Coinage
Quadrans 1/4 as copper
Semis 1/2 as copper
As 1 as copper
Dupondius 2 as brass
Sestertius (HS)* 4 as copper
Denarius 4 sestertii
16 as
silver
Aureus 25 denarii
100 sertertii
400 as
gold


The basic coins were the as and the sesterius.
In the eastern part of the empire an other system was in use, with oboles (copper), drachms (silver) and talents (gold).
A Roman soldier in the 1st c AD earned annually 225 denarii of which 100 was subtracted because of the costs of subsistence.

)* in Republican time 2,5 as equaled 1 sestertius. That 2,5 ratio can be written as I+I+S (S from Semi =1/2) which reads as HS