v15_0352 - IMITATIONS OF ROMAN COINS Semis à l'autel de Lyon, imitation celtique

IMITATIONS OF ROMAN COINS

(1st century BC - 1st century AD)

After the defeat of Vercingetorix in 52 BC. -VS. , the pacification was done quickly from the following year. In 50 BC. -VS. , Gaul is subjugated, but the assimilation took place slowly. We know today that Romanization was slow. At the monetary level, the manufacture of Gallic coins did not stop immediately and Roman coins did not flood the new territory.. In fact, the penetration of Roman coins had begun at the end of the 2nd century BC.. -VS. The imitation or copying of Roman coins by Celtic tribes is proof of this.. At the end of hostilities, Gallic coins continued to circulate. New types appeared and types of Celtic inspiration continued to be minted in Gaul until our era, or even later.. They circulated for at least another fifty years until the fall of Nero.. Assimilation was never complete and we still note in the middle of the third century AD, a Celtic reminiscence under the Gallic Empire (260-274). Very quickly, the Gallic engravers seized Roman or Gallo-Roman prototypes, imitated them, copied them, falsified them for the greatest pleasure of modern numismatists..