Quantcast
  Due to a new server, slow response may occur for which we apologize Portal logo
Login/Register
Bactrian Gold Treasure from Afghanistan, coming soon....
/gemstones/king-natural-history/page_083 - 2
 

Argentum, Silver

Argentum, Silver Page of 453 Argentum, Silver Text size:minus plus Restore normal size   Mail page  Print this page
74                                       ARGENTUM.
milliarenses. The few denarii coined by Justinian and the Italian Goths seem intended for 20 grs. Roman, but only equal 15 Troy. These light denarii were the parents of the Anglo-Saxon silver penny (of the same weight), a coin that can now boast, through its English line, an unbroken succession of 1300 years.
The Byzantine emperors, virtually an Asiatic race, from the very beginning coined but little silver: after the 5th century their currency (with exceptions not worth noticing) consisted entirely of gold issued largely in small subdivisions, trientes or thirds of the aureus,7 and copper beginning with enormous clumsy folles intended to remedy the absence of the denarius and its half the victoriatus.
The chief luxury of the Romans connected with this metal lay in the accumulation of plate chased and embossed by Grecian artists. These appear to have worked during the two centu­ries ending with Pompey's times, under whom flourished Teucer, the last of any note. Pliny has given a full list of these artists and their principal works.8 These consisted either in complete vessels wrought out and embossed by the hammer in the Repousse style, or in small separate chasings in solid metal, intended to be set in pieces of plate or similar articles: hence called Emblemata. After Teucer this art suddenly became extinct, its place as a branch of high art being probably taken by cameo-engraving, which now occupied the same class of artists, the Caelatores, and supplied the same uses, as the emblemata. Hence in Pliny's age the old chased plate was valued as a curiosity alone, and fetched the same extravagant prices, though the chasings had become entirely obliterated by time and wear. After this the luxurious vied with each other in the production of the largest dishes in silver—the weight alone being the object in view. This was the first form of extrava­gance in which the newly-acquired treasures of the Republic were expended, the fashion arising to possess dishes that should
Argentum, Silver Page of 453 Argentum, Silver
Suggested Illustrations
Other Chapters you may find useful
Other Books on this topic
bullet Tag
This Page