France under the Roman Empire

FRENCH COIN COLLECTING ?

France under the Roman Empire

Along with Italy and Syria, France is one of the major countries of Roman civilisation, one of the countries where emperors were born , crowned and died.

It is the country whose conquest brought about the recognition of Caesar's rule. It is one of the countries where the greatest number of Imperial Roman mints are to be found ; Ambianum is Amiens ; Arelate is Arles ; Lugdunum is Lyons ; Rotomagus is Rouen ; Narbo is Narbonne ; all these are French towns.

A Denier of Augustus struck in Lyons (MONNAIES V, 189) Sold at 800 FRF

An Aureus of Nero struck in Lyons in 60/61 (MONNAIES V, 200 ) Sold at : 6 760 FRF

Rome contributed to our civilisation in the fields of Law and Organisation. Without possessing particular imagination or scientific genius, the Romans were able to make use of the knowledge acquired by other peoples, through military domination. While maintaining strict control over what was important, i.e. military power and taxes, Rome was able to leave people a great freedom of choice with regards to conscience, religion and organisation. What Rome was to leave behind was the nostalgia of the 'Pax Romana', still present today to such an extent that we use the term 'Pax Americana' , and the idea that the Law should be the guiding force in men's lives. This concept, added to Christianity, which Rome, before its disappearance, propagated most ardently , of human law and divine law, according to which man must organise his earthly existence, is still prevalent on our planet today.

Innumerable Roman coins were struck in France over the period from the conquest to the fall.

One finds, for example, many coins struck by the Gauls, in imitation of Roman coins, or struck by the Romans in towns inhabited by soldiers, who had received the 'honesta missio', that is their detachment from the army. Those who had fought in Egypt, with Augustus, received land in Nîmes and there they struck local coins which featured the crocodile, the palm-tree and the abbreviation of the name of their new town : COLonia NEMausus. There was a large output of coins, featuring the busts of both Augustus and Agrippa, and they can be found today from around a hundred francs ( twenty dollars ).

Lyons became the imperial mint during the reign of Augustus and a great deal of the output of coins of this emperor was struck there.

It was logical, from a Roman point of view, to create a mint in Gaul, for this was the biggest and most densely populated country of the empire where, thanks to the roads and to the degree of safety, the Roman organisation had allowed commerce to develop : the need for coinage was therefore very great.

An Antoninianus de Magnia Urbica, struck in Lyons during summer 284.(MONNAIES V, 427) Sold at 3 180 FRF

A small bronze of Constantine I, the first Christian emperor, struck in Arles in 325. Estimated at : 250 FRF

Events of Roman history often took place in France ; it was in Lyons, where his father was in the garrison, that Caracalla was born, and in Paris that Julian the Philosopher was proclaimed Augustus.

Meanwhile, there was a whole series of Gallic emperors, who from Postumus to Probus were to rule over Gaul, often in opposition to the emperor established in Rome. Their coins are innumerable and at all different prices. They are made of gold, silver, and bronze, and, depending on the emperor, the interest of the reverse and their condition, they are worth from fifty francs (ten dollars ) to more than a hundred thousand francs.

A Double Maiorina of Julian the Philosopher, struck in Arles in 363 (MONNAIES V, 526 ) Sold at : 1660 FRF

The recommended books to read are all those about imperial Roman coinage, for example, the Seaby, 'Roman Coins', the works of J.B. Giard, the 'Roman Historical Coinage' by C. Foss and especially 'Les Monnaies de l'Atelier d'Arles' by P. Ferrado.

There is no specialised reference collection, but although we often come across unknown coins from the 3rd and 4th centuries, the collection of the National French Library (BnF) and the British museum are very complete for the 1st and 2nd centuries.