Circulation of Roman Coinage in Northern Europe in late antiquity

Abstract

Coins are the most frequent category of Roman imports encountered in Northern Europe. Purposes and ways of their influx are briefly analysed. Author attempts to answer the following questions: how did Roman coins circulate within Barbarian societies and what were their functions among these peoples. These functions are discussed on three levels: circulation, transformation and deposition. In author's opinion there was no uniform function of Roman coinage in Northern Europe. Its role in the first case was that of symbol or sign in social communication of a heterogeneous meaning. The Barbarian societies of Late Antiquity lacked clear dividing lines separating the economic from the social, political or symbolic function of coins. © Éditions de l'EHESS.