Etruscan Coinage

Etruscan coinage refers to the coins issued by the cities of Etruria, the region of central Italy between the Arno and Tiber rivers that was home to the Etruscan civilisation. Etruscan cities began minting relatively late compared with the Greek world, most likely in the fifth or fourth century BCE, and produced silver, a small amount of gold and, later, cast and struck bronze before their coinage came to an end under Roman domination in the third century BCE.

The coinage is notable for its value marks written in Etruscan numerals, for designs that were often struck on one side only, and for its role as a link between the coinages of the Greek cities of Italy and the early Roman bronze system.

For centuries before they struck coins, the Etruscans traded intensively with Greeks and Phoenicians and used weighed metal, including lumps of bronze, as a means of payment. Coined money reached them through contact with Greek colonies in southern Italy and Sicily, whose silver was based on standards related to the Attic drachma and the earlier coinage of Asia Minor, such as the Lydian stater. The Etruscans adopted the idea but adapted weights and marks to their own systems.

The best-known Etruscan mint was Populonia (Etruscan Pupluna), a coastal city that processed iron ore from the island of Elba. Its silver coins often show a frontal Gorgon head (the gorgoneion) or other heads on the obverse, with the reverse left blank. Many carry value marks in Etruscan numerals, showing that each coin was counted as a multiple of a smaller unit. This made the coins an early written unit of account as well as a medium of payment.

The dating of the earliest Etruscan silver is debated. Some scholars place the first issues in the late fifth century BCE, while others prefer the fourth century. Other Etruscan cities have been suggested as issuers of individual series, but attributions are often uncertain because many coins carry no legible city name.

A small group of gold coins, some showing a lion's head with value marks, has been attributed to Etruria. They are rare and their date is disputed, with suggestions ranging from the fourth to the third century BCE. Gold may have been struck in moments of crisis, when cities needed to pay soldiers or allies quickly.

In the third century BCE bronze became more important. Volaterrae (modern Volterra) and other inland centres cast heavy bronze coins similar to the Roman aes grave, the forerunner of the Roman as; Volaterrae's pieces show a beardless Janus-like double head. Populonia also struck smaller bronze coins with heads of deities such as Hephaestus (Etruscan Sethlans) and Hercules, with tools or other symbols on the reverse.

Etruscan coin weights do not follow a single Greek standard, and scholars still argue over the exact unit behind the value marks. What is clear is that the system combined metal value with a counted denomination, a mix seen in many early currencies. Some later issues appear lighter than earlier ones with the same marks, which may reflect a reduction in weight similar to the debasement of Roman bronze in the same period.

Rome absorbed the Etruscan cities through war and treaty during the fourth and third centuries BCE. As Roman money spread, first bronze and then the silver denarius from about 211 BCE, local Etruscan issues ceased. By the second century BCE Etruria used Roman coinage, and Etruscan coins became objects of study for antiquarians rather than a means of payment.

Etruscan coinage is often compared with its western neighbours, such as Iberian coinage and Gaulish coinage, which likewise began under Greek influence and ended under Roman rule. Its value marks also make it a useful case study in how a medium of exchange developed from weighed metal into counted coins.

• British Museum
• American Numismatic Society