Ancient History from Coins
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Like other volumes in this series, Ancient History from Coins demystifies a specialism, introducing students (from first year upwards) to the techniques, methods, problems and advantages of using coins to do ancient history.Coins are a fertile source of information for the ancient historian; yet too often historians are uneasy about using them as evidence because of the special problems attaching to their interpretation. The world of numismatics is not always easy for the non-specialist to penetrate or understand with confidence. Dr Howgego describes and anlyses the main contributions the study of coins can make to ancient history, showing shows through numerous examples how the character, patterns and behaviour of coinage bear on major historical themes. Topics range from state finance and economic policy to imperial domination and political propaganda through coins types.The period covered by the book is from the invention of coinage (ca 600BC) to AD 400.
List of platesList of figuresPrefaceAcknowledgementsAbbreviations1Money1The history of coinage1What difference did having a coinage make?12Use of coinage: Athens18Use of coinage: Rome222Minting24Where did the metals come from?24What is a mint?26How large were issues?30Why were coins struck?33Coinage and state expenditure353Empires39Coinage and imperialism39Athens44Persia46Philip II and Alexander48Seleucids51Ptolemies52Attalids54Rome564Politics62Coin types and politics62Patterns of political representation: Greece63Patterns of political representation: Rome67Choice and intention70Audience and reception73Imagery and language75Themes of power775Circulation88The evidence and its limitations88Reasons for the movement of coin91Archaic period95Late classical and hellenistic periods98Roman period1006Crisis111Crisis at Athens and Rome111Coinage under pressure (excluding Rome)113Reasons for monetary manipulations in the Roman world115Causes of inflation121The third-century crisis136Notes141Bibliography143Key to plates162Index171
