The Roman Denarius and the Euro: A precedent for monetary union?
Lecture by Andrew Burnett
Given at Gresham College, on April 3, 2012
Overview: A look at the way the Roman Empire has sometimes been used as an historical precedent for the European Union, and specifically the way that the integration of the Roman monetary system has been seen as a (sometimes justifying) precedent for modern European monetary union.
Introduction: History is often used to justify the present. In the days of an enlarging European community and of European monetary integration, it was often said that the Roman Empire provides a historical precedent for modern monetary union in Europe. In many ways it is an irrelevant claim, since the problem for the euro
