🧐 Quiz of the week: What was the primary purpose of the first coins? 🪙🤔
Coins revolutionized the economy, but do you know why they were originally invented?
A) Simplify trade
B) Pay the soldiers
C) Affirm the power of the sovereign
D) Accumulate wealth
Answer to the Quiz
The answer is... assert the power of the sovereign! 
The first coins, in addition to simplifying exchanges, served above all to show the authority of the king or emperor. The portrait or symbols struck on the coins were a way of spreading the image of the sovereign throughout his kingdom or empire, reinforcing his power and legitimacy.
Sestertius struck under Caligula in bronze, reverse with the mention SC (Senatus Consultum)
Roman Empire: Gaius Caligula. 37-41 AD
Sestertius (26.83 g). Mint of Rome. Struck in 37-38 AD.
Obverse: C CAESAR AVG GERMANICVS PON M TR POT, laureate head left.
Reverse: AGRIPPINA DRVSILLA IVLIA, SC in the exergue, the three sisters of Gaius standing facing us: Agrippina (as Securitas) leaning on a column, holding a cornucopia and placing her hand on Drusilla (as Concordia), who holds a patera and a cornucopia; Julia (as Fortuna) holding a rudder and a cornucopia.
By Classical Numismatic Group, Inc. http://www.cngcoins.com , CC BY-SA 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=29068141
