Bronze AE 3 of Evdoxia and the Reduction in Size of Roman Bronze During the Fourth Century

Victory is seen on the reverse of this AE3 inscribing a VOTIS legend on a shield. This coin was actually one of the larger coins struck during the period and is about the size of the gold solidi struck in her name. The major bronze coinage had shrunk from the size of a follis during the time of Diocletian to the size of this little AE3.

The gradual shrinking of all major Roman bronze denominations during the Fourth Century is a phenomenon that has caused a great deal of confusion amongst modern collectors and scholars. Formerly, the government's deliberate folicy of
inflation and debasement of the coinage simply resulted in a lower silver content to the coins, leaving the diameter relatively stable. With no more silver in Fourth Century coins to remove, the only method of cheating left to the government was to reduce the weight and diameter of the coins. According to research by numismatic scholars, it was not only Nineteenth and Twentieth Century academics that were confused. The contemporary population had little idea what their small bronze coins were worth or whether they would buy as much merchandise tomorrow as today. All in all, it was a very messy affair that brought dismay and confusion to the lives of millions of people and rendered largely void the advantages of using coinage over barter. Harold Mattingly goes into this issue in some depth in his excellent book, The Handbook of Roman Imperial Coins: A Complete Guide to the History, Types, and Values Of Roman Imperial Coinage.

An AE3 of Evdoxia and a follis of Maximinus II are depicted actual size at left, and will appear the correct size when viewed on a 14 inch display set to a resolution of 640 x 480 pixels.

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