| Description: |
Cambridge University Press (1974). Reprinted with corrections 1999. Part 1, 566 pages,
Part 2, pages 569-753, lxx plates, key to plates, concordances, indices. Two volumes.
Cloth. Condition: Fine, binding sound and tight, pencil notation (that can be erased, but
interesting, PLEASE SEE BELLOW FOR THE SAMPLE PAGE) mostly on margins in text volume.
Previous owner's stamp on upper left corner of endpaper neatly stamped. Otherwise, nice
copy, at 2/3 of its current price.
A comprehensive study of the Roman Republican
coinage. Michael Crawford catalogues the known issues in the period from about 300 to 31
B.C., describing and dating each as fully and precisely as the evidence permits. He
provides also an extended commentary on the production and administration of the coinage
and on the political background and careers of the moneyers themselves. All the main coin
types are illustrated in the plates and each one is individually discussed. The denarius
coinage of the Roman Republic is unique among ancient coinages for the diversity and
quantity of the historical information it can provide. The moneyers came from families
which formed the ruling class of the Republic and often went on themselves to hold the
highest magistracies. The types they chose for their coins reflect their family ambitions
and achievements and the political struggles in which they were engaged. The history of
the coinage is therefore inextricably bound up with the history of the Republic itself.
The chief difficulties in exploiting this major historical source have always been the
dating of successive issues and their correct attribution to mints. The coins themselves
rarely have any explicit indication of date. Mr Crawford bases his dating-scheme on a
close inspection of Republican coin hoards and on a personal examination of all the major
European and American collections. He has been able to improve very substantially on the
work of all earlier cataloguers. This book is an invaluable work of reference for all
ancient and economic historians, numismatists and Roman archaeologists. |
