M E t D A L. 
income. The method of counting by “ purfes” continues 
in Turkey to this day. 
The dupondius was only half the value of the feftertius, 
orabout one penny fterling; and, before the yellow brafs 
appeared, it feems to have been ftruck upon copper, and 
double the fize of the as. There is fome of this coin, 
ftruck in the time of Julius Caefar, in yellow brafs, weigh¬ 
ing half an ounce, with a head of Venus Viftrix upon one 
fide j on the reverfe, a female figure, with ferpents at her 
feet,- while others have a Viftory on the reverie, with 
Q. Oppius Pr. After the time of Auguftus, the dupon¬ 
dius was ftruck in yellow brafs ; which Pliny tells us was 
alfo the cafe in his time. The word dupondiarius feems to 
have been ufed by Pliny, and adopted, not to exprefs that 
the coin was dupondius, but that it was of dupondiary 
value. Neither was the former word confined to fignify 
double weight, but was ufed alfo for double length or 
meafure, as in the inltance of dupondius pes, or two feet, &c. 
Jn the imperial times, therefore, dupondius was ufed, not 
to fignify a coin of double the weight of the as, but of 
double the value. It was one of the molt common of the 
Roman coins ; and feems to have been well known even 
in Conftantinople. In the time of Juftinian there was a 
cuftotn of nicknaming young ftudentsof the law dupondii, 
againft which the emperor made a law ; but it is not known 
what gave rife to the name. The dupondius, though of 
the fame fize with the as, is commonly of finer workman- 
fliip, the metal being greatly fuperior in value. It con¬ 
tinues to be of yellow brafs, as well as the feftertius, to the 
lime of Gallienus ; but the as is always in copper. 
The imperial as, or ajfarium, was worth only a halfpenny. 
At firft it weighed halt an ounce, and was always of cop¬ 
per till the time of Gallienus, when it was made of brafs, 
and weighed only the eighth part of an ounce. From the 
time of Gallienus to that of Dioclefian, it continued to 
diminilh ftill more, the fize being then twenty to an ounce. 
This was the fame with the lepta, orfmalleft coins but the 
iovpict, which weighed only ten grains. 
The parts of the as occur but feldom ; which may, in¬ 
deed, be well expe&ed, confidering the low value of it; 
though there ftill occur fome of thofe called femis, triens, 
quadrans, lextans, and uncia, coined in the times of Nero 
and Domitian. There is no fmall brafs from the time of 
Pertinax to that of Gallienus, excepting that of Trajanus 
Decius; but in the time of Gallienus it becomes ex¬ 
tremely common ; and the coins of fmall brafs, as well as 
the larger, are always marked S. C. fuch as want it being 
nniveriaily accounted forgeries ; and were plated with 
filver, though the plating be now worn off. See fig. iS, 19. 
The fmall pieces ftruck for flaves during the time of the 
Saturnalia, mnft alfo be diltinguilhed from the parts of the 
as. The S. C. upon thefe moft probably fignifies Saturni 
Conjulto, inftead of Senatus Confulto ; and were ftruck in ri¬ 
dicule of the true coins, as the flaves on that occafion had 
every privilege of irony. 
The feftertius diminiflies fo faft from Pertinax to Gal- 
iienus, that no parts of the as are ftruck, itfelf being fo 
fmall. Trajanus Decius, indeed, coined fome fmall pieces, 
which went for the femis of the time. The fmall brafs 
coins under Gallienus were called ajfaria, fixty of which 
•went to the filver denarius. They are about the fize 
of the denarius ; and fome of them occur, of the coin¬ 
age of Gallus and his family, of half that fize, which ap¬ 
pear to have been ftruck during the latter part of his 
reign, when the aflarium was diminilhed to a ftill fmaller 
fize. It is probable, however, that fome of thefe very 
fmall coins had been ftruck in all ages of the empire, in 
order to fcatter among the people on folemn occafions. 
Mr. Pinkerton is of opinion that they are the mijilia, 
though moft other medallifts think that they are medal¬ 
lions. “But, if fo, (fays our author,) they were cer¬ 
tainly called mijilia a non mittendo ; for it would be odd if 
fine medallions were fcattered among the mob. It is a 
common cultom juft now to ftrike counters to fcatter 
among the populace on fuch occafions, while medals are 
Vol.XIV, No. J015. 
813 
given to peers of the kingdom ; and we may very juftly 
reafon from analogy on this occafion.” 
The ajjarion or lepton of the Conftantinopolitan empire 
was, as we have already obferved, one-of the fmalleft coins 
known in antiquity, weighing no more than 20 grains; and 
the noumia were the very fmalleft which have reached our 
times, being only one half of the former. By reafon of 
their extreme fmallnefs, they are very fcarce; but Mr. 
Pinkerton informs 11s, that he has in his poflefiion a fine 
one of Theodofius II. which has on it the emperor’s head 
in profile: Theodosius, p. f. av. on the reverfe a wreath, 
having in the centre vot. xx. mult, xxx. 
The principal coin of the lower empire was the follis y 
which was divided into a half and a quarter, named 
cro<po?,£oj and rnu^Tov ; the latter of which is ftiown by 
Du Cange to have been a fmall brals coin, as the other is 
fuppofed to have been by Mr. Pinkerton. Belides thefe, the 
follis was divided into eight oboli, fixteen aflaria or lepta, 
and thirty noumia, though in common computation it con¬ 
tained forty of thefe lalt. This coin, notwithftanding fo 
many divifions, was of no more value than a halfpenny. 
Mr. Pinkerton controverts an opinion, common among 
medallifts, that the largeft brafs coin, or follis,of the lower 
empire, had 40 fmall coins, exprefled by the letter M, upon 
it; the next had 30, exprefled by the letter A; the half by 
the letter K; and the quarter marked I, which contained 
only 10. Mr. Pinkerton informs us, that he has three 
coins of Anaftafius, all marked M in large ; one of them 
weighs more than half an ounce ; the fecond 40 grains 
lefs ; and the third of 160 grains, or one third of an ounce ; 
but the fize is fo very unequal, that the laft, which is very 
thick, does not appear above half the fize of the firft. 
There are pieces of Juftinian which weigh a whole ounce} 
but the fize of copper was increafed as the filver became 
fcarcer; and the value of the coinage cannot be deduced 
from the weight of the coins. A great number of medal¬ 
lions were ftruck by Conftantius II. but there is no other 
copper larger than the half-ounce, excepting that of Ana¬ 
ftafius, when the follis began to be ftruck larger. All 
medallifts allow the others to be medallions. 
The metal employed in thefe very fmall cQins, though 
at firft of brafs, was always a bafe and refufe kind ; but 
copper is generally made ufe of in the parts of the as, 
from the earlieft times to the lateft ; and, if brafs be fome- 
times employed, it is never fuch as appears in the feftertii 
and dupondiarii, which is very fine and beautiful, but 
only the refufe : “Yellow brafs of the right fort (fays 
Mr. Pinkerton) feems totally to have ceafed in the Roman 
coinage with the feftertius, under Gallienus, though a 
few fmall coins of very bad metal appear under that hue 
as late as Julian II.” 
Silver was coined in Rome only as late as the 485th 
year of the city, or 266 B. C. Varro indeed fpeaks of fil¬ 
ver having been coined by Servius Tullius, and the libella 
having been once in filver ; but Pliny’s authority muft be 
accounted of more weight than that of this author, as he 
miftakes the Xirga of Sicily for Roman coins, having been 
current at Rome during the time of the firft Punic war. 
The firft filver denarii coined at Rome, are fuppofed by 
Pinkerton to have been thole which are itnprefled with tiie 
roma ; and he inclines to account thole the moft an¬ 
cient which have a double female head on the one fide, 
and on the reverfe Jupiter in a car, with Vittory holding 
the reins, and the word roma indented in a rude and lin¬ 
gular manner. The double female head feems to denote 
Rome, in imitation of the Janus then upon the as. There 
are 15 of thefe in the cabinet of Dr. Hunter; one or the 
largeft weighs 98^ grains; and the relt, which leem to be 
of greatelt antiquity, are of various weights betwixt that 
and 84; the fmaller and more modem weigh 58 or 59 
grains ; but Mr. Pinkerton is- of opinion, that the large 
ones are of the very rirlt Roman coinage, and ftruck dur¬ 
ing that interval of time betwixt the coinage of the firft 
filver denarius and the as of two ountes. He takes the 
indentation of the word roma to be a mark of great an= 
9 X tiquity.j 
