Illustrated Companion to the Latin Dictionary/As

Illustrated Companion to the Latin Dictionary, and Greek Lexicon (Rich, 1849)

AS (from εἷς, pronounced ἆς by the Tarentines). A piece of money, which represented the unit of value in the Roman and early Italian coinage. Originally it weighed one pound, hence called as libralis; and was composed of a mixture of copper and tin (aes), hence also called aes grave; but the value was much reduced in after times. In the age of Cicero, it was worth about three farthings of our money. In its earliest state it bore the impress of a bull, ram, boar, or sow, emblematic of the flocks and herds (pecus, whence the word pecunia), which constitute the wealth of all primitive ages; afterwards the more usual device was a double-headed Janus on one side with the prow of a vessel (see SEMISSIS), or of Mercury, the god of traffic, on the other, as shown by the example (As/1.1) introduced above, drawn one-third the size of the original, which weighs in its present state 10 oz. 10. gr.

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  As/1.1