Aspects concrets de la vie monétaire en Province

Abstract

Summary. — Here several scenes are presented from (monetary) provincial life in the IVth century, mainly drawn from the papyrological evidence. Various sectors of economic and financial life are dealt with in turn where the degree of monétisation has been re-estimated by recent research: the agrarian economy, with additional evidence for currency in the rural sphere; the remuneration of the army, with the donativa in precious metals accounting for the increased possession of solidi by military; the fiscal levy, with the progress of taxation in gold beginning in the 330's and increasing in the 360's; artisan and trade activities, which reveal no concern over the transfer of liquid assets despite the weight and volume of the usual currency; the wages of private workers, which were still paid in monetary form. Currency remained the instrument for fixing the value of exchange, and the place held by prices in society consciousness is sufficient proof of the importance of coinage in the Roman economy. Other matters dealt with include the use and significance of the official « counterfeit » coinage; the anachronistically conservative terminology of coins (argyria and solidi, follis and nummus) and accounting values (talents, myriads); and methods of transporting public and private funds. Generally, this largely monetised economy limited currency transfers as much as possible by resorting to bookkeeping entries, which should no longer be produced as evidence for a low-monetised economy. Continuous depreciation of the coinage in no way resulted in its depletion. On the contrary, it halved the minimum level of transactions that could be paid in cash. The use of coinage was indispensable to such a point that it could overcome any obstacle or disadvantage occasioned by inflation. Contemporary historians who deal with Late Antiquity should now turn over the «primitivist» page of the undervaluation of numismatic data and overestimation of the non-monetary forms of exchange.