESPASIANOS” – “Vespasian”

ΠEΡTINAX – “PERTINAKS” – “Pertinax”

ΠECK NIΓΡOC – “PESK NIGROS” – “Pescennius Niger”

ΠΡOBOC – “PROBOS” – “Probus”

CABEINA – “SABEINA” – “Sabina”

CAΛΩNEINA – “SALONEINA” – “Salonina”

ΣEBAΣTOΣ or CEBACTOC – “SEBASTOS” – “Augustus” (Roman title)

ΣEBAΣTH or CEBACTH – “SEBASTE” – “Augusta” (female title)

CEΠTIMIOC – “SEPTIMIOS” – “Septimius”

CEYH AΛEXANΔΡOC – “SEYE ALEKSANDROS” – “Severus Alexander”

TIBEΡIOC – “TIBERIOS” – “Tiberius”

TITOC – “TITOS” – “Titus”

TΡAIANOC – “TRAIANOS” – “Trajan”

Keep in mind that there’s usually not enough space on the coin to fit all full names and titles, so instead of “CEBACTOC” there will most probably be only “CEB” in the legend. Same with (for example) “KAI” or “KAIΣ/KAIC” instead of “KAIΣAΡ”, “ΑΥΤ” instead of “ΑΥΤΟΚΡΑΤΟΡ” or “AYΡ” instead of “AYΡHΛIANOC”.

That’s how this legend:

AYT KAI M AYΡ ANTΩNINOC CEB

Means, in full:

ΑΥΤΟΚΡΑΤΟΡ KAIΣAΡ MARKOS AYRHΛIOC ANTΩNINOC CEBACTOC

IMPERATOR CAESAR MARCUS AURELIUS ANTONINUS AUGUSTUS

or, as it would most probably be written on coin minted in imperial mint in Rome:

IMP CAES M AVR ANTONINVS AVG

The situation becomes more difficult with classical or archaic Greek coins. They often had no legends at all. In this case it’s recommended to become familiar with specific symbols/symbolism used on them.

Here is an example of a very famous coin from ancient Greece.

On the obverse there’s goddess Athena, on the reverse – an owl. To every ancient Greek it’d be probably easy to determine where this coin was made – because both Athena and owl associated with her were used by Athens as symbols. To make things absolutely clear – there’s “ΑΘΕ” there, or “ATHE” as it’d be written with latin letters, additionally confirming it’s the coin “of the Athenians”.

Here is another Greek coin without any legend.

However pegasus and the lone letter visible below it – called “koppa”, identify Corinth as the place where it was minted (Corinth was the birthplace of Bellerophon, who captured and rode the pegasus).

Various city states maintained such symbols and learning more about them can help greatly in identifying the coin. Some examples of such symbols include bees associated with Ephesos, Helios and rose with Rhodes, tuna with Cyzicus and turtle with Aegina.