COINS AND POLITICS IN THE LATE ROMAN WORLD
Richard Reece
Coins constitute source material: explicitly, from what is written and portrayed on them or the place authority in which they were struck, implicitly, portrait style type. They are also objects of metal, sometimes precious, use control reflects politics. Around 294, portraiture changed very sharply individuality to representation authority. Reverse types now much more limited concentrated than under Principate. The change occurred around 274 when city mints ceased local production either closed made branches one Imperial mint. These signs a move towards heavily centralised money supply, dictated by strongly emphasised Control metals, especially gold, followed same path, though reforms mid-4th c. may suggest that silver was let out state ‘privatised’.
Late Antique Archaeology