| Description: |
Ancient Trade and Early Coinage by Michael Mitchiner Volume 1 & 2 2004
Hawkins,
London, 2004, two volumes: Large format, well illustrated, matching blue leatherette, 30 x
21.5 cm, 1,420 pages, with almost 6,000 coins catalogued and the great majority
illustrated. The author looks at history and trade from a new perspective; hence coinage
is also looked at from a new viewpoint. The theme of long distance trade, particularly in
metals, permeates the whole of this study. The influence of population movements across
the Eurasian steppe and also into more southerly regions is a second theme and the
influence of climatic changes on long distance trade and on population movements provides
a third. Considered alongside the archaeological evidence, these themes provide a new
insight into the rise and fall of cultures across the Afro-Eurasian land mass. The results
of this approach include a fundamental re-writing of Indias early history and a less
radical re-orientation of that of early China. The complex web of trading patterns meant
that few places were economically, or culturally, isolated by the time coinage was
introduced in Lydia shortly before 600 BC. The electrum coinage minted in the inland
kingdom of Lydia (Western Turkey), and by Greek trading partners in coastal Ionia,
together with the first bi-metallic coinage made in gold and in silver by Croesus, are
considered down to the time of the Persian conquest in 546 BC, and the subsequent Persian
repressions during following years. A new classification is proposed, partly on the basis
of punch-marked reverse coin designs. Nearly 300 coins are catalogued in this section. The
rise of the Persian Empire caused fundamental changes to trading patterns around the
Eastern Mediterranean. Aegina entered its phase of commercial prosperity. Silver now
became the principal metal used for making coins. During the period from 545 BC until the
end of the Persian Wars in 479 BC, many places began minting their own coins. Coinage
minted during this period is examined southeastwards to Rhodes, Lycia and Cyprus, then
northeastwards to the coastlands around the Black Sea. The copper token currencies and
coinages of the Northern Black Sea region are discussed. The silver coinage of the
Thrace-Macedon region leads on to that of Central Greece, including Athens and Corinth.
This section concludes with the archaic coinages of South Italy, Sicily and Cyrenaica.
Nearly 1,000 archaic coins of the period circa 545 to the 470s BC are catalogued,
including a few later issues. Some coin series are re-dated. Weight standards are
discussed and the denominational structures of many coin series are revised.
Later Greek
coinage is not discussed since the aim of this study is to consider the coinage of each
region from its commencement, down to the period when there is general agreement about its
interpretation, as a result the cut-off date differs for each region. The next section
focuses on coinage minted in the south. Coins minted in Phoenicia, Samaria, Judea and
Bambyce prior to the Macedonian conquest are followed by coins minted in the Northwest
Arabian Kingdom, in the Southwest and Southeast Arabian Kingdoms. The coinage of Southeast
Arabia is considered in greatest detail because it is the least studied series,
consequently its classification is revised. Coinage minted across the northern belt
includes a short survey of the Celtic series, with particular reference to potin coinages
and the tin trade and of Spanish coinage with particular reference to the Spanish silver
trade and the expansion of Rome. Coinage of the Danubian region is discussed in the
context of trade in tin and silver. The main focus for this northern section is the nomad
migration from the steppe that brought fundamental political and economic changes to
Afghanistan and Pakistan during the late second and the first centuries BC. The political
history of Bactria and the datings of relevant Indo-Greek kings are revised. The southerly
expansion of the Yuezhi is revised in line with the evidence provided by trading patterns
and coinage. Particular attention is paid to the silver crisis across the region. The
cut-off period here is the consolidation of the Kushan kingdom in the first century AD.
Some 650 coins are catalogued in the two sections on the southern and the northern
regions. The Persian Empire provides the subject for the last section in volume one. The
chronology and mints for the daric-siglos coinage are revised. Some revisions are also
made to the classification of satrapal coinages minted during the fourth century BC. The
coinage of the Eastern Satrapies forms an integral part of any discussion of the Persian
Empire, its history and its trade. The chronology of the Chaman Hazouri (Kabul) hoard is
revised. The bent bar and fractional coinage minted in Northern Pakistan is
re-classified and dated after circa 485 BC. Indian history is fundamentally revised for
reasons that are discussed in detail. The kingdoms of the Middle Ganges plain began
minting coins in the middle of the fifth century BC, a period when Indo-Persian trade
began improving local prosperity. Local weight standards were Indian derivatives of the
Babylonian and Persian weight standards used for Indo-Persian trade. The various local
punch-marked coin series minted by Hindu states belonging to the Northern Black Polished
Ware culture, and by non-Hindu states belonging to several Black and Red Ware cultures are
discussed down to the foundation of the Mauryan Empire in the late fourth century BC.
Mixed coin hoards, changes in coin weights, coin provenances and changing patterns of
trade routes provide the basis for a fundamental re-interpretation of early Indian
coinage. Some 1,850 coins are catalogued in the pre-Mauryan section. The Mauryan Empire,
together with its various silver and copper coin series, is discussed in context with
evidence provided by such sources as Ashokas inscriptions and the Arthashastra. The
numismatic evidence attests preservation of the Mauryan trading nexus until the last years
of the empire, whereas historical sources and coins also indicate political
de-centralisation during the Empires late decades. Indian and Greek sources, as well as
local Greek-style coin series, attest the fall of the Mauryan Empire close to 175 BC.
Selected later Indian coin series are discussed, particularly those with a punch-marked
form. Some 900 Mauryan and post-Mauryan coins are catalogued. Early Chinese coinage is
discussed in context with changing patterns of internal and external trade, together with
analyses of the chemical compositions of coins. Zhou, Qin and Han dynasty coins and other
currency pieces are catalogued from their commencement close to 500 BC, until Wang Mangs
reign in the early first century AD. Chemical compositions shed new light both on the
trade in metals and also on monetary organisation. The Han mint reorganisation of the late
second century BC is reflected in coin alloys. Nearly 300 coins are catalogued in this
section and half of the coins have had their leaded bronze coin alloys analysed. The last
section of volume two deals with selected later eastern coin series. The gold coinage of
Bangladesh, down to the eighth century AD, is partly re-classified in the light of new
specimens. The various silver coin series of Arakan, Harikela and South East Asia are
re-classified in the light of changing patterns of trade, and particularly the decline in
maritime trade that followed the adverse climatic event of the mid sixth century AD.
Several coin series can be dated before this phase, and others afterwards. Political
reverses suffered by Chinas Tang Dynasty in the middle of the eighth century were
associated with changes to the metal trade, especially to the tin trade. This is discussed
in context with Central Asia, with the Kingdom of Nanchao (Yunnan), and with the local
leaded copper-arsenic coin alloys used in Japan. Representative early Japanese cash, whose
chemical compositions have been analysed, are catalogued. There are several appendices, an
extensive bibliography, a table of suggested coin values and an index. |
