As (Roman coin)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Circa 240-225 BC. Æ Aes grave As

The as (plural asses), also assarius (rendered into Greek as ἀσσάριον, assarion)[1] was a bronze, and later copper, coin used during the Roman Republic and Roman Empire.

Republican era coinage[edit]

The Romans replaced the use of Greek coins, first by blocks and then by disks made of bronze Aes rude[1]. The system thus named as was introduced in ca. 280 BC as a large cast bronze coin during the Roman Republic. The following fractions of the as were also produced: the bes (2/3), semis (1/2), quincunx (5/12), triens (1/3), quadrans (1/4), sextans (1/6), uncia (1/12, also a common weight unit), and semuncia (1/24), as well as multiples of the as, the dupondius (2), sestertius (2.5), tressis (3), quadrussis (4), quinarius (5), denarius (10) and aureus (250)

An etching of a Roman Republican as.



Imperial era coinage[edit]

Nero as


Byzantine coinage[edit]


Value in the market[edit]

Sestertius of Hadrian, dupondius of Antoninus Pius, and as of Marcus Aurelius

Here are some example salaries and product costs as of the times of Diocletian in the third century AD:[citation needed]

  • Farm laborer monthly pay, with meals = 400 asses
  • Teacher's monthly pay, per boy = 800 asses
  • Barber's service price, per client = 32 asses
  • 1 kg of pork = 380 asses (1 lb = 170 asses)
  • 1 kg of grapes = 32 asses (1 lb = 15 asses)

See also[edit]


  3. ^ Grierson, Philip (1999), Byzantine coinage, Dumbarton Oaks, pp. 22, 45, ISBN 978-0-88402-274-9