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{{Short description|Ancient Roman coin}}
{{More citations needed|date=October 2007}}
{{Coin image box 1 double
| header = Anonymous AR sestertius
| image = File:ArSestertiusDioscuri.jpg
| caption_left = Helmed Roma head right, IIS behind
| caption_right = [[Dioscuri]] riding right, ROMA in linear frame below. RSC4, C44/7, BMC13
| width = 250
| footer = AR 0.96 g – RSC4, C44/7, BMC13
| position = right
| margin = 0
}}

The '''''sestertius''''' (plural '''''sestertii'''''), or '''sesterce''' (plural '''sesterces'''), was an [[Ancient Rome|ancient Roman]] [[Roman currency|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 name ''sestertius'' means "two and one half", referring to its nominal value of two and a half ''[[as (Roman coin)|asses]]'' (a [[bronze]] Roman coin, singular ''as''), a value that was useful for commerce because it was one quarter of a [[denarius]], a coin worth ten ''asses''. The name is derived from ''semis'', "half" and "tertius", "third", in which "third" refers to the third ''as'': the sestertius was worth two full ''asses'' and half of a third.

English-language sources routinely use the original Latin form ''sestertius'', plural ''sestertii''; but older literature frequently uses ''sesterce'', plural ''sesterces'', ''terce'' being the English equivalent of ''tertius''. A modern shorthand for values in sestertii is <s>IIS</s> (Unicode 𐆘), in which the Roman numeral ''II'' is followed by ''S'' for ''semis'', and the whole struck through; but because this symbol and striking through letters are not always convenient, HS may be used instead, with the horizontal bar of the 'H' representing the strike through the numeral ''II'', rather than the letter ''H''.<ref>{{cite book|last=Kennedy|first=Benjamin Hall|title=The Revised Latin Primer|year=1930|publisher=Longmans|location=London|page=214}}</ref>
[[File:Hadrian Sestertius.jpg|thumb|Example of a detailed portrait of [[Hadrian]] 117 to 138]]

==History==
The sestertius was introduced {{Circa|211 BC}} as a small silver coin valued at one-quarter of a denarius (and thus one hundredth of an [[aureus]]). A silver denarius was supposed to weigh about 4.5 grams, valued at ten ''asses'', with the silver sestertius valued at two and a half ''asses'' (1.125 grammes). In practice, the coins were usually underweight.

When the denarius was retariffed to sixteen ''asses'' (due to the gradual reduction in the size of bronze denominations), the sestertius was accordingly revalued to four ''asses'', still equal to one quarter of a denarius. It was produced sporadically, far less often than the denarius, through 44 BC.

[[File:Sestertius Hostilian-s2771.jpg|thumb|[[Hostilian]] AD 251 ]]
In or about 23 BC, with the coinage reform of [[Augustus]], the sestertius was reintroduced as a large brass denomination, while the ''as'', now made of [[copper]], was worth one quarter of a sestertius. Augustus tariffed the value of the sestertius as one hundredth of the [[gold]] aureus. The sestertius was produced as the largest brass denomination until the late 3rd century AD. Most were struck in the mint of [[Rome]] but from AD 64 during the reign of [[Nero]] (AD 54–68) and [[Vespasian]] (AD 69–79), the mint of [[Lyon]] (''Lugdunum''), supplemented production. Lyon sestertii can be recognised by a small globe, or legend stop, beneath the bust.{{Citation needed|date=December 2007}}

The brass sestertius typically weighs in the region of 25 to 28 grams, is around 32–34 mm in diameter and about 4 mm thick. The distinction between bronze and brass was important to the Romans. Their name for brass was ''[[orichalcum]]'', also spelled ''aurichalcum'' (echoing the word for a gold coin, aureus), meaning 'gold-copper', because of its shiny, gold-like appearance when the coins were newly struck (see, for example [[Pliny the Elder]] in his ''Natural History'' Book 34.4).

Orichalcum was considered, by weight, to be about double the value of copper. This is why the half-sestertius, the [[dupondius]], was around the same size and weight as the bronze was, but was worth two asses.

Sestertii continued to be struck until the late 3rd century, although there was a marked deterioration in the quality of the metal used and the striking even though portraiture remained strong. Later emperors increasingly relied on melting down older sestertii, a process which led to the [[zinc]] component being gradually lost as it burned off in the high temperatures needed to melt copper (zinc melts at 419 °C but boils at 907 °C, copper melts at 1085 °C). The shortfall was made up with bronze and even [[lead]]. Later sestertii tend to be darker in appearance as a result and are made from more crudely prepared blanks (see the [[Hostilian]] coin on this page).

The gradual impact of [[inflation]] caused by [[debasement]] of the silver currency meant that the purchasing power of the sestertius and smaller denominations like the dupondius and as was steadily reduced. In the 1st century AD, everyday small change was dominated by the dupondius and ''as'', but in the 2nd century, as inflation hit, the sestertius became the dominant small change. In the 3rd century silver coinage contained less and less silver, and more and more copper or bronze. By the 260s and 270s the main unit was the double-denarius, the [[Antoninianus]], but by then these small coins were almost all bronze. Although these coins were theoretically worth eight sestertii, the average sestertius was worth far more in plain terms of the metal it contained.

Some of the last sestertii were struck by [[Aurelian]] (270–275 AD). During the end of its issue, when sestertii were reduced in size and quality, the [[double sestertius]] was issued first by [[Trajan Decius]] (249–251 AD) and later in large quantity by the ruler of a breakaway regime in the West, named [[Postumus]] (259–268 AD), who often used worn old sestertii to [[overstrike (numismatics)|overstrike]] his image and legends on. The double sestertius was distinguished from the sestertius by the [[radiate crown]] worn by the emperor, a device used to distinguish the dupondius from the ''as'' and the Antoninianus from the denarius.

Eventually, many sestertii were withdrawn by the state and by forgers, to melt down to make the debased Antoninianus, which made inflation worse. In the coinage reforms of the 4th century, the sestertius played no part and passed into history.

[[File:Sestertius dupondius as.jpg|thumb|400px|center|Sestertius of [[Hadrian]], dupondius of [[Antoninus Pius]], and as of [[Marcus Aurelius]]]]

==Unit of account==
{{More citations needed|date=November 2009}}
The sestertius was also used as a standard unit of account and was represented on inscriptions with the monogram HS. Large values were recorded in terms of ''sestertium milia'', thousands of sestertii, with the ''milia'' often omitted and implied. The wealthy general and politician of the late Roman Republic, [[Crassus]], who fought in the war to defeat [[Spartacus]], was said by [[Pliny the Elder]] to have had "estates worth 200 million sesterces".

A loaf of bread cost roughly half a sestertius, and a [[sextarius]] (c. 0.5 L) of [[wine]] anywhere from less than half to more than one sestertius. One [[Ancient Roman units of measurement#Dry_measure|modius]] (6.67 kg) of [[wheat]] in 79 AD [[Pompeii]] cost seven sestertii, of [[rye]] three sestertii, a bucket two sestertii, a tunic fifteen sestertii, a donkey five hundred sestertii.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ancientcoins.biz/pages/economy/|title=Roman Economy – Prices & Cost in Ancient Rome|date=13 January 2007|url-status=bot: unknown|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070113183811/http://www.ancientcoins.biz/pages/economy/|archive-date=13 January 2007}}</ref>

According to [[Tacitus]]' ''[[Annals (Tacitus)|Annals]]'', book I, chapter 17.4 and 17.5, soldiers of the Rhine army who rose against [[Tiberius]] were paid ten ''asses'' a day, out of which they had to pay, among other things, for their own uniforms. They demanded to be paid a denarius a day, and they got it.<ref>Tacitus, Annales 1.17.4 and 1.17.5: Enimvero militiam ipsam gravem, infructuosam: '''denis in diem assibus''' animam et corpus aestimari: hinc vestem arma tentoria, hinc saevitiam centurionum et vacationes munerum redimi. At hercule verbera et vulnera, duram hiemem, exercitas aestates, bellum atrox: aut sterilem pacem sempiterna)
Nec aliud levamentum quam si certis sub legibus militia iniretur, ut '''singulos denarios''' mererent, sextus decumus stipendii annus finem adferret, ne ultra sub vexillis tenerentur, sed isdem in castris praemium pecunia solveretur.</ref>

Records from [[Pompeii]] show a [[slave]] being sold at auction for 6,252 sestertii. A writing tablet from [[Londinium]] (Roman [[London]]), dated to {{Circa|75}}–125 AD, records the sale of a [[Gauls|Gallic]] slave girl called Fortunata for 600 denarii, equal to 2,400 sestertii, to a man called Vegetus. It is difficult to make any comparisons with modern coinage or prices, but for most of the 1st century AD, the ordinary [[legionary]] was paid nine hundred sestertii per annum, rising to twelve hundred under [[Domitian]] (81–96 AD), the equivalent of 3.3 sestertii per day. Half of it was deducted for living costs, leaving the soldier, if he was lucky enough to get paid, with about 1.65 sestertii per day.

==Numismatic value==
[[File:NeroSestertius.jpg|thumb|A sestertius of [[Nero]], struck at [[Rome]] in 64 AD. The reverse depicts the emperor on horseback with a companion. The legend reads DECVRSIO, meaning "a military exercise". Diameter 35 mm]]
Early brass sestertii are highly valued by [[numismatists]], since their large size gave engravers a large area in which to produce detailed portraits and reverse types. The most celebrated are those produced for [[Nero]] (54–68 AD) between the years 64 and 68 AD, created by some of the most accomplished coin engravers in history. The brutally realistic portraits of this emperor, and the elegant reverse designs, greatly impressed and influenced the artists of the [[Renaissance]]. The series issued by [[Hadrian]] (117–138 AD), recording his travels around the Roman Empire, depicts the Empire at its height, and included the first representation on a coin of the figure of [[Britannia]]; centuries later it was revived by English king [[Charles II of England|Charles II]], and continues to feature on the [[United Kingdom]] coinage.

As a result of ceasing production and withdrawals from circulation in the 4th century, sestertii are less common as a whole compared to other Roman bronze coins. Fully struck examples with sharp detail often command high premiums at auction.<ref>{{Cite book|title = Roman Coins and their Values|last = Sear|first = David R.|publisher = Seaby|year = 1981|isbn = 0-900652-57-8|location = London|pages = 10–12}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[Roman currency]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==

*[https://numismatics.org/collection/1975.134.7 An early (211/10 CE) Sestertius at the American Numismatic Society (numismatics.org:1975.134.7)]
*[https://numismatics.org/collection/2006.21.9 An Augustan Sestertius from an Asian Mint (numismatics.org:2006.21.9)]
*[https://numismatics.org/collection/1952.81.2 Sestertius issued by Caligula in memory of his mother Agrippina the Elder (numismatics.org:1952.81.2)]
*[https://www.roger-pearse.com/weblog/2009/01/04/how-much-is-a-sestertius/ How much is a sestertius?] January 4, 2009, Roger Pearse

{{Roman coinage}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Coins of ancient Rome]]

Sestertius - Revision history

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