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strike out assumption about it being rarely-minted
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Haydentech
Haydentech
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In the vast majority of cases, Roman writers and government officials recorded amounts of money (money donated, value of items bought/sold, amount given in wills, etc.) in sesterces. Given that the sesterce was such a rarely-minted and rarely-used coin, why did the Romans choose to use that denomination for virtually all monetary records?*Given that the sesterce was such a rarely-minted and rarely-used coin, why did the Romans choose to use that denomination for virtually all monetary records?**

*Admittedly, this is largely based on personal research: I have never seen a single mention of a sesterce coin found in Pompeii, Herculaneum, or a Roman British hoard, nor mention of the sesterce on a menu or graffiti. I'm sure there must have been some, but I've never come across it even once. The coinage in use in all those locations seemed to be the aureus, denarius, and as exclusively, despite widespread contemporaneous use of sesterces in records.

In the vast majority of cases, Roman writers and government officials recorded amounts of money (money donated, value of items bought/sold, amount given in wills, etc.) in sesterces. Given that the sesterce was such a rarely-minted and rarely-used coin, why did the Romans choose to use that denomination for virtually all monetary records?*

*Admittedly, this is largely based on personal research: I have never seen a single mention of a sesterce coin found in Pompeii, Herculaneum, or a Roman British hoard, nor mention of the sesterce on a menu or graffiti. I'm sure there must have been some, but I've never come across it even once. The coinage in use in all those locations seemed to be the aureus, denarius, and as exclusively, despite widespread contemporaneous use of sesterces in records.

In the vast majority of cases, Roman writers and government officials recorded amounts of money (money donated, value of items bought/sold, amount given in wills, etc.) in sesterces. Given that the sesterce was such a rarely-minted and rarely-used coin, why did the Romans choose to use that denomination for virtually all monetary records?**

*Admittedly, this is largely based on personal research: I have never seen a single mention of a sesterce coin found in Pompeii, Herculaneum, or a Roman British hoard, nor mention of the sesterce on a menu or graffiti. I'm sure there must have been some, but I've never come across it even once. The coinage in use in all those locations seemed to be the aureus, denarius, and as exclusively, despite widespread contemporaneous use of sesterces in records.

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Haydentech
Haydentech
  • 113
  • 5

Why did Romans use the sesterce in written monetary records when the coin itself was so rarely used?

In the vast majority of cases, Roman writers and government officials recorded amounts of money (money donated, value of items bought/sold, amount given in wills, etc.) in sesterces. Given that the sesterce was such a rarely-minted and rarely-used coin, why did the Romans choose to use that denomination for virtually all monetary records?*

*Admittedly, this is largely based on personal research: I have never seen a single mention of a sesterce coin found in Pompeii, Herculaneum, or a Roman British hoard, nor mention of the sesterce on a menu or graffiti. I'm sure there must have been some, but I've never come across it even once. The coinage in use in all those locations seemed to be the aureus, denarius, and as exclusively, despite widespread contemporaneous use of sesterces in records.