The 6 Most Valuable Roman Treasures Ever Discovered

A massive trove of silver in a monastery garden. Coins and heirlooms buried by Vesuvius. A hoard of gold coins weighing two thirds of a ton. This video tells the stories of six of the greatest Roman treasures and coin hoards ever discovered, and explains their relative value.

For more on ancient treasures, check out my book “Naked Statues, Fat Gladiators, and War Elephants: Frequently Asked Questions about the Ancient Greeks and Romans."

If you're so inclined, you can follow me elsewhere online:

Chapters:
0:00 Introduction
0:41 Hoxne Hoard
2:42 Trier Treasure of 1628
4:04 Boscoreale Treasure
6:03 Trier Gold Hoard
7:36 Reka Devnia Hoard
9:04 Brescello Hoard

Thanks for watching!

[sophrapsune]

Hearing of antiquities being melted down for metal value just makes one want to weep...

[mathewm]

...more importantly, did the farmer ever find his hammer?

[chiragpatel]

Considering how big the roman army was, the empire must have required large amount of gold. Wonder how were they able to procure that? By the way, great video.

[viracocha]

Hearing about the coins being melted down somehow managed to physically harm my soul.

[DennisC-zcyi]

Bought some ancient Roman coins from Authentic Ancients, it was awesome!

[RightNowMan]

You're the man! Thanks for these very interesting videos.

[epresidente]

Hello from Trier :D
Liked your Video!

[Chefitup]

My mother in law is Bulgarian and her dad has a few Roman coins that hm and his brother found back in the 80s.

[olyakozak]

Thanks it’s very educational and interesting for me!!!🙋🏻‍♀️👍

[thagemizer]

An excellent video of some impressive hoards!
I am fascinated by ancient hoards.
Their untold stories.
Who was in charge of them, why and how were they hidden, and of course, why were they never recovered by the owner.

[rubbercheck]

I would NEVER tell ANYBODY if I ever found something like these...NEVER!!!

[pgk]

It boggles the imagination what yet remains to be discovered.

[Nobodyrpresident]

That reminds of the time I lost a whole shitload of gold coins in a field. I borrowed a friends metal detector and went up and down, back and forth, and only found a really nice ball peen hammer.

[jean-robertlombard]

Gold and/or silver always. Even or especially in today's economic turmoil. Keep stacking! ;)

[Seansds]

I always wonder about the person or people who buried these treasures as they most likely perished, unable to dig up the treasure they hid for safety.

[franl]

Makes you wonder what other treasures were found and not reported; nighthawking is a serious problem - we lose not only the items, but their context, and so lose that window into the past.

[thealexanderbond]

For certain there are other huge hoards buried everywhere over Europe that will never be discovered.
Billions of dollars of treasure, not to mention all the shipwrecks on the bottom of the oceans.

[jackbed]

Astonishing the amount of gold and silver needed to pay 80 legions, if I remember 80, each year.

[TheClintb]

Hi, just asking how a Roman soldiers would be able to spent there money. When given a gold coin, how would they be able to change this to smaller coins, as a local, market wouldn’t have the amount of coins needed, it be like us having a $1million dollar note and asking a shop keeper to change it after you brought some good costing $10. Cheers CB Australia 🇦🇺

[romeotango]

Just goes to show, that you just can’t take it with you.