Coinage and Money in the Roman Rhineland

This chapter begins with an overview of the development of the first Roman coins before discussing their presence in most Augustan military bases along the Rhine during the Iron Age. It then considers the numismatic controversy surrounding the battlefield site at Kalkriese, which has been linked with the clades variana, the catastrophic defeat of the Romans in the Teutoburger Forest in AD 9. It also examines the use of Roman prototypes to produce coin imitations; coin supply and traditions of coin use; the role played by coin finds in dating the construction of the ‘Upper German–Raetian limes’; the increase in military pay that came in the form of silver coins during the reign of Septimius Severus; the slow disappearance of silver in Germania Magna beyond the limes; the decentralisation of coin production; and the decline of coinage in the Rhineland. Finally, it explores the reform of the coinage under Diocletian.