Predators turned rentiers. Roman conquest and silver supply strategies during the 2nd century BCE

Résumé En

As Rome conquered new territories across the Mediterranean basin throughout the 2nd century BCE, the structure and volume of Roman public finances dramatically changed. During the early stages of this process of conquest, Rome essentially depended on silver stocks derived from the accumulation of booty and war indemnities. Afterwards, internal as well as external factors, such as the suspension of the tributum mechanism in 167 BCE and the growing revenues derived from the exploitation of provincial mining districts resulted in a renewal of silver supply strategies and in the reorganisation of annual minting procedures. Beginning in the mid-2nd century BCE, denarii were thus produced in ever-greater quantities (and with a higher degree of normalisation), both because of increased needs in fresh silver coinage and thanks to the availability of stable, more substantial revenues in silver. The archaeometrical data provides an efficient way to better understand the aspects, chronology, and long-term impact of these changes. A comparison with the data acquired for other silver coinages from the Iberian Peninsula and Southern Gaul is proposed, in order to identify possible geological provenances for silver stocks accessible to the Roman mint.