A quincunx of Larinum | |
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Bearded head of Mars, wearing Corinthian helmet | [L]ADINOD, warrior on horseback galloping left; five pellets in exergue. |
Circa 210–175 BC. Æ 22mm – 7.95 g. |
The quincunx was a bronze coin minted during the Roman Republic. It was not part of the standard coinage of the Roman monetary system. The quincunx was produced only during the Second Punic War (218 to 204 BC), by mints at Luceria (mod. Lucera), Teate (mod. Chieti), Larinum (mod. Larino), and northern Apulia. After the defeat of Cannae during the Second Punic War, a coin with the same value was minted in Capua.
The word quincunx comes from Latin quinque meaning "five" and uncia meaning "one-twelfth", since the coin was valued at five-twelfths of a bronze as (also called a libra).
Its value was sometimes represented by a pattern of five dots arranged at the corners and the center of a square, like the pips of a die. So, this pattern also came to be called quincunx.
The denarius was the standard Roman silver coin from its introduction in the Second Punic War c. 211 BC to the reign of Gordian III, when it was gradually replaced by the antoninianus. It continued to be minted in very small quantities, likely for ceremonial purposes, until and through the Tetrarchy (293–313).
A quincunx is a geometric pattern consisting of five points arranged in a cross, with four of them forming a square or rectangle and a fifth at its center. The same pattern has other names, including "in saltire" or "in cross" in heraldry, the five-point stencil in numerical analysis, and the five dots tattoo. It forms the arrangement of five units in the pattern corresponding to the five-spot on six-sided dice, playing cards, and dominoes. It is represented in Unicode as U+2059⁙FIVE DOT PUNCTUATION or U+2684⚄DIE FACE-5.
Shekel or sheqel is an ancient Mesopotamian coin, usually of silver. A shekel was first a unit of weight—very roughly 11 grams —and became currency in ancient Tyre and Carthage and then in Hasmonean Judea.
The as, occasionally assarius, was a bronze, and later copper, coin used during the Roman Republic and Roman Empire.
The sestertius or sesterce was an ancient Roman coin. During the Roman Republic it was a small, silver coin issued only on rare occasions. During the Roman Empire it was a large brass coin.
Roman currency for most of Roman history consisted of gold, silver, bronze, orichalcum and copper coinage. From its introduction during the Republic, in the third century BC, through Imperial times, Roman currency saw many changes in form, denomination, and composition. A feature was the inflationary debasement and replacement of coins over the centuries. Notable examples of this followed the reforms of Diocletian. This trend continued with Byzantine currency.
The semis was a small Roman bronze coin that was valued at half an as. During the Roman Republic, the semis was distinguished by an 'S' or 6 dots. Some of the coins featured a bust of Saturn on the obverse, and the prow of a ship on the reverse.
Roman Republican currency is the coinage struck by the various magistrates of the Roman Republic, to be used as legal tender. In modern times, the abbreviation RRC, "Roman Republican Coinage" originally the name of a reference work on the topic by Michael H. Crawford, has come to be used as an identifying tag for coins assigned a number in that work, such as RRC 367.
The Indian Head cent, also known as an Indian Head penny, was a one-cent coin ($0.01) produced by the United States Bureau of the Mint from 1859 to 1909. It was designed by James Barton Longacre, the Chief Engraver at the Philadelphia Mint.
This glossary of numismatics is a list of definitions of terms and concepts relevant to numismatics and coin collecting, as well as sub-fields and related disciplines, with concise explanations for the beginner or professional.
The dodrans or nonuncium was an Ancient Roman bronze coin produced during the Roman Republic.
Like the Egyptians, Phoenicians and Carthaginians, the Etruscans were rather slow to adopt the invention of coinage. The brief period of Etruscan coinage, with the predominance of marks of value, seems to be an amalgam that reconciles two very different monetary systems: the 'primitive' bronze-weighing and aes grave economy of central Italy with that of struck silver and gold issues of southern Italian Greek type not familiar in Etruria.
A litra was a small silver coin used in the Archaic-era and early Classical colonies of Ancient Greece in general and in ancient Sicily in particular. As a coin, the litra was similar in value to the obol. In silver content, the coin weighed 0.87 g (0.031 oz) and was equal to one-fifth of a drachma. As a unit of weight, the litra was one-third of a Roman libra, i.e. 109.15 g (3.850 oz).
A quincunx originally meant a 5/12 fraction of something, but most modern uses involve patterns of five points. "Quincunx" or "quincuncial" may in particular refer to
Carthaginian or Punic currency refers to the coins of ancient Carthage, a Phoenician city-state located near present-day Tunis, Tunisia. Between the late fifth century BC and its destruction in 146 BC, Carthage produced a wide range of coinage in gold, electrum, silver, billon, and bronze. The base denomination was the shekel, probably pronounced in Punic. Only a minority of Carthaginian coinage was produced or used in North Africa. Instead, the majority derive from Carthage's holdings in Sardinia and western Sicily.
The history of ancient Iberian coinage begins as early as the fifth century BC, but widespread minting and circulation in the Iberian peninsula did not begin until late in the third century, during the Second Punic War. Civic coinages - emissions made by individual cities at their own volition - continued under the first two and a half centuries of Roman control until ending in the mid-first century AD. Some non-civic coins were minted on behalf of Roman emperors during this period and continued to be minted after the cessation of the civic coinages. After the cessation of the civic coinages, these Imperial coins were the only coins minted in Iberia until the coins of the Suebi and Visigoths.
The five rin coin (五厘青銅貨) was a Japanese coin worth one two-hundredth of a Japanese yen, as 5 rin equalled +1⁄2 sen, and 100 sen equaled 1 yen. These coins were a successor to the equally valued half sen coin which was previously minted until 1888. Overall, the history of the five rin coin is brief as they were only minted from 1916 to 1919 before being devalued monetarily. They were later demonetized by the end of 1953 and are now widely available for collectors.
The coinage of Suessa concerns coins minted in Suessa, a city in ancient Campania inhabited by the Aurunci, an ancient Italic population. The city minted coins in the period between 268 B.C. and the Second Punic War.
The coinage of Capua concerns coins minted in ancient Capua, a city in ancient Campania, corresponding to present-day Santa Maria Capua Vetere. The city was located on the Appian Way and was the most important in the area, probably the largest center in the Italian peninsula after Rome.
The coinage of Cales concerns coins minted in Cales, a city in Campania, the most important urban center of the ancient Italic population of the Ausones. Cales was located on the Via Latina, halfway between the mountains of Samnium and the plains of Campania felix, a few kilometers north of Casilinum and just south of Teanum Sidicinum.