,Denarius aureus' oder ,nummus aureus'? Zum Namen der klassischen römischen Goldmünze

The Roman standard gold coin of the late Republic and the Principate is commonly referred to as aureus in the ancient sources and in modern scholarship. This word is an adjective, meaning ‘golden’, and scholarly debate since the mid-19th century has focused on the problem whether the coin’s full official name was originally denarius aureus or nummus aureus. This paper provides a survey of the history of modern research on the topic and lists all relevant ancient literary texts and epigraphic as well as papyrological documents for the first time, including a translation and also a short commentary where necessary. The evidence provided by the ancient sources – especially by a papyrus dating from the reign of Augustus, which has not been considered in this context so far – strongly indicates that the full name given to the coin at the time of its introduction under Sulla was denarius aureus