Toss a coin to your butcher

We are in the year 65 AD, shortly after the devastating fire of Rome. Tranquility has slowly returned, and everyone is going about their daily business again. This is also true in the case of the butcher Lucius Septimius Marcellinus, who we will follow today. A customer comes into his shop and buys some meat. He receives the sestertius you see here.

Lucius takes a closer look at it, turning the coin around in his hands. The Romans called the material of this coin orichalcum. Freshly minted orichalcum coins had a beautiful gold-colored shine. Lucius recognizes the face of his emperor, but it is the other side of the coin that catches his eye…