Roman Coinage on the Limes

About this event

This talk takes you on an archaeological journey along the Hessian Limes. Over recent decades, metal detector surveys – mostly carried out with official heritage permission – have multiplied the number of coin finds from Roman forts at Oberflorstadt, Inheiden and Arnsburg. Numismatist Dr Frank Berger, formerly curator at the Kestner-Museum in Hannover and the Historical Museum Frankfurt, presents the most striking new discoveries and explains what they reveal about the money economy on the frontier: how Roman soldiers were paid (initially 225 denarii a year), what everyday prices looked like in antiquity, and why the coin sequence in all forts breaks off with issues of the emperors Alexander Severus and Maximinus Thrax around 235 CE. He links this abrupt end to the Battle of the Harzhorn and the subsequent withdrawal of troops northwards. The evening – part of the Frankfurt Numismatic Society series – offers a well-grounded, lively introduction to Roman economic and military history, especially suited to anyone curious about the Roman past of the Wetterau region.