Brass

• Brass is an alloy of Copper and Zinc, not to be confused with Bronze, which is an alloy of Copper and Tin.

History of Brass

• The Roman word for Brass was Orichalcum.
• Alloying Copper with Zinc produces Brass, known to the Greeks, but produced in great quantities during the Roman Empire.

Brass Coins

• After 23 CE, Augustus changed the silver Sestertius into a Brass coin, which continued to be issued up until the end of the third century CE.

Copper

• Copper in Latin was ‘Cyprium’, meaning the ‘metal of Cyprus’, which was then abbreviated to ‘Cuprum’.
• This was because the majority of Copper production during the Roman Era came from Cyprus.