Moneta and the Monuments: Coinage and Politics in Republican Rome

• Published in: The Journal of Roman studies 2001-11, Vol.91, p.27-49
• Main Authors: Meadows, Andrew, Williams, Jonathan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Antiquarianism; Assaults; Bronzes; Censorship; Coinage; Consuls; Magistrates; Measurement systems; Public buildings; Temples; Topography; Warnings
• ISSN: 0075-4358; 1753-528X
• DOI: 10.2307/3184768

The mint of Republican Rome was located on the Capitol somewhere in the vicinity of the temple of Juno Moneta. This is one of the best known but perhaps worst attested pieces of topographical information concerning the Republican city of Rome. The evidence that the coins of the Roman Republic were made there is exiguous to say the least. Indeed, there are only two literary sources that explicitly site the mint at Juno Moneta's temple. The first is Livy's account of the condemnation and execution of M. Manlius Capitolinus, the hero who had previously saved the Capitol from assault by the Gauls. Livy mentions that the people passed a law to the effect that no patrician would thereafter be permitted to live on the Capitol or the Arx, for Manlius' house had stood on the site where, Livy says, now stands the aedes atque officina Monetae, the temple and the workshop of Moneta. The second is contained in the Suda (s.v. Μονήτα), in a passage to be discussed below. These are the sole threads of evidence on which the location of the mint of Republican Rome hangs. Nevertheless, despite an attempt to impugn Livy's reputation for topographical accuracy, they should suffice.