This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Siliqua" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR(September 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
The siliqua (pl. siliquas or siliquae) is the modern name—given without any ancient evidence to confirm the designation—to small, thin, Roman silver coins produced in the 4th century and later. When the coins were in circulation, the Latin word siliqua was a unit of weight or value defined by one late Roman writer as one twenty-fourth of a Roman solidus.[1]
"Siliqua vicesima quarta pars solidi est, ab arbore, cuius semen est, vocabulum tenens." A siliqua is one twenty-fourth of a solidus, having its name from the tree of which it is the seed.
— Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum libri XX, Liber XVI, 25
The term siliqua comes from the siliqua graeca, the seed of the carob tree, which in the Roman weight system is equivalent to 1⁄6 of a scruple (1⁄1728 of a Roman pound or about 0.19 grams).
The term has been applied in modern times to various silver coins on the premise that the coins were valued at 1⁄24 of the gold solidus (which weighed 1⁄72 of a Roman pound) and therefore represented a siliqua of gold in value. Since gold was worth about 12 times as much as silver in ancient Rome (in Diocletian's Edict on Maximum Prices of 301),[2] such a silver coin would have a theoretical weight of 2.22 grams ((4.45 grams/24)x12 = 2.22 grams). This has not prevented the term from being applied today to silver coins issued by Constantine, which initially weighed 3.4 grams and to the later "heavy siliqua" of Constantius II of c. 3 grams, but it would fit the later "light" or "reduced siliqua" from after the reform of 355 which weighed about 2.2 grams. The term is one of convenience, as no name for these coins is indicated by contemporary sources. Thin silver coins as late as the 7th century which weigh about 2–3 grams are known as siliquas by numismatic convention.
The majority of examples suffer striking cracks (testimony to their fast production) or extensive clipping (removing silver from the edge of the coin), and thus to find both an untouched and undamaged example is fairly uncommon. It is thought that by clipping, siliquaes provided the first coinage of the Saxons, as this reduced them to around the same size as a sceat, and there is considerable evidence from archaeological sites of this period, that siliquas and many other Roman coins were utilized by Saxons as pendants, lucky charms, currency, and curiosities.
^Yule & Burnell, year 1903, page 161.
^Bransbourg, Giles. "Inflation and monetary reforms in the fourth century: Diocletian's twin Edicts of AD 301" in Debasement: manipulation of coin standards in pre-modern monetary systems, edited by Kevin Butcher, 2020.
The siliqua (pl. siliquas or siliquae) is the modern name—given without any ancient evidence to confirm the designation—to small, thin, Roman silver coins...
The carob (/ˈkærəb/ KARR-əb; Ceratonia siliqua) is a flowering evergreen tree or shrub in the Caesalpinioideae sub-family of the legume family, Fabaceae...
The Pacific razor clam, Siliqua patula, is a species of large marine bivalve mollusc in the family Pharidae. Pacific razor clams can be found along the...
The pod razor (Ensis siliqua) is a coastal bivalve of European waters. It is edible and has been fished commercially, especially in Portugal, Spain, Ireland...
galactomannan vegetable gum extracted from the seeds of the carob tree (Ceratonia siliqua) and used as a thickening agent (gelling agent) in food technology. Locust...
Ensis directus Gould's razor shell, Solen strictus Pacific razor clam, Siliqua patula Pinna bicolor, a species of large saltwater clam in the family Pinnidae...
A silique or siliqua (plural siliques or siliquae) is a type of fruit (seed capsule) having two fused carpels with the length being more than three times...
Comparison of unclipped and clipped Siliqua from the Hoxne Hoard An unclipped siliqua A clipped siliqua A further clipped siliqua In the process of sweating,...
which is also known as néré Also not commonly, the carob tree, Ceratonia siliqua, whose pods are called locust beans. "Locust" comes from the Latin locusta...
The Motorola Razr (pronounced /ˈreɪzər/ like "razor") is a brand of design-oriented mobile phones manufactured by Motorola Mobility (previously Motorola...
indigenous trees on the islands are olive (Olea europaea), carob (Ceratonia siliqua), fig (Ficus carica), holm oak (Quericus ilex) and Aleppo pine (Pinus halepensis)...
Lamiaceae, genera Laurus and Myrtus, and species Olea europaea, Ceratonia siliqua, and Ficus carica. It is similar to garrigue. Mining maquis Maquis (disambiguation)...
Solenidae. It prefers coarser sand than its relatives E. ensis and E. siliqua. It is known for its elongated, rectangular shape, which presents a similarity...
libra (Roman pound) of gold equal to a mass of 24 siliquae, where each siliqua (or carat) was 1⁄1728 of a libra. This is believed to be the origin of...
terms of amounts. The Romans, for example, used the carob seed (carat or siliqua) as a measurement standard. If an object's weight was equivalent to 1728...
sand with great speed to escape predation. When a Pacific razor clam (Siliqua patula) is laid on the surface of the beach, it can bury itself completely...
species, Ceratonia siliqua or carob, which is distributed around the Mediterranean. C. oreothauma is morphologically distinct from C. siliqua. In addition the...
common in the wetter areas of the Algarve hills. Carob Tree (Ceratonia siliqua): It is debatable whether this is an introduced or an indigenous species...
archaeological and artistic sites of Sardinia, Italy: Acquafredda near Siliqua, castle, 13th century Aiodda near Nurallao-Nuragus, Giants' Tomb Albucciu...