Did the Emperor Aurelian Break or Fix the Monetary System of the Roman Empire? - The Pax Romana Podcast 96
About this episode
Professor Colin Elliott discusses the monetary reforms of Emperor Aurelian and their impact on the Roman economy.
Did the emperor Aurelian's big coin reform in the 270s AD shatter public trust in the money system? Did it shift value from faith in the government to just the metal in the coins? I wrote most of an article addressing these issues, but never got around to publishing it. So I use this podcast episode to make an argument that the system was already crumbling decades before Aurelian. And Aurelian's changes were in fact a clever fix. The price inflation that followed was disruptive, but it also proved the reform worked, clearing up confusion and stabilizing markets. Read Haklai (2011), ' Aurelian’s Monetary Reform: Between Debasement and Public Trust' . Donate: https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/WZTWCMWCJJYFC YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@ProfCPE Buy Professor Elliott's book: Pox Romana: The Plague that Shook the Roman World .
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