IL SIGNIFICATO DELLE MONETE ROMANE
Un viaggio attraverso l'antica coniazione e l'arte della monetazione romana
Marco J. RowenPart of Volume I (IT) The Roman Coinage Series
Roman coinage was never decorative. It was a system of meanings crafted with precision, distributed with intention, designed to cross mountains and centuries. This book teaches you to read it. Il Significato delle Monete Romane is a complete journey through Roman coinage, from the earliest origins, when bronze fragments were weighed by hand in the markets of archaic Italy, to the imperial gold that carried emperors' faces to the farthest corners of the Empire. Written for both the experienced collector and the newcomer to numismatics, with historical rigor, accessible narrative, and practical tools in every chapter. The eight chapters cover: - The birth of Roman coinage, from aes rude and aes signatum to aes grave and the denarius - The metals of the empire as symbolic, ideological and sacred systems, not only economic ones - The faces of power: monetary portraits of Augustus, Nero, Trajan, Hadrian, Severus Alexander and Constantine the Great as political documents - The stories behind the symbols: Pax, Victoria, Providentia, Aeternitas, Fortuna and the virtues of the city - The art of minting and the hidden workshops: engravers, imperial mints, officina marks, counterfeits and reforms - From market to museum: circulation, military pay, temples, hoards, rediscovery and the modern market - Collecting Rome: how to start, spot fakes, understand value, conserve a collection, ethics and law - Tools and references: glossary, abbreviations and legends, mint map, value tables, chronology, bibliography and digital tools First Italian-language volume of the Roman Coinage Series. Stop looking. Start reading.
