Introductory description

The module is an option in the new taught MA in Ancient Visual and Material Culture, complementing other modules concentrating upon epigraphy and art. It will allow students to explore the development and usage of coinage in the ancient world and to relate this material to their research interests.

Module web page

Module aims

Outline syllabus

This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.

Depending on the interests of the students involved there could be two possible avenues, focussing either on the Greek or Roman periods, as outlined below, with some elements of commonality in certain aspects:

Greek Roman
Wk 1 Origins of Coinage Origins of Coinage
Wk 2 Archaic period in Development to 2nd Punic war and
Greece and Asia Minor problems of evidence
Wk 3: Developments within city states Republican coinage- the denarius period
Wk 4: Coinage in the Greek West Reforms of Augustus and political
currency
Wk 5: Hellenistic coinage Imagery and its purpose
Wk 6: Coinage and the Economy Coinage developments in the imperial
period
Wk 7: Greek coinage in Roman Empire Greek coinage in Roman Empire
Wk 8: Wider influences, Britain to Bactria Late Roman Coinage and search for
stability
Wk 9: The Shift to the Byzantine period The Shift to the Byzantine period
(NB These will be spread over the course of 2 terms)

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

• Appreciation of methodological issues in dealing with numismatic evidence
• Understanding of the way coinage developed in the ancient world

Indicative reading list

Balmuth M.S., Hacksilber to Coinage: New Insights into the Monetary History of the Near East and Greece, New York 2001
Burnett A., Coinage in the Roman World, London 1988
Butcher K., Roman Provincial Coins, London 1988
Carradice I, & Price M.J., Coinage in the Greek World, London 1988
Carson R.A.G., Coins of the Roman Empire, London 1990
Crawford M.H. Coins and Money under the Roman Republic, London 1985
Crawford M.H., Roman Republican Coinage, Cambridge 1974 Grierson P. & Mays M., Late Roman Coins, Washington 1992.
Duncan-Jones R., Money and Government in the Roman Empire, Cambridge 1994
Harl K.W., Civic Coins and Civic Politics, California 1987
Harl K.W., Coinage in the Roman Economy, Baltimore 1996
Howgego C., Ancient History from Coins, London 1995
Jenkins G.K., Ancient Greek Coins, 2nd ed London 1990
Kraay C.M., Archaic and Classical Greek Coins, London 1976
Meadows A., Shipton K., Money and its Uses in the Ancient Greek World, Oxford 2001
Metcalf, W. (2012, ed.) Oxford Handbook of Greek and Roman Coinage Oxford (Oxford: Oxford University Press)
Mørkholm O., Early Hellenistic Coinage, Cambridge 1991
Thomsen R., Early Roman Coinage, Copenhagen 1974

Subject specific skills

Cognitive Skills

• Ability to present structured chain of argument drawing together evidence into cohesive whole
• Ability to select & apply appropriate problem-solving methodologies
• Ability to conduct independent research & analysis

Subject-Specific Skills

• Ability to identify and catalogue different types of coins.
• Skills for studying ancient coins, including photography

Transferable skills

Key skills

• Written communication skills
• Oral communication skills
• Organisational skills
• Ability to evaluate intellectual progress
• IT skills - word processing/ use of internet