From a string of emperors before him, Aurelian inherited a policy of monetary debauchery. The gold content of the coin known as the “aureus” was occasionally reduced but relatively few were minted. In everyday trade, ordinary citizens used the “denarius,” which was almost pure silver before Emperor Nero commenced its debasement in the middle of the First Century A.D. The resulting price inflation by the 270s demanded a policy change. Amid the chaos, Aurelian championed himself as a monetary reformer who promised to bring order and end inflation.

What was Aurelian’s monetary reform? For the government’s own use, he put a trace of silver and gold back into a few coins. But for everybody else, it was a different story. He ordered the existing mass of coins (many sizes and weights of declining precious metal content) to be replaced by just two coins, neither of which contained any silver at all. According to historian Max Shapiro in The Penniless Billionaires, they “were made entirely of copper and were ‘washed’ during minting in a light, silver-like solution, which gave them a silvery finish.” Shapiro explains what happened next:

“Of course, Aurelian’s attempted reform accomplished nothing; it merely abetted inflation. Now that no silver was required in coinage, money roared out of the mints in a greater flood. Prices leaped upward anew as people tried to convert increasingly worthless coins into goods.”

[Keep this in mind when people bring up the “trillion dollar coin” idea to deal with national debt. Monetary policy can’t substitute for sound fiscal policy. That is a lesson that humans unfortunately have to keep learning over, and over, and over, and … — Ed]