So now we know – "The Romans invented the euro" says Dr. Gerd Rupprecht, a state archaeologist "...the antique euro". The introduction of a money economy in the Roman Empire actually heralded today's European monetary union. The same coins could be used to buy anything in a huge region – a common currency was valid in Italy, Austria, Germany, Portugal, England, Spain, Yugoslavia, Rumania, North Africa, the Benelux countries, Switzerland and other countries.
"In that regard the Romans were more advanced than we are today" states Dr. Rupprecht. What is more, the transition from a bartering economy to a money economy was a real quantum leap – no more exhausting transportation of goods for barter, no more weighing and haggling. With the pay received by soldiers stationed in Mainz, Germany, their families could go shopping several thousand kilometres away and the same prices applied for many goods throughout the whole of the Roman Empire. For example, a loaf of bread cost eight asses, which is about half a denarius. Traders charged one as for a pot, and two asses for a jug of wine. Even back then, the principle applied that transportation and other costs were added to the price of wine in an area where no vines grew.
Word stems have been retained right up to the present day
Coins had already been in use for a long time in Eastern Greece – in Asia Minor and Turkey -, when the money economy was introduced in the Roman Empire during the reign of Emperor Augustus (27 B.C. to 14 A.D.). This standardised currency remained in use until the beginning of the 5th century. Its area of application included Upper Germania, of which Mainz was the administrative capital and civilian centre
The Latin stems of the names of a number of currencies underline the long-lasting historic link to the present, such as the dinar (representing the number ten) in Yugoslavia and Iran. The "centionalis" (hundred), a bronze Roman coin from the 4th century, depicting a peacock standing on a world globe on one side and the Roman Emperor on the other, has far-reaching successors – the cent in the USA or Netherlands, the centavo in Brazil and Argentina, the French centime and – most recently – the euro cent. (Source: Mainzer Volksbank EG).
