Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

Ancient Coins of the Graeco-Roman World: The Nickle Numismatic Papers
Ancient Coins of the Graeco-Roman World: The Nickle Numismatic Papers
Ancient Coins of the Graeco-Roman World: The Nickle Numismatic Papers
Ebook432 pages5 hours

Ancient Coins of the Graeco-Roman World: The Nickle Numismatic Papers

Rating: 0 out of 5 stars

()

Read preview

About this ebook

Through the ages, coins have been more than a common standard or a means of exchange between peoples for goods and services. The development of coinage gave men freedom to move beyond their communities, served as a propaganda tool for advancing armies and visually showed people the source of politics which governed their lives. Today, these same bits of metal, these ancient video disks, transmit through time information that might otherwise be lost to us.

This volume comprises a selection of papers given at a conference held at the Nickle Museum of The University of Calgary, Alberta, by perhaps the most distinguished gathering of numismatists ever to assemble in North America. Topics include specific coins of the Graeco–Roman world as well as discussions on coinage and propaganda, art, architecture, and archaeology.

Archaeologists, historians, coin collectors, students of the Classics, in fact, anyone who is interested in art and life as it existed in ancient times will be captivated by this collection.

LanguageEnglish
Release dateOct 30, 2010
ISBN9781554586998
Ancient Coins of the Graeco-Roman World: The Nickle Numismatic Papers

Related to Ancient Coins of the Graeco-Roman World

Related ebooks

Antiques & Collectibles For You

View More

Related articles

Related categories

Reviews for Ancient Coins of the Graeco-Roman World

Rating: 0 out of 5 stars
0 ratings

0 ratings0 reviews

What did you think?

Tap to rate

Review must be at least 10 words

    Book preview

    Ancient Coins of the Graeco-Roman World - Waldemar Heckel

    Ancient Coins of the

    Graeco-Roman World

    The Nickle Numismatic Papers

    Edited by

    Waldemar Heckel and Richard Sullivan

    Through the ages, coins have been more than a common standard or a means of exchange between peoples for goods and services. The development of coinage gave men freedom to move beyond their communities, served as a propaganda tool for advancing armies and visually showed people the source of politics which governed their lives. Today, these same bits of metal, these ancient video disks, transmit through time information that might otherwise be lost to us.

    This volume comprises a selection of papers given at a conference held at the Nickle Museum of The University of Calgary, Alberta, by perhaps the most distinguished gathering of numismatists ever to assemble in North America. Topics include specific coins of the Graeco-Roman world as well as discussions on coinage and propaganda, art, architecture, and archaeology.

    Archaeologists, historians, coin collectors, students of the Classics, in fact, anyone who is interested in art and life as it existed in ancient times will be captivated by this collection.

    Waldemar Heckel is Associate Professor of Classics at The University of Calgary, specializing in Macedonian History and Prosopography. He was also chairman of the Nickle Conference Organizing Committee.

    Richard Sullivan is Adjunct Professor of History at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia. He is author of numerous articles on the Greek East in Roman times and has a book forthcoming on Eastern Royalty.

    Ancient Coins of the

    Graeco-Roman World

    The Nickle Numismatic Papers

    Ancient Coins of the

    Graeco-Roman World

    The Nickle Numismatic Papers

    Edited by

    Waldemar Heckel and Richard Sullivan

    Essays by

    C. M. Kraay    Richard Sullivan

    M. B. Wallace    Duncan Fishwick

    Nancy Moore    B. Levy

    Stanley M. Burstein    Richard Weigel

    Frank Holt    Frances Van Keuren

    Otto Mørkholm    P. Visonà

    Bluma Trell    Alexander G. McKay

    Robert L. Hohlfelder

    Published by Wilfrid Laurier University Press

    for The Calgary Institute for the Humanities

    Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data

    Main entry under title:

    Ancient coins of the Graeco-Roman world

    Revised versions of papers presented at the Nickle

    Conference, held in the Nickle Arts Museum of the

    University of Calgary, Oct. 19-23, 1981.

    Includes bibliographical references.

    ISBN 0-88920-130-7.

    1. Coins, Greek – Congresses. 2. Coins, Roman – Congresses. I. Burstein, Stanley Mayer. II. Heckel, Waldemar, 1949- III. Sullivan, Richard, 1936- IV. Calgary Institute for the Humanities. V. Nickle Conference (1981 : Nickle Arts Museum)

    CJ233.A5 1984   737.4938   C84-099646-2

    Copyright © 1984

    Wilfrid Laurier University Press

    Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

    N2L 3C5

    84 85 86 87 4 3 2 1

    No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system, translated or reproduced in any form, by print, photoprint, microfilm, microfiche, or any other means, without written permission from the publisher.

    TABLE OF CONTENTS

    FOREWORD

    EDITORS' NOTE

    PROGRAMME OF CONFERENCE

    ABBREVIATIONS

    PART I: GREEK COINAGE

    Greek Coinage and War

    C. M. Kraay, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

    The Reduced Euboio-Attic Coin Weight Standard

    M. B. Wallace, University of Toronto

    PART II: ALEXANDER AND THE HELLENISTIC EAST

    The Silver Coinage of Alexander from Pella

    Nancy Moore, Princeton University

    Lysimachus the Gazophylax: A Modern Scholarly Myth?

    Stanley M. Burstein, California State University,

    Los Angeles

    The So-Called Pedigree Coins of the Bactrian Greeks

    Frank Holt, Concord Virginia

    The Monetary System in the Seleucid Empire

    after 187 B.C.

    Otto Mørkholm, National Museum, Copenhagen

    PART III: THE PHOENICIAN WORLD

    The Coins of the Phoenician World—East and West

    Bluma Trell, New York University

    PART IV: COINS AND PROPAGANDA

    Royal Coins and Rome

    Richard Sullivan, Simon Fraser University

    An Altar Coin in Heidelberg

    Duncan Fishwick, University of Alberta

    Nero's Liberation of Achaea: Some Numismatic

    Evidence from Patrae

    B. Levy, Princeton University

    The Commemorative Coins of Antoninus

    Pius Re-Examined

    Richard Weigel, University of Western Kentucky

    PART V: COINS AND ARCHAEOLOGY

    A Coin Copy of Lysippus's Heracles at Tarentum

    Frances Van Keuren, University of Georgia

    Foreign Currency in Etruria circa 400-200 B.C.:

    Distribution Patterns

    P. Visonà, University of Michigan

    Art and Architecture as Severan Coin Types

    Alexander G. McKay, McMaster University

    Caesarea Maritima in Late Antiquity: An Introduction

    to the Numismatic Evidence

    Robert L. Hohlfelder, University of Colorado

    PART VI: ABSTRACTS

    S. P. Bellier

    T. V. Buttrey

    Frederick M. Lauritsen

    William E. Metcalf

    G. M. Woloch

    PLATES AND FIGURES

    FOREWORD

    Established in 1976, the Calgary Institute for the Humanities has as its aim the fostering of advanced study and research in all areas of the humanities. Apart from supporting work in the traditional arts disciplines such as philosophy, history, ancient and modern languages and literatures, it also promotes research into the philosophical and historical aspects of the sciences, social sciences, fine arts, and the various professional disciplines.

    The Institute's main raison d'être is to provide scholars, both established academics and post-doctoral fellows, with time to carry out their research. It also sponsors gatherings of persons who share common academic and intellectual interests, with a view to promoting discussion and disseminating ideas.

    The Nickle Conference, held (appropriately) in the Nickle Arts Museum of the University of Calgary in October 1981, was such a gathering. Devoted to numismatics, a passionate avocation of the Nickle family, to whose munificence the University of Calgary is much indebted, this conference brought together a distinguished collection of numismatists from Canada, the United States, Great Britain, and Continental Europe, the most distinguished gathering of numismatists ever to assemble in Canada, and perhaps in North America. The Institute is very pleased to publish here revised versions of the papers delivered on that occasion, and we are sure that this volume will be of interest to all scholars and students interested in the coins and history of the Ancient World.

    We wish to record here our gratitude to the Research Services Office and the Development Office of the University of Calgary, and to the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada for the grants which made the conference possible, and also to the Department of Classics, the Nickle Arts Museum, the Faculties of Humanities and Continuing Education, University of Calgary, for their support. Thanks are due also, of course, to the editors of the volume, Waldemar Heckel and Richard Sullivan, and also to John Humphrey who generously assisted with the final version of the manuscript. As ever, we thank Gerry Dyer for her painstaking work in typing the final version, and indeed so many earlier versions, of the volume.

    J. C. Yardley,

    Acting Director

    EDITORS' NOTE

    This volume represents the culmination of the efforts that have gone into the organization and staging of the Nickle Conference since September 1979. Sponsored by the Calgary Institute for the Humanities, the Office of the Curator of Numismatics, and the Faculty of Continuing Education of the University of Calgary, the conference was held October 19–23, 1981, at the Nickle Arts Museum. In addition to providing a forum for the presentation of new ideas--many of which are published here--the congress introduced to the scholarly community the significant numismatic collection that has been brought together at the University. The organizers thought it fitting that the conference should be named in honour of Samuel C. Nickle, an Alberta pioneer whose generous donation to the University resulted in the establishment of the Nickle Arts Museum, and of his son. Carl, whose gift forms the nucleus of that museum's coin collection.

    The present selection includes most papers given at the October meeting, though in slightly revised forms. Aside from conventions required by the Press, no effort has been made to harmonize these papers stylistically. As to abbreviations of ancient titles and modern scholarly books or periodicals, we have in general followed the Oxford Classical Dictionary and L'année philologique. If citations in a paper differed from these but left no likelihood of confusion, we did not alter them.

    Some speakers presented tentative conclusions or reports of work in progress, and their views are published only in abstract form; others felt that publication of even a summary would be premature. Hence, we wish to acknowledge the contributions of those individuals whose papers do not appear in this collection: Drs. Vladimir and Elvira Clain-Stefanelli (Smithsonian Institution), Dr. A. A. Barrett (University of British Columbia), Mrs. A. H. Easson (Royal Ontario Museum), and especially Mr. C. Orton, Curator of Numismatics (Nickle Arts Museum). Professor F. E. Shlosser presented a report in conjunction with that of Dr. G. M. Woloch; her subject is alluded to in Dr. Woloch's abstract. Regrettably, the format of the article by Professor Francis Cairns (Liverpool) could not easily be accommodated by the IBM Displaywriter; the article has been published in ZPE 54 (1984), 145–155. Professor Duncan Fishwick's article also could not appear and will be published elsewhere. He has, however, contributed another paper to the volume.

    We wish also to thank those people who helped with the organization of the Nickle Conference: Drs. M. B. Walbank and J. W. Humphrey of the Department of Classics, Dr. K. Loose and Mrs. M. Aldridge of Continuing Education, Mr. Tom Preston of the Nickle Arts Museum, and Dr. H. G. Coward, Director of the Calgary Institute for the Humanities. Thanks for help in various ways are due to Dr. W. E. Metcalf, Professor W. G. Forrest, Dr. S. M. Burstein, and Professor M. F. McGregor; Mrs. Vi Lake helped with the typing of some papers, and Mr. Philip Amos assisted in reading the manuscript. The contributors will doubtless join us in giving special thanks to Mrs. Gerry Dyer, who not only did all the secretarial work before and after the conference but also prepared the camera-ready, final version of the entire volume. The editors particularly thank Professor John W. Humphrey for help with the manuscript. We are also grateful to the University of Calgary for a subvention to aid in the publication of these papers.

    In conclusion, it is with great sadness that we record the loss of Drs. Colin M. Kraay and Otto Mørkholm, two of the most renowned scholars in the field of ancient numismatics. Few, if any, of those who contributed to this volume will say that they have not benefited from his written work, from his helpful criticism, from simply having known him.

    Waldemar Heckel

    Richard D. Sullivan

    PROGRAMME OF THE NICKLE CONFERENCE 1981

    ABBREVIATIONS

    PART I

    GREEK COINAGE

    GREEK COINAGE AND WAR

    Everyone living today must know that both actual war and preparation against the eventuality of it are very expensive items indeed in a nation's budget. Yet, because of the economic structure of the modern world, the impact of military expenditure on coinage as such is not immediately apparent; strategic materials imported from abroad are not, in fact, paid for by exporting sackfuls of paper money or current coin. The reason for this is obvious enough: the paper money and the coins have no intrinsic value, for as paper or metal they are nearly worthless, and they function only as tokens representing a nation's stock of real wealth consisting of bullion or natural resources or manufactured goods or services.

    In the ancient world things were much simpler, and the relationship of coinage to wealth much more immediate. Of course, coinage was not the only form of wealth: agricultural produce, metals, manufactured goods were important then, as they are today. But coinage was then normally struck in precious metal, so that the actual coins represented wealth and were not merely tokens standing for it. In such circumstances, coins need not be localized in circulation; gold and silver coins could be, and were, exported in sackfuls to pay directly for imports, as we see in the example of the numerous hoards of Athenian tetradrachms discovered in various parts of the Near and Middle East. The full pattern of this movement of coinage is not recoverable because, in areas in which a local coinage was the legal tender, the imported coinage was normally melted down on arrival to supply bullion for the local coinage. Occasionally, however, the urgency to convert imported foreign coins into local currency appears to have been so great that the quicker, but less efficient, process of overstriking was employed rather than the slower process of melting down, casting new flans, and restriking. Thus, in late fourth-century Crete, we can detect a flood of foreign coinage, particularly from Cyrenaica, which had entered the island in the pockets of returning mercenaries and been restruck with local types.

    I. MYTILENE

    Warfare in the ancient world was almost continuous, and, since few states were self-sufficient in food, metal, timber, and fighting men, supplies of these commodities often had to be acquired from abroad. Thucydides (3.2) gives us a clear example in describing preparations for the revolt of Mytilene from Athens in 428 B.C.: ships had to be built, grain and archers were awaited from the Black Sea, and other things (unspecified) were on order.

    Now, Mytilene had had an electrum coinage, issued largely in collaboration with Phocaea, since the early fifth century. At Mytilene, reverse types—at first incuse, then in relief—were normal, and the usual denomination was the hekte. But a single issue of staters is known from the unique example in the British Museum. It has other peculiarities apart from its denomination: its obverse, which carries a head of Apollo, is clearly inscribed MTTI and exceptionally it has no reverse type, but only a punch reminiscent of that used for electrum at Cyzicus; the alloy employed appears to be unusually base. Healy, who has published a detailed study of this coin, concludes that it was in fact issued during the siege of Mytilene in 427 B.C.¹ With this general context I should agree, though I should prefer to say before rather than during the siege. But, when Healy goes on to identify the reason for the issue as a proclamation of Mytilene's secession from the Delian League and her freedom, albeit temporary, from any control by Athens, I am less happy. Of course, a coinage issued during a revolt can be a gesture of defiance, but Mytilene had long issued electrum, presumably with Athenian acquiescence, and surely not even an Athenian numismatist could find great provocation in the minting of a new denomination; but the stater was untypical of Mytilene's normal coinage in other respects, for fabric and content are very close to the stater of Cyzicus. Is not this the essential point? Mytilene, planning to revolt from Athens, had ordered grain and archers (and perhaps other material) from the Black Sea, and to pay for these had minted electrum staters not on the pattern of her own coinage but on that of the Cyzicene electrum, which was the normal trade currency of the Black Sea.

    II. MELOS

    A few years later and not so very far away, a similar and rather more fully documented coinage was produced on the island of Melos. We all know that in 416 an overwhelming Athenian force descended on Melos, and, after capturing the city, exterminated or enslaved the entire population. This disaster cannot have been wholly unforeseen by the Melians, for, quite apart from their persistent refusal to join the Delian League, their island had already been the object of a vicious but unsuccessful Athenian attack in 426. Now, the Melians had from time to time minted small issues of coinage, most recently around the middle of the century, but in 1907 there was discovered on Melos itself a hoard that revealed the existence of a whole range of Melian issues, which were previously entirely unknown—and indeed no other examples have been found since. These employed at least fourteen obverse and thirty-four reverse dies and included at least twenty-four different reverse types; the pattern of die-links indicates that this was a dense coinage minted within a short period. This period must lie somewhere between the latest previous issues around the middle of the century and the Athenian attack of 416. But the earlier these exceptional issues are put before 416, the more difficult does it become to explain why no single example of this large and varied coinage has ever been found outside Melos: the coinage may indeed have been even larger and more varied than our single hoard has revealed. It looks as though the Melians, shortly before 416, undertook the conversion into coin of their stock of silver bullion with a view to purchasing supplies and mercenaries to withstand another Athenian attack, which perhaps came sooner than had been expected.²

    In general, it is probable that many other issues of coinage were produced to meet specifically military crises, and, if such issues and their occasions can be identified, these may provide valuable fixed points in the history of some mints. Very few Greek states can have minted coinage annually, as is done today: most coinages were probably occasional, minted as some more or less urgent need arose, and always dependent on the availability of bullion at the moment of need.

    III. SICULO-PUNIC

    In seeking to identify coinages minted for specifically military purposes, we can conveniently start with some that make their purpose explicit in either their legends or their types. Thanks to the work of G. K. Jenkins, published in successive volumes of SNR from 1971 onwards, we now have a remarkably detailed knowledge of the various issues minted by the Carthaginians in Sicily from c. 410 to 290, issues collectively known as Siculo-Punic.³ In the earlier part of this period, Carthage had not yet produced any metropolitan coinage for use in North Africa: most of the Siculo-Punic coinages were clearly designed to conform with the Sicilian pattern of coinage, but, in addition to the name of Carthage itself, they usually have the word Machanat, the camp, indicating production in military headquarters. Since we know from our literary sources that both Greeks and Carthaginians in Sicily hired bands of mercenaries drawn from Spain and southern Italy, there can be no doubt that a primary purpose of the Siculo-Punic coinages was to serve as pay for such mercenaries.

    An important recent discovery has fixed with some precision the moment at which these Carthaginian military coinages began. Acragas was captured and destroyed by the invading Carthaginians in 406 B.C.; just before this destruction, the mint of Acragas had been producing a series of tetradrachms, one of which has been found to have been overstruck upon one of the military Siculo-Punic tetradrachms.⁴ Since Carthage took no active military interest in Sicily between her defeat at Himera in 480 and her renewed invasion of the island in 410, it is evident that the Camp coinage formed part of the military preparations for that invasion.

    Since war between the Greeks and Carthaginians in Sicily continued at intervals throughout the fourth century, we may assume that all the Siculo-Punic coinages which were designed for circulation in Sicily had a military purpose, primarily the payment of mercenaries. Thanks to the detailed work of Jenkins, it may be possible in time to correlate particular issues of coinage with the successive phases of warfare recorded in the literary accounts. Already from Jenkins's material we can obtain some idea of the scale of Carthaginian expenditure on warfare in Sicily during the fourth century. Jenkins lists about two hundred obverse dies for tetradrachms from all mints together: if we estimate that in the whole period 410 to 290 there were some thirty years of active warfare, interspersed with intervals of peace, we get an average of about seven dies for each year of war. Sellwood's practical experiments (NC 1963) have shown that a single obverse die could strike at least 10,000 coins without showing conspicuous wear: this gives an average minimum of 70,000 tetradrachms a year, that is 280,000 drachms, or about forty-seven talents. We can perhaps deduce that a year of war in Sicily on average cost the Carthaginian state something in the order of forty-five to fifty talents of silver in specially minted coinage alone. Of course, not everything need have been paid for in coin: some supplies no doubt were provided as tribute and some could have been paid for in bullion, but mercenaries certainly preferred coins struck on a recognized standard, which were known to be acceptable over a wide area.

    IV. TARSUS

    Another mint which declares unequivocally the military purpose of its issues is Tarsus in Cilicia. Until the end of the fifth century, it was the capital of local dynasts who ruled as vassals of the Persian kings, but after 400 it was the administrative centre of Persian satraps usually responsible for territories far wider than Cilicia alone. Moreover, the mint of Tarsus seems sometimes to have been commissioned to produce coinage by satraps who were not governors of Cilicia at all.

    Already under the native dynasts, some reverse types show Persian soldiers, whom the coins were designed to hire. Another type, from Tarsus and dated c. 410, has on obverse a deity with a trident; these marine references suggest that the coinage was designed for the payment of the Phoenician fleet, which we know was available to Tissaphernes in the later years of the Peloponnesian War. Similar naval coinages were produced by fourth-century satraps, including Pharnabazus.

    In the early fourth century, the coinage of Tarsus shows on obverse the local satrap as paymaster (replacing the former native dynast), and on reverse one of the Greek hoplites who were free to take service with the Persians after the end of the Peloponnesian War. Slightly later, in the 370s, coins were minted at Tarsus in the names of Pharnabazus and Datames, who both used as reverse type a handsome head, bearded and helmeted. In catalogues, this is sometimes described as Ares or an unknown hero, but, since it occurs in close association with the satrapal name, it is perhaps better interpreted as an idealized portrait of the satrap himself as commander-in-chief and, therefore, the fount of military pay. Subsequently, coinages of Tarsus do not display specifically military types, but, in view of the known roles of the issuing satraps in conducting wars and suppressing revolts, the primary purpose of these coinages was no doubt military as well.

    V. ΣTN

    These two substantial series, the Siculo-Punic and the satrapal issues of Tarsus, neither of them minted by Greeks, appear to be the only ones of which the types or legends declare unequivocally their military purpose. To these two the traditional interpretation would add another, purely Greek, issue, but here I am inclined to doubt the specifically military context. This coinage was produced to a common pattern by some seven Aegean cities, ranging from Byzantium in the north to Rhodes in the south. All have a uniform obverse type showing the infant Heracles strangling the snakes sent by Hera to attack him, usually with the letters ΣTN around; the reverse types and legends are appropriate to the seven different mints of issue. Various occasions for this series have been proposed: most recently and plausibly, Karweise has wished to associate it with the activities of the great Spartan, Lysander, at the end of the Peloponnesian War.tribute. The type of Heracles shows that this common action was being taken in support of the Spartan side, and these contributions, made in common to Lysander by a number of cities, will have formed part, at least, of those sacks full of money which he is reported to have sent back to Sparta (Plut. Lys. 16). This coinage will have been inspired rather by gratitude to Lysander than by strictly military needs.⁶

    VI. PEGASI: c. 435 B.C.

    This so-called alliance coinage, as well as Mytilene's copy of a Cyzicene stater, alerts us to the possibility that, on occasion, a number of cities might unite in producing a coinage on a common pattern, which might not be that employed by them for their normal coinage. Other examples can, with great probability, be found in those coinages based on the Pegasus of Corinth. Though I would not claim that all issues of Pegasi are immediately related to military expenditure, there are certain episodes when, for a short time, the number of mints coining Pegasi suddenly increases. For example, in the 430s the regular and long-established coinages of Corinth and Leucas are suddenly supplemented by a substantial series from Ambracia (which had coined previously only on a single occasion more than forty years earlier), and by small isolated issues from Anactorium and from two mints signing respectively with the letters π and E. Converging arguments, which I cannot

    Enjoying the preview?
    Page 1 of 1