Cast Counterfeit Coins or pecunia flata? Ancient Latin Sources and the Term denarii flati

The purpose of this paper is to discuss ancient literary sources and Roman coin legends that justify the use of the term denarii (or antoniniani) flati in place of Anglo-Latin terms like counterfeit or imitative cast denarii (or antoniniani). The verb flo, flare, flavi, flatum, including the participle flatus, -a, -um, appears in a numismatic context in several Latin texts, the most important of which seems to be a passage in Noctes Atticae by Aulus Gellius (c. 125–c. 180), who writes about early ‘cast (or minted) and stamped coinage’ (ii. 10. 3: ‘flata signataque pecunia’). The term has the advantage of being not only rooted in ancient Roman sources, but also that it can be referred both to various categories of undervaluated, semi-official and unofficial coins produced in the Roman Empire, as well to the coins found in the Barbaricum area.