The striking of these coins involved a disturbing practice that was to cause trouble for the Romans time and time again. The metal was not pure silver, but debased metal containing a considerable amount of copper. It seems that our popular, well liked hero Marc Antony was pretty good at wooing foreign queens and making grandiose plans to rule the Roman world. He knew how to party hearty and spend someone else's money, but was not so good at managing his own. In order to pay his troops, he had to resort to such cheating measures as debasing the currency. He was not the first nor the last Roman leader to resort to this practice, and it would bring the Roman Empire close to economic ruin in the latter part of the Third Century
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Coin Glossary