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[German version] Modern technical term for a type of Celtic golden rainbow cups ( c. 100 BC) from southern Bavaria, formerly attribute…

[German version] …

[German version] Latin, 'third' of an as and hence of any twelve-part whole, 4 unciae ( triás ), used with this meaning in Roman currency from the earliest aes grave; in the Janus/ prora series with a head of Minerva on the obverse, four points as a value indicator. Trientes were first cast, then minted, most recently under Cornelius [I 90] Sulla. The triens also appears …

[German version] (τετράχαλκον; tetráchalkon). Coin of 4 chalkoí ( Chalkos ), in Athens 1/2 obolós , in Chios inscription on bronze coins of the Imperial period (= 2/3 as …

I. Classical Antiquity [German version] A. Coins and coinage. General Coins, a particular, developmentally late form of money, are handy, usually are round pieces of metal made of gold, electron, silver, copper or copper alloys. The metal exhibits a prescribed composition (fineness), and the coins a weight defined by the applicable standard (Coinage, standards of). Coins bear signs on their obverse and the reverse: a design and usually an inscription. Through their characteristics, coins could be recognized as the product of those authorities (society or ruler) wh…

[German version] Ancient name for the staters of Lampsacus in Mysia. 1. χρυσοῦ σ…

[German version] [1] Nomos, nomoi (ὁ νόμος/ ho nómos, pl. οἱ νόμοι/ hoi nómoi). …

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[German version] (Φιλίππειος/ Philíppeios, sc. χρυσοῦς στατήρ/ chrysoûs statḗr; Diod. Sic. 16,8,5-6; Poll. 9,84; 9,59; Syll.2 588 Z. 7; Syll.3…

[German version] Roman coin of value 3 asses (As) (from tres and as: Varro Ling. 5,169); as a cast coin with value indication III in the libral Roma-wheel series of aes grave (mid-3rd cent. BC [2. no. 24/1]) and in the post-semilibral Janus-prora series ( c. 215-212 BC [2. no. 41/3a]); 36-35 BC as minted coins with value indication Γ in the issues of Marcus Antonius…

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A board of three Roman magistrates with a defined area of competence. Distinction is made between ordinary annual officials, who had ordering functions within the group of viginti(sex)viri , and the extraordinary tresviri, who are known, on occasion, to have amassed a great deal of power. [German version] [1] Tresviri capitales Created c.290 BC, their office belonged to the lowest grade on the Republican career path (Cursus honorum; Liv. Per. 11). At first they were appointed by the praetor , and after 242 BC elected in the comitia tributa (Fest. 468 L). They were responsible for t…

[German version] (Lat. for ‘lump’); a formless mass especially of crude metal (such as massa auri, obryzae, argenti, ferri, etc.) in contrast to ramentum (small piece) and regula (bar). The bullion gold that went into the Imperial Roman treasury was entrusted to an authority called the scrinium aureae massae, with a primicerius sacrae massae, under the supervision of the comes sa…

[German version] (τετρᾶς/ tetrâs; suffix probably Siculan [1. 57]). Sicilian bronze coin, part of a lítra . According to Pollux (on the triás ; 9,80 f.) and Hesychius [1] (s. v. τετρᾶντα) the tetras was interpreted as 4 unciae = 1/3 lítra…

[German version] (πεντανούμμιον; pentanoúmmion). Copper coin with a value of 5 nummi (Nummus) in a Byzantine copper issue, introduced by Anastasius [1] I in AD 498, with a value numeral of Ε (Greek) or V (Latin), minted until the time of Heraclius [7] I (610-641). Literary mention in the lexicon of Zonaras (Zonarae Lexicon); the numerical relationships are unclear.…

[German version] [1] Bellows (φῦσα / phŷsa, bellows). The blacksmith's tool already mentioned in Homer (Il. 18, 372; 412; 468-70) is associated in Greek art in particular with  Hephaestus (Siphnian Treasury, Delphi), but rarely appears in depictions of workshops. There were two (Hdt. I 68) or more (Hom. Il. 18,468-470) folles in a workshop. In Roman art the follis is also depicted relatively rarely; on a blacksmith's gravestone in Aquileia (Mus. inv. no. 166) the worker at the follis holds a protective shield in front of himself; a fresco in the house of the Vettii in Po…

[German version] Akkadian word for an ancient oriental weight from which the Hebrew term shekel and síglos (Siclus) derive, 1/60 of the manû (Mina [1]) and 1/3600 of a biltu (Talent). The šiqlu is recorded in hundreds of cuneiform accounts from the 3rd mill. BC onwards. In the Mesopotamian system of weights the manû weighed 499.98 g, the šiqlu 8.333 g [3. 510]. A shekel of 11.4 g, corresponding to the Phoenician shekel [2. 21], is recorded in Judaea and Samaria in c. 738 BC [1. 612]. The Persians adopted the Babylonian system; under Darius [1] I, the manû was increased to 504 g, and the šiqlu…

[German version] Coins of Numidian and Libyan mercenaries rebelling against Carthage 241-238 BC ( ‘Mercenaries' War’, Pol. 1,65-88), mostly minted over pieces of Carthaginian type. Treasure finds (Inv. of Greek Coin Hoards 2213, Sicily; 2281-82, Tunisia) confirm the classification. Reverse legend ΛΙΒΥΩΝ, types: 1. double shekel, obverse head of Zeus, reverse butting bull; 2. shekel ( Siqlu); 3. half shekel, obverse head of Hercules with the coat of a lion, reverse pacing lion; 4. bronze Hercules a…

[German version] Reduction stage of the Roman-Italic aes grave amounting to 1/6 of the original libral as, introduced at Rome c. 214-212 BC along with the denarius , which was worth 10 sextantal asses (As) (Fest. 468: during the 2nd Punic War). Bronze and si…

[German version] (κόλλυβος; kóllybos). Greek for the corn of grain or pulse, then a weight between barleycorn and tetartemorion (Theophr. Lapides 46). From this, the name for a particularly small coin, attested in Athens from the 420s BC (Aristoph. Pax 1198; Eupolis 233; Callim. Fr. 85). Also two- and three-fold …