Semis

'half of an as') was a small Roman bronze coin that was valued at half an as.

Some of the coins featured a bust of Saturn on the obverse, and the prow of a ship on the reverse.

[1] Initially a cast coin, like the rest of Roman Republican bronzes, it began to be struck from dies shortly before the Second Punic War (218–201 BC).

Following the Augustan Coinage reforms of 23 BC the semis became the smallest orichalcum (brass) denomination, having twice the value of a copper quadrans and half the value of the copper as.

In the early Imperial period, a semis could buy a cerae (wax writing tablet).