Roman Coins and Trade
Roman coins have been found all over Scotland and give some indication as to where the Romans traded and lived. Most coins in Britain were produced in Rome itself.
A map of Roman mints in Europe is below
The map below shows coins found relative to roads, forts, and hills. Coins could be a Roman activity or trade with local people.
Maps and spreadsheet of coins by period with dates and emperor
- Roman Coins by Emperor
- Roman Coins 79 AD Agricola Period
- Roman Coins 142 AD Antonine Period
- Roman Coins 208 AD Septimius Severus Period
- Roman Coins 305 AD Constantine Period
- Roman Coins 367 AD Theodosius Period
- Spreadsheet with Coin Data
References
- In 1934 Roman Coins found in Scotland (III.), including a Hoard from Falkirk published by the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland
- In 1989 The Numismatic Evidence for the Post-Agricolan Abandonment of the Roman Frontier in Northern Scotland by Andrew S Hobley
- In 2002 A Survey of the Coin Finds from the Antonine Wall was published by Richard Abdy (jstor login required) and lists all the coins found along the route of the Antonine Wall.
- In 2003 The Society of Antiquaries of Scotland published Roman coins found in Scotland, 1971-1982 (pp 405-48) Robertson, Anne S which gives (academic) background to coin distribution.
- In 2013 the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland published Roman and medieval coins found in Scotland, 2006 -10 (also at National Museums of Scotland)
- see also The Distribution of Late Roman Coinage in Britain
- See Mints active under the Roman Empire from the Portable Antiquities Scheme/ The Trustees of the British Museum
- Online Coins of the Roman Empire (OCRE). A joint project of the American Numismatic Society and the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World at New York University is a revolutionary new tool designed to help in the identification, cataloguing, and research of the rich and varied coinage of the Roman Empire. The project records every published type of Roman Imperial Coinage from Augustus in 31 BC, until the death of Zeno in AD 491. This is an easy-to-use digital corpus, with downloadable catalogue entries, incorporating over 43,000 types of coins.
In Ireland, a number of coins have been found and it is useful to compare what was a trading distribution with that of Scotland. The University of Chicago has a list of coins, dates, and a map of Ancient Rome and Ireland.
