Sesterce
Material: Bronze
Design on Obverse: Lucillae Antonini
Minted: 162–183 CE
Sesterce
Reading Time: 0:30 min
English | Singular: Sesterce | Plural: Sesterces
Latin | Singular: Sestertius | Plural: Sestertii
German | Singular: Sesterz | Plural: Sesterze
The sesterce (plural: sesterces) 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.
The Latin word “sestertius” means “two and one half“, referring to its nominal value of two and a half asses (bronze Roman coin, singular as). This value was useful for commerce because it was one quarter of a denarius, a coin worth ten asses.
Sesterce
Reading Time: 0:40 min
The sesterce (Latin sestertius, plural sestertii) was a coin and the primary unit of accounting in the Roman Republic (3rd century BC) and the Roman Empire up until Emperor Diocletian (3rd century AD).
The sesterce originally had the value of two and a half asses.
The sesterce first appeared in the 3rd century BC in the Roman Republic, was initially minted in silver, and weighed just over one gram. In the 1st century BC, under Julius Caesar, the sesterce was first minted in bronze and issued in large quantities.
Values (Imperial Period) until around AD 200
Names of the Coins in Latin
Aureus (gold) = 25 Denarii (silver) = 100 Sestertii
Denarius = 4 Sestertii (brass)
Sestertius = 2 Dupondii (brass)
Dupondius = 2 Asses (copper/bronze)
As = 2 Semisses (brass)
Semis = 2 Quadrantes (copper/bronze)
Purchasing Power
Reading Time: 0:55 min
The interpretation of historical wages and prices is generally difficult, as the recorded data usually refers to different time periods or regions. As a point of reference, the following figures are provided for the 1st century CE in the Germanic provinces:
Earnings | 1st century CE | Germanic Provinces
Prices | 1st century CE | Germanic Provinces
When comparing the prices of food with those of today, the purchasing power of one sesterce is roughly equivalent to 10–20 Euros.