User:T8612/sandbox/Livy's history of Rome

Livy's AUC XXX

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Coinage
Roman coinage started at the end of the fourth century, a bit late compared to Greek coinage. Before that, the Romans traded with rough nuggets of bronze called aes rude. Pliny then tells that the Roman kings introduced the aes signatum, or bronze ingot, but they most likely date from the mid fifth century at the earliest. These ingots were often broken into smaller pieces for spare change. This form of proto-coinage is found among other tribes of central Italy (but not the Etruscans, who had a more elaborate form of coinage).

The Roman conquest of Campania, and the Greek cities of Capua and Neapolis, led them to adopt a double system...