How to read ancient coins?

The purpose of the course is to provide students with knowledge about ancient coinage from its beginnings in the 7th century BC towards the end of the 5th century AD from a linguistic and palaeographic (coin legends) as well as historical perspective.

First inscribed coins with the legend “Phaneos eimi sema” in Greek lettering one can find already among the very early electrum coins minted before 600 BC. Also, apparently, personal names, read VALVEL and KALIL in Lydian characters, appear in this period. Coins minted in the 6th-4th century BC bear mainly short Greek inscriptions, but there are also attested some coins with names in Lician or Phoenician characters. Many coin legends of the hellenistic period provide us with information regarding kings titulatures, minting magistrate’s or tibe 's names and date (especially in Greek, but also in Hebrew, Iberian, Kharosthi or Phoenician), while inscriptions of the Roman republican coinage of the 2nd and 1st century BC allow us not only to identify such officials as tres viri monetales, aediles and imperators, but also to several important personalities and events of the Roman history. Most Roman imperial coins bear long legends with the entire titulature of emperors and show which imperial virtues and ideas of the greatest importance, whereas, Roman provincial coins (in connection with inscriptions) show in which provinces and cities dominant language was Latin, in which Greek. The aim of the course is to provide students with knowledge about ancient alphabets, geography of the ancient world and history of ancient coinage, especially from a linguistic and epigraphic perspective.

- B. Awianowicz, Peculiarities and Errors in the Legends Attributed to Antioch Denarii of Pescennius Niger and of Septimius Severus. „Notae Numismaticae”, VIII (2013), p. 125-142

- B. Awianowicz, Peculiarities and Errors in the Legends of Aurei and Denarii Minted in Syria from Vespasian to AD 192, The Journal of Greco-Roman Studies 56-3 (2017), s. 79-97

- A. Burnett: "The Augustan Revolution Seen from the Mints of the Provinces", Journal of Roman Studies 101 (2012), p. 1-30

- A. Burnett, Coinage in The Roman World, London: Spink 1987

- C. Eagleton, J. Williams, Money, London 2007

- A. Glass, A Preliminary Study of Karosthi Manuscript Paleography, Washington 2000

- Chr. J. Howgego, Why did Ancient States strike Coins?, The Numismatic Chronicle 150 (1990), s. 1-25

- L. Kallet, J. H. Kroll, The Anthenian Empire. Using Coins as Sources, Cambridge 2020

- Lexikon der Aufschriften auf griechischen Münzen / Lexicon of Greek Coin Inscriptions. Band I bearbeitet von W. Leschhorn nach Vorarbeiten und unter Mitarbeit von P. R. Franke, Wien 2002, Band. II bearbeitet von W. Leschhorn, Wien 2009

- C. F. Noreña, Imperial Ideals in the Roman West: Representation, Circulation, Power, Cambridge 2011

- W. Scheidel (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to the Roman Economy, Cambridge 2012

- S. W. Stevenson, A Dictionary of Roman Coins, Republican and Imperial, revised, in part, by C. R. Smith and completed by F. W. Madden, London 1889 (or reprints and on-line edition)

- Sylloge Nummorum Graecorum (various volumes)

- Websites: https://www.acsearch.info ; https://www.corpus-nummorum.eu ; numismatics.org ; https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/

- P. Thonemann, The Hellenistic World. Using Coins as Sources, Cambridge 2015

Assessment methods:

np.

- oral presentation

- test

- activity

Assessment criteria:

Student to get credit (with a grade) for the course is obliged to:

- be present and active during the classes (being absent for 50% of all classes means that student does not get the grade);

- take part in the discussions during the classes

- do a homework (identifying indicated ancient coins)

- write one test