Arts and Humanities Commons^™

The Face Of Power: A Chronological Comparison Of Byzantine Coinage, Emma Duffin

BYZANTIUM: Trade, Treasure, Tradition

Coinage was an effective tool for representing imperial power in the Byzantine Empire. This short essay focuses on the evolution of power representation in coinage and argues that Byzantine emperors displayed power by employing classical Roman elements in their coinage. This argument is communicated through a chronological comparison of five coins ranging in date from 288 to 1425 C.E. These coins are a small example of the transition from imperial iconography to Christian iconography in which we see how classical forms are preserved even among a drastic change in style and narrative.

Political Propaganda On Imperial Coinage In The Age Of Augustus, Juliana Maria Ketting

Honors Theses

This thesis examines and analyzes political propaganda on Augustan-era Roman imperial coinage by comparing the imagery and text used on coins produced at seven mints located across the Mediterranean. These mints were located at Lugdunum, Augusta Emerita, Caesaraugusta, Colonia Patricia, Nemausus, Samos, and Rome. I focus on these mints due to the messages of Augustan propaganda that were found on their coinage, which were often combined with locally- or regionally specific provincial messages, that together promoted Augustus’ administration. These coins share important images such as the Capricorn, gateways built as triumphal arches, laurel branches, eagles, Victory, crocodiles, bulls, altars, and …

Three Unpublished Roman & Byzantine Coins From Oxyrhynchus, Mona Gabr Abd El Naby

Journal of the General Union of Arab Archaeologists

(En) This article tackles studying and publishing three coins for the first time; two Roman and a single Byzantine, from the 2015 excavation of the Spanish Expedition in El-Bahnasa (ex. Oxyrhynchus) in Minya Governorate, Middle Egypt.

These three pieces carry the numbers: N.1173, N.1174 and N. 1175, and are preserved now in the Museum journal in El-Bahnasa, Hall 8. They could be respectively dated from approximately the 4^th century A.D. for the first two coins, unearthed in the site of High Necropolis, and from amidst 7^th century A.D., i.e. Late Byzantine till the dawn of the Arab Conquest …

The Iconography Of The Gold And Silver Coinage Of Philip Ii Of Macedon And Alexander The Great, Nisha N. Ramracha

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The history of Philip II of Macedon and Alexander the Great has been tremendously studied through ancient sources and archaeology. One approach has been through numismatics: a comprehensive study of currency in the form of coins and additional media for transactions, trade, payment and otherwise. This form of research gives scholars an economic perspective on the lives and campaigns of these renowned Macedonian Argead kings through statistical calculations in the form of weights, di-axes, ascertaining inauguration dates as well as appraisal of metals such as gold, silver and bronze in ancient economies, and deducing the locations of mints and various …

Extraordinary Episodes Of Ancient Money, Francis Louis Kailey

Honors Theses

The spread of coins, which occurred throughout the archaic and classical periods of Greece, was a foundational advancement toward forms of the modern economy. Modern theory has sought to explain the invention of coins with a variety of narratives. Generally, these narratives fall into two broad categories: market-driven monetization or state-driven monetization. On the one hand, some theory argues that coins developed from reducing private transaction costs. On the other hand, some theorists argue that the state benefitted from reductions in administrative costs from the use of coins and therefore undertook the cost of minting them. This thesis problematizes these …

The East India Company's 1835 Currency Reform, Ian Barrow

2013 New England Association for Asian Studies Conference

This paper examines the East India Company’s 1835 currency reform. The measure created, for the first time, a unified currency within the Company’s Indian territories. Moreover, it stopped the longstanding practices of minting rupees in the Mughal Emperor’s name and solely in Persian, and instead introduced coins that featured the bust of the British King along with the Company’s name and the denomination written in English. Because coins are among the most evident ways states express their sense of self and power, the political effect of the reform was to underscore the decades-long process whereby the Company phased out Mughal …

The Column And Coinage Of C. Duilius: Innovations In Iconography In Large And Small Media In The Middle Republic, Eric Kondratieff

History Faculty Publications

"[From the conclusion]: This discussion presents a linked series of hypotheses, each one suggested in its turn by evidence relating directly to C. Duilius (cos. 260), and contextualized by near-contemporary precedents wherever possible, or relevant-seeming analogues from slightly later periods. Taken together, these hypotheses support a plausible scenario in which the elogium on Duilius’ rostral column may be read not only as an account of a cunning and audacious commander whose pioneering efforts in naval warfare destroyed the myth of Carthaginian supremacy at sea, but also as an encomium on a generous benefactor to Rome’s citizenry. The inscription’s redactor has …

Constantinian Coin Motifs In Ancient Literary Sources, Charles Odahl

Quidditas

Classical numismatists have long assumed that Roman emperors used the imperial coinage as a medium of propaganda. The obverses advertised the emperor's visages and titles, while the frequently changed reverses announced military victories, peace and prosperity, imperial beneficence and building programs, or religious beliefs, etc. Often beautifully designed, stamped with a much higher and more vivid relief than modern coins, and spread throughout the empire, Roman coins and medallions certainly seem to have been minted and disseminated with the intention that the imperial populace would note the figures and read the inscriptions thereon – not merely exchange them in economic …