Panel 5.25 – Roman coinage


Organiser/Chair:

  • Peter Franz Mittag (University of Cologne)

Speakers:

Paper abstracts

1. Renata Cantilena, Federico Carbone and Giacomo Pardini (University of Salerno)

Paestum, Velia, Pompeii: monetary policies in Tyrrhenian Campania from 2nd BC to 1st AD
The research on use and diffusion of bronze coins in Magna Graecia from 2nd BC until 1st century DC concerns the problems on autonomous minting policy in cities located along the Tyrrhenian side of Campania. The documentation considered so far, offers elements of interest for the understanding of economic dynamics at Paestum, Velia and Pompeii. The first two cities represent rare cases of where mint activities are still attested in advanced I BC, producing small bronze coins to serve as subsidiaries of the values issued by the mint of Rome. The need for small change - useful for daily transactions - appears to be strong, as the practice of fractioning higher bronze nominals to create lower values is widely attested.
The case of Pompeii is uncommon as the city has never issued autonomous currency before. In this case, the need of fractional values for the coin circulation in the ager vesuvianus forced the adoption of coins from nearest centres or the striking of local unofficial Campanian issues imitating those already in circulation. This feature is confirmed by recent analysis of coin finds from archaeological contexts, demonstrating the high use of this expedient to deal with a need that should be considered.
The analysis of these cities serves as a model for the recognition of economic dynamics on same chronological phases, contextualizing similar reactions even facing with not univocal monetary policies.

"Paestum, Velia, Pompeii: Monetary Policies in Tyrrhenian Campania from the 2nd Century BC to the 1st Century AD" (Fulltext)

 

2. Barbara Zając (Institute of Archaeology)

Trajan’s provincial financial policy in the cities of Bithynia and Pontus
Financial policy in the state during the reign of Trajan was based on the centralization system, such as the period of Domitian rule. The main provincial economy was a focus on the bronze currency struck mostly in the regional cities, but some of them emitted in Rome and distributed for the local needs (e.g. Syria, Cyprus, Cyrenaica, Cappadocia). Silver coins for provinces were struck in Rome, Alexandria, and Antioch. The minting activity in Bithynia and Pontus was conducted by 14 cities which struck bronze coinage. Among the cities were harbors (Byzantium, Heraclea), metropolis (Nicomedia, Heraclea or Amastris), colonies (Apamea and Sinopa) or autonomic cities (Chalcedon). Based on the introduction analysis some similarities could be found, such as denominations or iconography. The similar minting production and relationships are visible between inter alia Heraclea-Tium, and Byzantium-Calchedon. Correspondence of Pliny the Younger gave as some ‘reasons’ and characteristic of financial policy. C.M. Kraay suggested in his Ph.D. thesis some centralization in this province, but numismatic material then was scanty. Now, in the light of the new material, it’s could be tried to rozstrzygnąć this problem. Moreover based on the modern researches some of the Roman imperial coins are visible in provinces material, that have to consider importance this currency in the provincial economy.

"Coin Evidence for the Integration of the Cities of Bithynia and Pontus during the Reign of Trajan?" (Fulltext)

 

3. Zakia Loum (Faculté des Sciences Humaines et Sociales 9 avril Tunis)

Le trésor de Sbiba (TUNISIE): reflet d'une circulation monétaire urbaine
Le trésor de Sbiba, l’antique Sufes (Tunisie), découvert en 1990, est un des dépôts les plus importants, quantitativement, enfouis en Tunisie et qui ont été intégralement restitués. Il se compose de 7140 monnaies dont la fourchette chronologique est comprise entre le règne de Constantin Ier et celui de Thrasamund. Les monnaies sont toutes en bronze à l’exception d’un seul exemplaire en argent (1/4 de silique) et dans un piètre état de conservation pour la plupart. Cette investigation préliminaire relative au trésor de Sbiba est A travers l’étude préliminaire de ce trésor et l’inventaire des monnaies de surface issue de la prospection effectuée dans cette zone géographique, ce monnayage permet de préciser l’évolution de ce numéraire tantôt de nécessité tantôt autonome (vandale). Le trésor de Sbiba s’insère dans le premier groupe, constitué des trésors mixtes comprenant des monnaies signées et des monnaies anonymes. Le principal intérêt de cette trouvaille, et il est l'important de le souligner, est l’absence de monnaies byzantines. Ce qui nous laisse déduire qu’il s’agirait d’une immense réserve de monnaies qui n’aurait plus été alimentée après la reconquête justinienne et l’ouverture d’une officine byzantine à Carthage. Que s’est-il passé après 533 ? Un retrait massif de numéraire ancien suite à un décri semble peu probable. Car, les bronzes romains, vandales et byzantins n’ont jamais cessé de circuler en parallèle.

"Le trésor de Sbiba (Tunisie): un autre témoignage du monnayage vandale en Afrique" (Fulltext)

 

4. Hristo Preshlenov (National Institute of Archaeology and Museum - Sofia)

City Economy along the Pontus Coast of the Moesia Inferior and Thracia
In Imperium Romanum the Greek cities at the Southwestern Black Sea Coast turned into self-governing municipalities under the control of the Roman administration.
Traditionally on the city coins’ reverses are portrayed divine protectors of agriculture and commerce. Such a protection was sought also in the surrounding city territories. Next to the agricultural production the hinterland provided also inorganic rough materials. Archaeological researches revealed evidences about the technical equipment of the regional production.
A greater signifficance for the coastal towns’ economy had sea transports. Archaeological remnants reveal the first range importance of the traditional contacts with the East Mediterranean Region.
Trade in its different aspects did not exhaust the possibilities for distribution and redistribution of the social product. These were practically accomplished also financially through the direct and indirect taxation, the payments and the endowments, expected from wealthy citizens in the form of liturgy, magistrates’ and private payments.
One could distinguish three periods in the activities of the mints of Pontic cityes. The first one coincides with the rule of the Antonine emperors. The second period includes the reign of the Severus’ Dynasty. Changes in the military-political situation in the 3rd c. AD predetermined the emergence of minting with a military character.

"City Supplies, Currency and Payments along the Pontic Coast of the Roman Provinces Moesia Inferior and Thracia" (Fulltext)

 

5. Noé Conejo Delgado (Universidad de Sevilla)

Monnaie et marchandise: la consommation dans les villae romaines de la Lusitanie
Disons d’emblée que la villa romaine, un des éléments économiques de la romanisation, ne peut pas être seulement entendue comme un centre de production. En effet, de nombreuses découverts archéologiques démontrent une consommation ininterrompue de marchandises de luxe et demiluxe. La monnaie est un grand outil pour connaître les changements et les transformations économiques dans une société ancienne. Nous avons a sélectionné différents sites archéologiques ruraux situés dans différentes parties de la province romaine de Lusitania. On a trouvé dans tous ces sites une quantité de monnaie significative. Les pièces ont été trouvées soit grâce à une méthodologie archéologique, soit par une découverte isolée. La comparaison entre les deux types de pièces est suffisante pour obtenir une contextualisation chronoculturelle des monnaies trouvées.Dans ce cas la monnaie est analysée d’un point de vue global, c’est-à-dire, Elle est étudiée en même temps que les autres matériaux archéologiques documentés dans ces sites (des céramiques, des verres, des mosaïques, des marbres). Le résultat est: les changements monétaires coïncident avec une consommation très élevée de produits importés. Cet aspect peut aider à approfondir dans la caractérisation des sociétés rurales romaines. Ces groupes avaient des nécessités sociales et matérielles qui ont généré la consommation des marchandises. La monnaie est, par conséquent, un traceur économique très clair pour connaître cette réalité sociale.

"Monnaie et marchandise: la consommation dans les villae romaines de la Lusitanie" (Fulltext)

 

6. Johannes Eberhardt (Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg)

History from Italian Cast Coinage
Not stuck but striking: Aes signatum and Aes grave remain peculiar sources for a crucial point in ancient history. Within the monetization of the Roman Republic, heavy metal coinage reveals missing links between archaic continuities, Hellenization and invented local traditions.
Numismatists and historians are still not utterly sure about its chronology, development and usage. The second analytic volume of HAEBERLIN’s corpus has never been completed. Recent analyses (TERMEER/KEMMERS–MURGAN) demonstrate how fruitful it is to study cast money and to implement new approaches to analyze these objects as well as their complex meanings.
The collection HAEBERLIN (coins/textual testimonia) forms part of the Coin Cabinet in Berlin. This material offers a sufficient background to contribute to the vibrant research on Italian cast coinage.
The aim of this paper is to ask how research can be built on the achievements of HAEBERLIN and TERMEER, and how further work can provide new insights concerning Italian cast coinage as a monetary as well as artistic form of Italian idiosyncrasy.

COFFEE, N. (2017): Gift and Gain: How Money Transformed Ancient Rome.
HAEBERLIN, E.J. (1910): Aes Grave. Das Schwergeld Roms und Mittelitaliens[…].
KEMMERS, F.–MURGAN, A. (2016): Temples, Hoards and Pre(?)monetary Practices […], in BAITINGER, H.: Materielle Kultur […], 277-290.
TERMEER, M.K. (2015): Latin Colonization in Italy before the End of the Second Punic War[…], PhD thesis, University of Groningen.

"Accessing Italian Cast Coinage" (Fulltext)

 

7. Katrin Westner and Fleur Kemmers (Johann Wolfgang Goethe Universität Frankfurt) / Sabine Klein (Deutsches Bergbau-Museum)

Geochemical characterisation of aes coinage from the Western Mediterranean, 5th to 2nd centuries BCE
The minting of coinage requires metal(s). In the case of aes coinage, these are copper and potentially tin and, increasingly from the 3rd century BCE on, lead. These metals are concentrated in ore deposits, which are scattered throughout the Mediterranean and beyond. Consequently, not every civilisation had access to raw material sources on its own territory. This imbalance was partially compensated with trading networks. Other sources of metals generally are booty, war indemnities, tributes and taxes. The composition and Pb isotope signature of aes coins therefore provide insight into the access (i.e. exploitation and distribution) of copper and lead, respectively, in the Mediterranean and, on a bigger scale, are thought to reflect the political situation at a given period.
We investigated a total number of 70 bronze coins dating between the 5th and 2nd centuries BCE. Fresh and unaltered sample material has been obtained by drilling. The metal chips have been dissolved and measured by SC-ICP-MS and MC-ICP-MS for their major, minor and trace element composition and Pb isotope signatures, respectively. Our study focuses on the mints of Rome and Syracuse with the two cities each representing a different cultural affiliation. With our results, we aim to address the following questions: Are the composition and Pb isotope signatures responding to political changes? Are there differences concerning the access of raw materials between Rome and Syracuse?

 

8. George Azzopardi (Nil)

Common concerns, assimilated cults: an assimilation of Tanit with Ceres in early Roman Melite
This paper seeks to explore a possible religious assimilation process taking place in the 2nd century BC on the central Mediterranean island of Malta.
The cult of the Carthaginian Tanit enjoyed popularity on the island of Malta already before the latter was taken over by the Romans in c.218 BC. But two successive coin issues of Melite's early Roman occupation might indicate an assimilation of the Carthaginian Tanit with the Roman Ceres both of whom shared similar concerns and attributes. This assimilation process involved an interchangeable image changing divine representation following a change in the accompanying symbol from one coin issue to the next.
This move may have reflected an attempt by the people of Melite to negotiate their identity in view of the new political reality, now that they were under Roman rule. It may have also been a ‘political’ move to manoeuvre political allegiances after Rome had defeated and destroyed Carthage at the end of the Third Punic War. At the same time, from the religious point of view, the people of Melite still secured the heavenly favours they needed.

"Common Concerns, Assimilated Cults: an Assimilation of Tanit with Ceres in Early Roman Melite" (Fulltext)

 

9. Steven Hijmans (University of Alberta)

Art and Economy: Images on Roman Coins
The study of ancient art is losing favour and is now almost an afterthought in many programs. At this conference, it is relegated to the fringe. Growing consensus that ancient art was highly communicative may change this, for though we still lack the easy ability to “read” ancient art as autonomous “texts”, we are increasingly aware of how different that was in antiquity. Art, both durable and ephemeral, had major agency in creating and maintaining the shared environment, the “Mediterranean koine”, so to say, that formed the basso continuo to the ever-varying fugues weaving the discourses - religious, economic, political - of the day.
In the Roman Empire, coins played a major role in the visual instantiation of both that koine and those discourses. Integrated analyses show how they were positioned at intersects of economy and ideology in ways that we may not expect but cannot ignore. Yet studies concerned with the monetary aspects of Roman coins rarely take their imagery into account, while visual analyses often ignore all economic aspects.
Two case studies - one drawn from the mint of Alexandria under Nero, the other from the imperial coinage of Aurelian - illustrate the deficiencies of such one-sided approaches. In both cases, understanding the economic and social impact of the coins requires equal attention for their denomination and imagery alike. These case studies illustrate the necessity of integrated analysis of Roman images in whatever context they occur.

"Art and Economy: Images on Roman Coins" (Fulltext)