The Journal of Greco-Roman Studies Vol. 56-3 | 2017.12.31. DOI: 10.23933/jgrs.2017.56.3.79 Peculiarities and Errors in the Legends of Aurei and Denarii Minted in Syria from Vespasian to AD 193 Bartosz B. Awianowicz (Faculty of Languages, Niculaus Copernicus University) Even if we are not able to quantify the coin production of the Roman empire precisely, 1 we can observe that the minting of large quantities of denarii (and much rarer aurei) in Syria coincides very clearly with the last four years of the First Jewish-Roman War (AD 66-73) and civil war between Septimius Severus and Pescennius Niger (AD 193-194). Johann van Heesch noticed that in exceptional war circumstances “eastern provincial coins” could form an integral part of Roman coinage and he gives the following example: “When Pescennius Niger occupied Caesarea in Cappadocia c. 193 he stopped the minting of drachms and started coining denarii with Latin inscriptions.” 2 The production of imperial denominations outside Rome, and of denarii in particular, was usually associated with military campaigns and wars, for the soldiers had to be paid regularly and, as far as possible, in commonly accepted (i.e. not local or provincial) currency. 3 Even if they formed an integral part of Rome’s coinage, provincial coins with Greek legends, were primarily minted for citizens of the issuing cities and the local or regional, mostly Greek- speaking population of the province or provinces. 4 Therefore, when they had to engrave denarii with Latin legends, engravers of the coins minted in Syria and neighbouring provinces who in times of peace were accustomed to inscribing legends in Greek characters often made characteristic mistakes due to their insufficient acquaintance with Latin and even the Latin alphabet. 1 See van Heesch (2011), 313-320, who discuss the following methods of quantitative research: 1) identifying coin frequency, 2) die counts and 3) coin finds (hoards and stray finds). 2 Van Heesch (2011), 324. 3 See Speidel (2009), 382-389. 4 See Howgego (2005), 12-13.