| Description: |
Roman Coins and Public Life Under the Early Empire, E. Togo Salmon Papers II edited by
George M. Paul and Michael Ierardi University of Michigan Press, 1999, 276 pages, 24
plates of coins. Hardback, dust jacket, NEW copy. Papers presented at the Second E. Togo
Salmon Conference on Roman Studies. They reflect recent efforts made by numismatists and
historians to bring their two disciplines together, and reveal the demands inherent in
reconstructing the size and distribution of issues, as well as revealing both questions
and answers provided by coins. Hardcover, cloth, dust jacket.
TABLE OF
CONTENTS:
Abbreviations Coins as Primary Evidence by William E. Metcalf Coins and the
Roman Imperial Government by Patrick Bruun Messages on the Roman Coinage: Types and
Inscriptions by Barbara Levick The Monetization of the Roman Empire: Regional Variations
in the Supply of Coin Types by R.P. Duncan-Jones The Invalidation of Currency in the Roman
Empire: The Claudian Demonetization of Caligula's Aes Anthony by A. Barrett Coinage and
Cult: The Provincial Monuments at Lugdunum, Tarraco, and Emerita by Duncan Fishwick Roman
Portraiture: Images of Power? by C.E. King Buildings and Monuments on Roman Coins by
Andrew Burnett Index Plates
FROM THE PUBLISHER:
Roman Coins and Public Life under the
Empire E. Togo Salmon Papers II George M. Paul and Michael Ierardi, Editors 6 x 9. 216
pgs. 3 drawings, 136 photographs. 1999. Cloth 0-472-10875-1 $60.00
------------------------------------------------------ Opens windows into imperial
policy and artistic taste. ------------------------------------------------------
Roman
coins often shed light on Roman public life and society through the legends, portraits,
and images they bear. The papers collected in this volume were originally presented at the
Second E. Togo Salmon Conference on Roman Studies. The eight contributors are specialists
in Roman coins or Roman history and in the relations between them.
Coins are a unique
source of information about the Roman world. In the case of the Roman Empire they were
issued by or with the approval of the ruling power. The representations and legends they
show therefore present an official view of contemporary affairs. The coins themselves,
minted for official purposes such as paying the army, when studied carefully can help
reconstruct official policies. They can also occasionally reveal what monuments now lost
may have looked like.
It is not infrequent to come across pleas that the ancient
historian should make more frequent use of numismatic evidence. These essays make clear
that efforts are being made both by numismatists and by historians to bring the two
disciplines together. At the same time the papers reveal that the task is by no means a
straightforward one. The survival of Roman coins is variable, and so attempts to
reconstruct the size and distribution of issues calls for skilled and experienced
analysis. This collection of papers provides evidence for the kind of deductions that the
historian may make from Roman coins as well as the illustrations of the pitfalls that
await the unwary.
Those interested in Roman history, amateur coin collectors, and
professional numismatists will all find much here to widen their knowledge of the public
context of Roman coins.
George Paul is Professor of Classics, McMaster University.
Michael Ierardi is Lecturer in Classics, McMaster University.
  |
