Greek Numismatics

Published in the Proceedings of the International Numismatic Congress, it is based on a presentation at the INC in Taormino in 2015, a draft of which was posted on academia.edu in advance. The question of how die charts relate to the production of ancient coinage is still unclear and the paper attempts to specifically address the logic of interpreting non-planar charts.

The present article explores the use of diagnostic types in the interpretation of Classical Greek coin types. Whereas it is not always possible to say definitively whether given coin types may have had economic significance, political significance, both, or something else entirely for their recipients, the study of large numbers of coins, whether on the market, in public collections, or in hoards yields
useful results. Investigation reveals that there was a large degree of coherence in the sorts of types employed by dozens of the most important issuing authorities of the Classical world. Any notion that the Classical period was a Wild West free-for-all of largely interchangeable and meaningless types now seems improbable. The common perception of extreme type flux before Alexander is mistaken, probably because scholars hitherto gathered their data and impressions from museum collections, whose acquisitions naturally tend towards new varieties, the unusual, and the unique, at the expense of the run-of-the-mill that in fact made up the bulk of coins in antiquity and the majority of the material on the market today. The Hellenistic centuries did indeed see a further standardization and limitation of what poleis put on their coins, but the process had its inception with the arrival of coined money in European Greece, circa 550 BC, not in the carnage of Chaeronea. The copying of well-known diagnostic types by other issuing authorities raises the question of intentionality, and this paper will explore two possible explanations for a close imitation of Athenian
coin iconography. This article is not concerned with the widespread and multifaceted phenomenon of coin forgery for economic reasons (one thinks here especially of plated fourrées, or of the good-silver copies of Athenian owls made in the ancient Near East), since this has been well discussed already, but with the extent and semiotics of image appropriation on Classical Greek coinage.

Un Corpus dei tetradrammi d'argento coniati da Perseo re di Macedonia che classifica 308 tetradrammi diversi ottenuti da 63 conii di diritto e 272 conii di rovescio.
This is a Corpus of the silver tetradrachms minted by Perseus king of Macedonia which classifies 308 different coins obtained from 63 obverse dies and 272 reverse dies.

Antony’s monetary policy in the East represented a real ‘revolution’, a turning point for the bronze coinage produced and circulating in the Eastern provinces of the Empire. In the iconography and the weight of bronze coins, he and his magistrates introduced radical changes that became the norm over the course of the Augustan period.In support of this thesis, this chapter will first focus on iconographical innovations introduced in the 40s BC both by bronze civic coinages in Greece and Asia and by Roman official coinages such as the fleet coinage. In the second part of this chapter I will argue that Antony’s years in the East (from 42 BC to the battle of Actium) introduced bilingual Roman denominational marks on Greek and Roman bronze coinage, new denominations and weight standards in order to establish a metrological correlation between the two monetary systems. Several metrological innovations introduced in these years, such as a non-silver sestertii and the quartuncial standard, became the norm in the
Augustan Age.

Autonomous civic coinage in Lycia during Hellenistic and Early Roman Imperial Periods. The page numbers in the pdf should be read as 769-787

Note that the coin in pic. 37 is not a coin of Rhodiapolis; I was mistaken about it because of the magistrate name on the coin. It belongs to Southern Italy.

An assessment of the literary, material, and excavation evidence for dating the standard of Athenian commercial metrology of the fifth into the fourth centuries BC.  This evidence dates the origin of this uniquely Athenian standard to the early 470s BC as the result of economic pressure resulting from the Persian attack on Athens.

This paper deals with small fraction silver coins issued in the Late Hellenistic period by Komama in Pisidia. All of these coins were produced only from one pair of die. The obverse bears the diademed head of Artemis with the letter of K in left and the reverse reflects a long torch with the legend of KOMA/MEΩN. The limited production of it brings to mind that they may have been minted from precious metals that support bronze coins in the circulation only once for a specific purpose rather than for the need of money. When silver coins of Komama are compared with the silver coins of the Lykian League Period IV Serie 7 and the Stratonikeia Group 4, it can be seen that they fit the same weight standards and that they all bear legends or letters on the obverse. This practice, which began to appear in the 1st century BC on the silver coins of the poleis in Asia Minor, is a clear indication of the Roman influence in coin designs. The weights of 22 known specimens indicate that they were issued as hemidrachm, which is equal to Roman unit quinarius. The reign of King Amyntas (39-25 BC) is suggested for dating the hemidrachm series of Komama.

Bu makalenin konusunu, Pisidia kentlerinden birisi olan Komama’nın Geç Hellenistik Dönem’de darp ettirdiği küçük birimli gümüş sikkeler oluşturmaktadır. Ön yüzünde diademli Artemis başı ile başın arkasında K harfi ve arka yüzünde uzun meşale ile KOMA/MEΩN lejantını taşıyan bu sikkeler, birer ön ve arka yüz kalıbından tek bir emisyon olarak üretilmiştir. Bu nedenle, sınırlı sayıdaki üretimleri bunların tedavülde olan bronz sikkeleri destekleyecek değerli metalden para ihtiyacını karşılamaktan ziyade, bir kereye mahsus ve özel bir amaç nedeniyle basılmış olabileceklerini düşündürmektedir. Komama’nın bu gümüş serisi ile Lykia Birlik Periyot IV Seri 7 ve Stratonikeia Grup 4 gümüş serileri aynı ağırlık standardında basılmışlardır. Bu serilerin ön yüzlerinde yer alan harf ya da lejantlar da, MÖ 1. yüzyılda Asia Minor kentlerinin sikkelerinde görülmeye başlanan Roma etkisi olarak karşımıza çıkmaktadır. 22 adet örneği olan Komama’nın bu gümüş serisinin, ağırlıkları göz önüne alındığında hemidrahmi biriminde basıldıkları anlaşılmaktadır. Roma quinariusu ile aynı ağırlıkta olup, mali hesaplarda kolaylık sağlamak açısından bu birim seçilmiş olmalıdır. Komama gümüş serisinin tarihi için ise Amyntas Dönemi (MÖ 39-25) uygun görülmektedir.

"This study deals with the hairstyles of women in Greek antiquity. Although they are not that different from modern hairstyles, they attract our attention as they are numerous and have definitely changed in the course of time. The striking types that existed can be traced in numerous artifacts and monuments.
For a better understanding of them, they are conveniently categorized in four main types, which accounts for the division of the study in four main chapters: the wreath-like coiffure, the pony-tail, the bow-knot and the melon-coiffure. Chronologically they range from the 5th century B. C. into late Hellenistic times. For the purposes of an accurate positioning in time each chapter was divided into three large sections: coins, reliefs and plastic in the round.
The coins offer the necessary terminus post quem which is confirmed by the large scale art. Interestingly, all the hair styles mentioned above are deeply rooted in the Classical and late Classical tradition. Latest among them is the melon-coiffure, whose beginnings should be placed a little after the middle of the 4th century. The earliest is the wreath-like coiffure that can be traced back to the Severe Style.
The overall examination of the archaeological evidence offers insights into possible meanings. The iconography, the function and the context of the figures are in the focus of investigation and form the tools for the understanding of the coiffures as social identification marcs. The nature of this study is thus art historical, archaeological and methodological.
Whereas it is for example true that the wreath-like hairstyle swept up from the forehead that bouncy frames the face was conveniently worn without distinction by young and old, by unmarried and married women, it should be noted that hairstyles have from a very early time played an ingenious role in order to differentiate young girls of marriageable status.
These luxurious and festival hair styles morphologically have the following features in common: the abundance of hair growth, the accentuation of the forehead, the plaits.
Eirene of Kephisodot demonstrates nicely the phenomenon of the invention of a new hairstyle for a youthful goddess that for the needs of cult practice was meant to be perceived as such.
The long braid at the nape of the neck was used for goddesses and mortal women alike. But the accent is placed on the status of the unmarried girl. Although the examples are numerous and range from early Classical to Late Hellenistic Times, prominently among them figure the Korai of the Erechtheion.
The pony tail appears since the late 4th century not only for youthful goddesses like Nymphs, Nike and Artemis, but also for small girls – still children – and women in marriageable age.
The bow knot and the melon coiffure should be thought of as the result of the continuously growing representation of women in the public sphere during the 4th century B. C. The late Classical period marks a turning point for the female Greek portraiture. Girls of marriageable age from renowned families are publicly recognized through votives and grave statues. Gestures, pose, costume, coiffure no less than inscriptions offer the young individuals an exclusive iconography.
The bow knot coiffure is adequately appreciated early enough for young goddesses. But it would become famous as the typical hairstyle of Aphrodite in Hellenistic times.
The melon-coiffure makes its appearance primarily as a portrait hair style in honorific or grave representation but also with representations of young goddesses. But the culmination is to be found in the Ptolemaic portraiture of the 3rd century B. C., when the melon coiffure will function as communicator of ideological and propagandistic messages.
The present study also offers new insights on the question of the ancient terminology. So the assumption that “Krobylos” is to be associated with the typically Aphrodite and Apollon hairstyle is seriously questioned. The first meaning of the name was a man’s hairstyle that at the time of Thucydides and Aristophanes was already considered old-fashioned. In late Classical and Hellenistic times it was generically used to designate the knot.
The distinctive melon-coiffure is here tentatively associated with the “διάκρισις” of the ancient texts.
The controversial and exciting body of evidence allows a text that deals with the many parameters of the ancient iconography, using the dominant frameworks of contextual analysis of archaeological thought. It is a history of taste for some aspects of the Greek antiquity and for the reader who is more familiar with the art of Roman times it offers an important body of evidence for the beginnings of morphological phenomena and tastes of the Roman Empire. "

This paper summerizes the hellenistic coin finds on sites BEY 002, BEY 006, BEY 004, BEY 026, BEY 145, BEY 125, BEY 133, BEY 142 and BEY 144 from Beirut. The full data presented the VXth INC Glasgow, 2009,  are consultable in the "Talks" section of the current page of Academia.

The monograph The ‘Autonomous’ Coins under the Late Antigonids is a systematic study of the silver and bronze issues of the Macedonians, the Botteatai and the Amphaxians, of people that resided in distinct areas of the Macedonian Kingdom, the so-called districts (merides). These are the only non-regal coins of the Macedonian state that were minted during the reigns of Philip V and Perseus, or even somewhat earlier. The present book discusses the relation of the ‘autonomous’ coins to the royal issues, studies their metrology, their presence in hoards and connects their iconography to its historical context. Finally, based on the re-examination of the material as well as on new evidence, the study revises earlier theories on the dating and interpretation of the ‘autonomous’ coins.

The hoard lot contain 39 “Thasian type” tetradrachms and 6 imitations. Because of
the correspondence between dies we suppose that 4 of those imitations were being struck
in the same minting place. In the case of imitations we have many writing errors, letters
that were poorly copied after the “Thasian type” tetradrachms issued under the roman
control. In majority of cases the monogram is of type 6, after Prokopov typology.
Despite the fact that the discovery place is unknown, it is possible that this group of
coins to be part of the Cașolț hoard found in 1777. We think that the hiding moment of
this monetary deposit can be related with the one of Șieu-Odorhei hoard placed around
60 B.C. This low dating in concordance with the semnificative presence of imitations in
the hoard. It’s very possible that a hoard horizon to be created in the connection with
the expansion of Burebista’s power.

Rezumat: Coroborând informații obținute de pe diverse site-uri destinate colecționarilor din Ucraina și Rusia, respectiv de pe piețele numismatice occidentale, autorul prezintă trei loturi de monede histriene de argint timpurii (sec. V-IV a.Chr.) descoperite în nordul Mării Negre. Un lot alcătuit din 22 de stateri de argint și 1 obol din Grupa II de emisiuni a cetății Istros pare să se fi dispersat dintr-un tezaur găsit cel târziu în luna octombrie 2017 în regiunea Herson din sudul Ucrainei. Piesele au fost identificate pe un site destinat colecționarilor din Ucraina și/sau în diferite licitații ale unei firme din Elveția. În componența celui deal doilea lot intră 10 stateri de argint din Grupa II, provenind dintr-un tezaur descoperit, cel mai probabil, în partea de sud a Basarabiei, înainte de octombrie 2014. Fotografii ale acestor monede au fost postate pe site-ul Muzeului Numismatic din Odessa. După ce s-au împrăștiat, unele dintre ele au fost identificate pe diferite forumuri și în comerț. Ultimul lot cuprinde doi stateri de argint din Grupa I postați pe un forum numismatic din Rusia. Unul dintre aceștia cântărește 8,12 g și a fost bătut cu ștanțe neînregistrate până acum. Cel deal doilea este un exemplar cunoscut, fiind vândut în anul 2015 de către o casă de licitație din Germania. Fotografiile postate cu această ocazie atestă însă că și această piesă provine din nordul Mării Negre. Abstract: Corroborating information identified on few numismatic sites from Ukraine and Russia, on one hand, and on the Western numismatic markets, on the other, the author presents three batches of early silver coins of Istros (5th-4th century BC) discovered North of the Black Sea. A batch made up of 22 silver staters and 1 obol from Group II of issues of Istros appears to have been dispersed from a hoard found at the latest in October 2017 in the Kherson region, in Southern Ukraine. The coins have been identified in 2017-2018 on a numismatic site from Ukraine and / or in various sales of an auction house in Switzerland. The second batch includes 10 silver staters from Group II, part of a hoard discovered, most probably, in the Southern part of Bessarabia, before October 2014. Photos of these coins were posted on the website of the Numismatic Museum in Odessa. After they had spread, some of the coins were identified on different forums and on the numismatic market. The last batch comprises two silver staters from Group I posted on a numismatic forum in Russia. One of them weighs 8.12 g and has been struck with dies previously unregistered. The second is a published specimen that * Banca Națională a României.

Запрошуємо Вас взяти участь у V Міжнародній науковій конференції
«Актуальні проблеми нумізматики у системі спеціальних галузей історичної науки», яка відбудеться 21-22 червня 2018 р. на базі
Державного історико-культурного заповідника «Меджибіж».
Адреса: Україна, Хмельницька обл., м. Меджибіж, вул. Замкова 1.

До участі у конференції запрошуються фахівці в галузі історії Стародавнього Світу, Середніх віків та раннього Модерного часу, економічної історії та історії економічної думки, археології, нумізматики, епіграфіки, сфрагістики, геральдики, фалеристики, боністики та музеєзнавства.

Заявку та тези просимо надсилати до 10 травня 2018 р.
Участь у конференції потрібно обов’язково підтвердити до 01 червня 2018 р.

Запрошення авторові надсилатиметься електронною поштою після отримання оргкомітетом тез доповіді.
Робочі мови конференції – українська, польська, англійська, російська (для нерезидентів України).

Видання збірника тез планується до початку роботи конференції.
Розширені матеріали конференції можуть бути рекомендовані до друку у збірникові наукових праць «Український нумізматичний щорічник».

The monograms reported on the Greek coins are often interpreted as a monetary magistrates’ or engravers’ signature but this explanation appears insufficient in the presence of issues that carry a multiplicity  of different monograms. From an analysis taken from a specific issue full of monograms, Ptolemy I  Soter’s  gold stater issue with on the obverse the king’s first portrait and on the reverse an elephant quadriga, derive different answers: the monograms appear to be numerical notations, numbers that helped to bring the count of the coins minted and of  those which are in process of being minted.

This paper uses ancient geographical, mythological, and literary information to expand the interpretation of the reverse design of a small ancient bronze coin type issued by Ophrynion in Troas. The evidence indicates that the coin shows the infant Dionysos as usually described, but in addition that Dionysos is represented as an impersonator of the Trojan War prince Paris who was also known by the name Alexander, and in local legend may have been exposed as an infant on the steep hill at Ophrynion.

Die Frauenkoepfe stammen wahrscheinlich vom Gebiet der Via Ostiense. Das ertse Bildnis stellt eine alte Frau dar; der Kopf gehoert zu einem Relief von wahrscheinlich funeraler Funktion und zeigt interessante formale Analogien zu einigen Portraits vom Ende des 1. Jhs. v. Chr. Das zweite Bildnis zeigt eine juengere Frau, deren aufwendige Haartracht zum Typus der"Turbanfrisur" gehoert; die chronologische Einstufung des Werkes in die Zeit zwischen der spaettrajanischen und der hochhadrianischen Epoche.

The first part of my unpublished master dissertation written in 1981-1983 under the supervision of Prof. Tony Hackens at the Université Catholique de Louvain-la-Neuve. It deals with the  problem of the date of the first silver coins issued with the types and the name of Alexander. Against the then communis opinio arguing that Alexander started to strike his own coins as soon as he was installed on the throne (in 336 BCE thus), I demonstrate why it was not before his arrival at Tarsus, and arguably after the battle of Issos (Autumn 332) that Alexander launched the coinage which will dominate the coin circulation for nearly two centuries. This point of view has been later definitively proven by Hyla Troxell.

Soft, dull and toxic, lead was a poor coinage metal, but because of its low cost and availability, it was sometimes used for tokens, trial strikes, emergency coinage and various "coin-like objects" that continue to challenge and baffle classical numismatists.  Published on CoinWeek.com, December 2015

Recenti campagne di scavo nell'area urbana di Heraclea Lucaniae, centro greco fondato nel terzo venticinquennio del V secolo a.C. sulla costa ionica della Basilicata ad opera dei Ta-rentini, hanno portato alla luce i resti di un ambiente adibito a zecca e utilizzato per la pro-duzione di piccole frazioni monetali in bronzo. Sono stati rinvenuti residui della fusione di tondelli, resti di crogiuoli, tondelli pronti per la battitura. Il contesto è stato datato dagli sco-pritori al III-II secolo a.C. Con il supporto di un'analisi della forma dei tondelli condotta sull'intero corpus delle monete in bronzo heracleote, il presente studio si sofferma sulle differenti tecniche di produzione dei tondelli adottate dalla zecca locale nel corso della sua attività. Dal raffronto delle monete emesse è possibile evincere in particolare la semplificazione del processo produttivo, avvenuta intorno a metà III secolo a.C. e caratterizzata a partire da questo momento dall'impiego pressoché esclusivo del sistema cosiddetto «a barre». Si dà conto, inoltre, della presenza, riscontrata su alcuni esemplari di una delle prime emissioni in bronzo della polis (ultimi decenni del IV secolo a.C.), di una serie di lettere dell'alfabeto greco, presumibilmente numerali, a testimoniare probabilmente una forma di organizzazione dei diversi lotti di produzione.

In this essay the Author treats the complex history of coins and of its functions in the Greek world. At the same time using the sociological and anthropological reflection, the Author highlights  that the coin was  a single institution that fulfills the threefold  task of measuring value, accumulating wealth and facilitating exchange.