Numismatics
Coins, their history and the main monetary traditions
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| Lydian stater, around 600 BC | |
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| Athenian tetradrachm, 449 BC | |
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| Roman denarius | |
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| Late Roman and Byzantine solidus | |
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| Carolingian denier | |
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| Italian lira, 1861 | |
Numismatics studies coins and their history from historical, artistic and economic perspectives. In a broader sense it also includes related objects such as medals, tokens and banknotes, helping us understand monetary systems and economies.
This site follows a long historical journey: early coins from Lydia and Greece, Roman and Byzantine coinage, the Carolingian reform, and the monetary traditions of modern Europe. The Italian lira, the Germanic system, the mark, pound sterling, the Latin Monetary Union and the euro are among its main topics.
Finding your way through the topics
The illustrated table starts with Lydia and ancient Greece. The four linked pages focus mainly on the path from Roman coinage to European monetary traditions and the euro, each from a different viewpoint.
- History of money: A chronology of the main stages: Roman coinage, the Carolingian reform, medieval and modern systems, and the euro. It places events in time; one currency following another does not necessarily mean that it derives from it.
- Monetary systems: The rules for counting and relating values. In the Carolingian system, for example, one pound of account equalled 20 shillings, and one shilling 12 deniers. Units of account did not necessarily correspond to minted coins.
- Monetary families: A grouping of currencies from different countries and periods with a shared historical tradition. The site places the lira, franc and pound sterling within the Carolingian family. This is a map of related topics; numerical relationships between units belong to monetary systems.
- Genealogy of coins: What a monetary tradition inherits from earlier ones, distinguishing names, units of account and actual coins. For example, Latin libra, solidus and denarius became pound, shilling and denier: continuity of a name does not mean that weight, metal and value remained unchanged.
Western numismatics is commonly studied through ancient coinage — Greek, Italic, Roman and Byzantine — medieval and modern coinage, including pre-decimal and decimal systems, and contemporary issues.
Lydia and the Greek world form the starting point of the illustrated table. Early coins made of precious metals, including electrum, linked their value to their metal content. Greek silver coinage, Italic issues and Roman monetary systems illustrate different stages in the history of the Mediterranean.
Roman and Byzantine coinage provide important background to medieval European traditions. The Carolingian reform established a lasting accounting framework, while the Germanic and Iberian traditions developed their own combinations of units and coin types.
Modern monetary history includes the spread of decimal systems, changes in monetary standards and the replacement of several national currencies by the euro. National catalogues and the pages on individual coins provide the images and technical details that complement these historical topics.
The Numismatics section of Il Marengo aims to be more than a coin reference: it is also a guide to European monetary history, linking Italian issues with the continent’s major traditions.
To continue exploring, consult numismatic organizations, catalogues and journals.
Also see: Charlemagne.