View source for Siliqua

{{Short description|Roman coin}}
{{other uses}}
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[[Image:Siliqua Jovianus.jpg|thumb|300px|[[Jovian (Emperor)|Jovian]] siliqua, c. 363. 18 mm and 2.2 grams.]]
[[Image:Siliqua Constantine III-RIC 1355.jpg|thumb|300px|[[Constantine III (Western Roman emperor)|Constantine III]]]]
The '''siliqua''' ({{abbr|pl|plural}}. siliquas or siliquae) is the modern name{{mdash}}given without any ancient evidence to confirm the designation{{mdash}}to small, thin, Roman silver coins produced in the 4th century and later. When the coins were in circulation, the Latin word {{lang|la|siliqua}} was a unit of weight or value defined by one late Roman writer as one twenty-fourth of a Roman [[solidus (coin)|solidus]].<ref>[https://archive.org/stream/hobsonjobsonglos00yulerich#page/161/mode/1up Yule & Burnell, year 1903, page 161].</ref>

{{Quote|''"Siliqua vicesima quarta pars solidi est, ab arbore, cuius semen est, vocabulum tenens."''<br>A siliqua is one twenty-fourth of a solidus, having its name from the tree of which it is the seed.|Isidore of Seville|''Etymologiarum libri XX'', ''Liber XVI'', 25}}
The term siliqua comes from the ''siliqua graeca'', the seed of the [[carob]] tree, which in the [[Ancient Roman weights and measures|Roman weight system]] is equivalent to {{frac|6}} of a scruple ({{frac|1728}} of a [[Roman pound]] or about 0.19 [[gram]]s).

The term has been applied in modern times to various silver coins on the premise that the coins were valued at {{frac|24}} of the gold solidus (which weighed {{frac|72}} of a Roman pound) and therefore represented a siliqua of gold in value. Since gold was worth about 12 times as much as silver in ancient Rome (in Diocletian's [[Edict on Maximum Prices]] of 301),<ref>Bransbourg, Giles. "Inflation and monetary reforms in the fourth century: Diocletian's twin Edicts of AD 301" in ''Debasement: manipulation of coin standards in pre-modern monetary systems'', edited by Kevin Butcher, 2020.</ref> such a silver coin would have a theoretical [[weight]] of 2.22&nbsp;grams ((4.45 grams/24)x12 = 2.22 grams). This has not prevented the term from being applied today to silver coins issued by [[Constantine I (emperor)|Constantine]], which initially weighed 3.4&nbsp;grams and to the later "heavy siliqua" of [[Constantius II]] of c. 3 grams, but it would fit the later "light" or "reduced siliqua" from after the reform of 355 which weighed about 2.2&nbsp;grams. The term is one of convenience, as no name for these coins is indicated by contemporary sources. Thin silver coins as late as the 7th century which weigh about 2–3&nbsp;grams are known as siliquas by numismatic convention.

The majority of examples suffer striking cracks (testimony to their fast production) or extensive clipping (removing silver from the edge of the coin), and thus to find both an untouched and undamaged example is fairly uncommon. It is thought that by clipping, siliquaes provided the first coinage of the [[Saxons]], as this reduced them to around the same size as a [[sceat]], and there is considerable evidence from archaeological sites of this period, that siliquas and many other Roman coins were utilized by Saxons as pendants, lucky charms, currency, and curiosities.

==See also==
* [[Roman currency]]
* [[Hoxne Hoard]], a hoard of 14,212 silver siliquas dating from the early 5th century.

== References and external links ==
{{reflist}}
{{Commons|Siliqua}}
{{Roman coinage}}

[[Category:Coins of ancient Rome]]
[[Category:Numismatics]]
[[Category:Silver coins]]
[[Category:4th century]]