Real coins·9 March 2026·4 min read
Aureus — the gold of the Roman emperors
The gold coin of imperial Rome carried the emperor's face to every corner of the known world.
The aureus was the gold coin of the Roman Empire, more valuable than the silver denarius. On it, each emperor put his face and messages — propaganda circulating throughout the empire.
Even the gold was "thinned"
As the empire fell into crisis, even the aureus was made ever lighter. The weight of a gold coin was the thermometer of the empire's health — as inflation is for an economy today.
