Ancient Rome Successfully Fought Against Voter Intimidation − a Political Story Told on a Coin That Resonates Today

This silver denarius, minted over 2,000 years ago, is hardly the most attractive Roman coin. And yet, the coin is vital evidence for the early stages of a political struggle that culminated in Caesar’s assassination and the fall of the Roman Republic.

Iowa State University professor of History David B. Hollander first encountered this coin while studying Roman history in graduate school. Its unusual design gave him pause – this one depicted figures walking across a narrow bridge and dropping something into a box. He moved on after learning it depicted voting, reasoning that Roman mint officials occasionally made idiosyncratic choices.

But as voting access evolves in the U.S., the political importance of this centuries-old coin seems more compelling. It turns out that efforts to regulate voting access go way back.

Read Hollander’s full article in The Conversation here.