this post was submitted on 02 Sep 2025
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History

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[–] SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world 33 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Wow, they did not fuck with Ireland

[–] MoonManKipper@lemmy.world 13 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] joelfromaus@aussie.zone 0 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

The potatoes are amazing. Cause real trouble when they run out. /s

Edit: /s added for clarity.

[–] 0ops@piefed.zip 5 points 1 month ago (1 children)

That's a recent development, more recent than any sort of Roman occupation (Potatoes are South American)

[–] joelfromaus@aussie.zone 2 points 1 month ago

Yeah, I know. In hindsight I should have put an “/s” on that comment.

[–] CatpainTypo@lemmy.world 32 points 1 month ago (2 children)

I’d have guessed more would have been found in southern Italy.

[–] deadbeef79000@lemmy.nz 17 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Can't find them in a place that you don't look.

Rather, that part of Italy might not be interested in looking (or might not be publicizing when they do).

[–] ripcord@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] Kyrgizion@lemmy.world 7 points 1 month ago (1 children)

The reason for that is that people in the heart of the empire didn't feel the need to hoard coins and bury them since they weren't nearly as exposed to barbarian threats (and others) like the areas on the fringes of the empire.

[–] ripcord@lemmy.world 13 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Dude the vast, vast majority of found coins found weren't buried intentionally.

By some estimates there were BILLIONS of Roman coins minted. They're absolutely all over the place.

[–] Kyrgizion@lemmy.world 7 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Absolutely true for single finds, but I was talking more about hoards, which are usually more historically interesting. You can see, for example, how people hoarded high quality silver coins from the early imperial or even the republic period instead of spending them, opting to spend the contemporary debased currency instead.

[–] ripcord@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago

I wonder what data this tracks

[–] fubarx@lemmy.world 23 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Doesn't show the Han/Byzantine trade: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sino-Roman_relations

Roman coins have been found as far east as Vietnam and Japan.

[–] AbouBenAdhem@lemmy.world 13 points 1 month ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

It looks like coins have been found on the sea routes that avoided the Parthian/Sassanian empires, but not on the overland routes. I’m guessing merchants exchanged their coins on the Roman/Persian frontier, east of which the Iranian coinage was the standard anyway; but in politically fractured places like southern India (south of the Kushans and Guptas), Roman coinage became the de facto currency of international trade.

So in other words, the distribution of coins outside the empire could reflect a regional demand for a standard international coinage, rather than Roman trade per se.

[–] tatann@lemmy.world 18 points 1 month ago

One of the dots shouldn't there, just saying

Source : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asterix

[–] drolex@sopuli.xyz 17 points 1 month ago (4 children)

Anybody got some juicy (scientific) context for SW India and Sri Lanka? Commerce I suppose but in details, what, how and when? And how are you BTW?

[–] Rothe@piefed.social 17 points 1 month ago

A fascinating primary source is the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea(link to a complete translation in the article).

[–] fubarx@lemmy.world 9 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)
[–] zarixwolfgang@feddit.org 3 points 1 month ago

I guess pepper is largely in the "what" mix

[–] JcbAzPx@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago
[–] AbouBenAdhem@lemmy.world 14 points 1 month ago

Wish I could see a map like this with the finds colored by mint date.

[–] Kyrgizion@lemmy.world 13 points 1 month ago (2 children)

I live kind of in the middle of several finds in an area without any. I wonder if that means there aren't any, or no one has bothered to seriously search for them.

[–] SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world 10 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] Kyrgizion@lemmy.world 9 points 1 month ago

Already have a detector and permit. But I still need permission from the farmers/landowners and that's trickier.

[–] lugal@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 1 month ago

Maybe it's up to you to start digging

[–] cupcakezealot@piefed.blahaj.zone 7 points 1 month ago (3 children)

i like how they skipped over saudi arabia but got to yemen some how

[–] d00ery@lemmy.world 13 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I wonder if it's down to sea fairing and trade primarily.

[–] Taniwha420@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago

Yeah, that seems to be the most likely explanation for how the coins got to India too. Egypt was the entry point into the Roman Empire, and there were maritime trade routes from the Red Sea to India.

[–] SkaveRat@discuss.tchncs.de 5 points 1 month ago

Possible that there aren't as many archeologic diggings there

[–] drolex@sopuli.xyz 5 points 1 month ago

Amazing, thanks a lot.

[–] Brainsploosh@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Very cool map I haven't seen before, thank you!

It's so strange to me that the Romans went through central Europe, were they just taking the land route to the sea nations up north?

[–] AbouBenAdhem@lemmy.world 6 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Yes—the Amber Road, the main trade route to the Baltic, did go through Central Europe.

And the reason trade went overland instead of by sea is because the Romans weren’t trading directly with the Baltic—they were paying soldiers stationed along the Danube and Rhine who then traded with neighboring peoples (and also directly subsidizing some frontier tribes), and the frontier peoples of Central Europe were then trading Roman gold for Baltic amber.

[–] buzz86us@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Well after Rome fell the currency was worthless, what else would you do with them? I mean it took 1500 years for them to be worth more than the metal they were minted on.

[–] tychosmoose@lemmy.world 12 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Not worthless. The coinage had intrinsic value, being made of metals with a commodity value. So it's not like holding a paper banknote when a government collapses. People would still have used them to hoard savings, for trade and melted down as a source of precious metals.

That was really the only value they ever had. Boosted a bit by confidence in the purity (but also reduced when Rome debased its coinage).

[–] UltraMagnus0001@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Southern Italy has always been poor. Water, infrastructure and so on

How Italy Became the Most Divided Country in Europe

[–] FundMECFS@anarchist.nexus 2 points 1 month ago

The source of the map is not provided in the OOP.

I think it’s very likely this map is biased in reporting.

I’ve heard roman coins are really common in some southern regions of italy. Perhaps to the point where finding them isn’t reported, and doesn’t end up on this map.