Coins are not normally produced to provide future generations with an insight into the lives of their users, but rather to serve as a symbol of the world in as large a geographical area as possible.

Coins are not normally produced to offer future generations an insight into the lives of their users, but to be recognized as a reliable currency in as large a geographical area as possible. The recognition effect was important - the most successful coins of Greek antiquity, the Athenian and the tetradrachm introduced by Alexander the Great, displayed the same coin design for more than a century and a half.

The denarii of the Roman Republic are quite different! Here, in the turbulent first century BC, the coin motifs changed faster than the years. We find everything: scenes from the past, allusions to the present, depictions of everyday political life, buildings, people and, of course, gods. Those responsible seem to have squeezed their entire world into the small space that a denarius offers for coin depictions.

The exhibition shows the phase of the Roman Empire when it was still republican and focused on virtues that enabled this state to reach its later heights.


Note: This text was translated by machine translation software and not by a human translator. It may contain translation errors.