The M-Hoard of Early Roman Republican Denarii and a New Chronology for the Later Anonymous Silver Series

In this paper I report on a hoard of early silver denarii, hereinafter referred to as the M-hoard, which fills the gap between early Roman Republican silver hoards buried during the first 10-12 years of the Second Punic War and later hoards dated to the middle of the second century onwards. Crawford's arrangement in RRC was based on the assumption that silver production continued between the Second Punic War and the start of the massive production of denarii in the middle of the second century. The data presented here conflict with this view, and I suggest that the minting of denarii was interrupted for several decades until the middle of the second century.