Tracing ties: finds of Aquileian coins in North Africa

The military, economic and cultural relations between Aquileia and the North Africa during the Roman age are well renowned. This connection reached its height during the late Roman period, as suggested by the literary sources and the archaeological finds. The Edictum de pretiis attests the corn supply route between Aquileia and Alexandria, whereas massive finds of amphoras, oil lamps and red slip wear vases are the evidence of the systematic importation of products from the southern shore of the Mediterranean. In the same period, a monetary workshop was operating in Aquileia (295/296-425 AD) covering the demand of coins, bronze denominations in particular, for a large area between the western and the eastern part of the Roman empire. The aim of this study is to ascertain, thanks to the evidence of coin finds, to what extent the military and economic ties between Aquileia and North Africa affected the circulation of the Aquileian coins along the southern border of the Roman Empire.