Gab es eine Finanzkrise in den späten Jahren des Augustus?

Münzprägung, Soldaten und Finanzströme im frühen Prinzipat

Abstract

Based on a methodologically unsound quantification of the coins minted late in the reign of Augustus, the notion of a liquidity crisis in this period has become widespread in the field. Over time, this hypothesis has come to be interpreted ever more sharply, leading to verdicts such as «insufficient state finances», a «phase of deflation» or even a general «depression», and has also had a significant impact on explanations put forward for other political processes. A reassessment of the numismatic evidence, however, shows an increase in the liquidity provided and the written tradition is likewise unable to support the thesis of a crisis of the state finances. Instead, – given the newly created professional army and the division of provinces between the princeps and the senate – the later years of Augustus are characterised by a reorganisation of state finances: This restored the agency of the aerarium Saturni, secured veterans’ pensions through the institutions of the res publica and evened out the financial burdens of citizens and non-citizens. At the same time, it promoted the monetarisation of the periphery newly won for the empire and brought the regionally asymmetrical flows of revenues and expenditures for different purposes closer to being balanced, which helped to reduce the necessity of cash transports.