Quinarius
Silver Roman coin, half a denarius
The quinarius (plural: quinarii; symbol: ๐) was a small silver Roman coin valued at half a denarius.
The quinarius was struck for a few years, along with the silver sestertius, following the introduction of the denarius in 211 BC. At this time the quinarius was valued at 5 asses. The coin was reintroduced in 101 BC as a replacement for the victoriatus, this time valued at 8 asses due to retariffing of the denarius to 16 asses in 118 BC. For a few years following its reintroduction, large quantities of quinarii were produced, mostly for circulation in Gaul. The coin was produced sporadically until the 3rd century. Its symbol is ๐.
The term gold quinarius or quinarius aureus is used to describe the half-aureus, which is valued at 12.5 denarii. This term has no ancient authority.
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article โQuinariusโ, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Quinarius.jpg by Unknown author, Public domain
- Quinarius Allectus galley-RIC 0128.2.jpg by Unknown author, CC BY-SA 3.0
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