The argenteus (pl. argentei, 'of silver') was a silver coin produced by the Roman Empire from the time of Diocletian's coinage reform in AD 294 to ca. AD 310.[1] It was of similar weight and fineness to the denarius of the time of Nero. The coin was produced at a theoretical weight of 1/96th of a Roman pound (about 3 grams), as indicated by the Roman numeral XCVI on the coin's reverse.
One aureus equaled 25 argentei and one argenteus equaled 8 folles.
The term argenteus, meaning "of silver" in Latin, was first used in Pliny's Natural History in the phrase argenteus nummus (silver coin). The 4th-century historian Ammianus uses the same phrase, though there is no indication that this is the official name for a denomination. The Historia Augusta uses the phrase to refer to several fictitious coins.
- ^ Elton, Hugh (1 January 2006), Potter, David S. (ed.), "The Transformation of Government Under Diocletian and Constantine", A Companion to the Roman Empire (1 ed.), Wiley, pp. 193–205, doi:10.1002/9780470996942.ch11, ISBN 978-0-631-22644-4, retrieved 2023-11-02