Question

According to Peter Heather, a historian at King’s College London, during the Roman Empire, the German

tribes east of the Rhine River (the area the Romans called Germania) produced no coins of their own but used
Roman coins instead: Although no coinage was produced in Germania, Roman coins were in plentiful
circulation and could easily have provided a medium of exchange (already in the first century, Tacitus tells us, Germani of the Rhine region were using good-quality Roman silver coins for this purpose).

a. What is a medium of exchange?

b. What does the author mean when he writes that Roman coins could have provided the German tribes with
a medium of exchange?

c. Why would any member of a German tribe have been willing to accept a Roman coin from another member
of the tribe in exchange for goods or services when the tribes were not part of the Roman Empire and were not
governed by Roman law?

Answer 1

The answer with detailed explanation are as given below in the explanation section

Step-by-step explanation:

a. Any quantity that is used to exchange goods and services in different form is known as medium of exchange. In the passage medium of exchange is Roman coins.

b. Romans coins could have provided the German tribes with a medium of exchange, with this author mean that German tribes could have used Roman coins in exchange of goods and services they need.

c. The willingness to except the roman coins from one of the German tribe member to other is that they need a medium of exchange for goods and services and they had not produced their own coins.