Coin Iconography Research Articles

Standards and quantification of coin iconography: possibilities and challenges

Abstract The use of digital technologies and big data in the humanities and social sciences provided many opportunities for cultural heritage management and research, enabling data sharing and interdisciplinary collaborations. These developments increased the need for standardized data formats. General and domain-specific standards for describing and classifying cultural data, based on linked data principles, are developed to support increasingly numerous digital collections. However, the existing standards do not fully address the particular challenges concerning the standardized descriptions of images. Here we focus on ancient coins, an official image-bearing medium. We present current approaches to coin iconography, including the application of statistical measures to infer patterns in the use of images for communication. We discuss the importance of consistent, standardized data for quantitative research, and propose a generalized approach, focused on basic concepts and limiting the level of detail for the sake of simplicity, interoperability, and compatibility with statistical methods, as a necessary first step towards creating reliable iconographic standards.

Corieltauvian ‘boar horse’ coin iconography as a precursor of medieval Celtic boar myths

This article suggests that an iconographic design found on early instances of a series of Iron Age British coins may foreshadow medieval Celtic myths about fantastic boar. Parallels are drawn with traditions about Balar’s boar, Cú Chulainn and Formáel’s boar, and with the Welsh episode of Menw and Twrch Trwyth.

Kyle Erickson, The Early Seleukids, their Gods and their Coins. pp. xiv + 189, 46 ills. 2018. London: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-41579-376-6, hardcover £96.00

This book examines the coinage of rulers of the Seleucid kingdom down to the reign of Antiochus IV, with particular reference to the deployment on coins of images of divinities that were designed to symbolise and support Seleucid authority, which in its turn required the repeated re–creation of Seleucid legitimacy. Crucial questions throughout are: why was a specific coin type chosen? And, why did the coin iconography develop and change along the lines it did? An introductory chapter covers some of the historical background to Seleucid rule, and introduces (some of) the way(s) in which the images on coins can provide insights into the nature of that rule – in particular by the creation of a Seleucid identity and ideology that was based not only on military success, but also on the support of the gods, in particular Zeus and Apollo. A key conclusion is that some of the images can be interpreted in a ‘polyvalent context’ (p. 9), that is, they could have communicated different meanings depending on the different locales and religious traditions in which they were used. From this point of view an important aim of the book is a better understanding of the ways in which the Seleucid kings related to their native populations. Thus, in Chapter 2 the role of the image of the archer god Apollo sitting on the omphalos is assessed in terms of its potential significance in different areas of the empire: Asia Minor, the Syrian tetrapolis, Babylonia, and Iran.

Dea Segetia on Reverse of Coins of Empress Salonina

The Ancient Romans knew a deity named Segesta and Segetia. In Gallia there was a cult of dea Segeta. A link between them in the contemporary interpretations became the antonimniani of DEAE SEGETIAE type issues under Valerian and Gallienus for empress Salonina (258–260 AD). According to some researchers, the figure on its reverses is Segesta/Segetia, a deity worshipped in Rome itself. Others suggest that dea Segeta, originates from Gallia. The advocates of both these views notice, however, that the only certain representation of this deity – known by name in the monetary legend – is her image in the coin iconography. Dea Segetia represented on the coins as a syncretic figure which possessed broad competences, all the more so that it received a very comprehensive iconographic form. The article is an overview of various interpretations put on the contents of aurei and antoniniani of DEAE SEGETIAE type, emitted for Salonina Augusta, the wife of the Roman Emperor Gallienus (253–268). Except for this case, the name of Segetia does not appear anywhere else in the imperial coinage while the image of the goddess on these coins combines several features more frequently found in the representations of other deities.

THE CARNYX ON CELTIC AND ROMAN REPUBLICAN COINAGE

This paper explores the cross-cultural portrayals of an unusual and striking musical instrument, the carnyx, on the coinages of the Romans and the inhabitants of Iron Age Britain and Gaul. Fashioned as a snarling boar, the carnyx was a war horn used by the Gauls and Britons that not only captivated the minds of their artists, but also those of the Romans. This paper studies the cross-cultural phenomenon of its appearance in the coin iconography of the late second to late first centuriesbc. This simultaneous analysis of Roman, Gallic and British coinage reveals that while each culture had a shared belief in the carnyx’s military role, each culture also had its own interpretation of the object’s significance. To the Romans, it was a symbol of the barbarian, to be cherished as a war trophy after a Roman victory, but to those northern Europeans, it was a sign of pride and spiritual significance. An image’s meaning is, therefore, seen to transform as it crosses into a new cultural context.

Anglo-Norman Money in Context

The present study is the second in a series of inquiries into the specificity of money names in the history of English. the time frame is the Anglo-Norman period (1066 - 1500).The paper explores two distinct concepts -- that of money as an abstract ideal construct and the concept of the Coin reprsented by sets of nummulary tokens. The entrality of cognitive conepts allows us to establish a link between socio-historical factors and actuation of naming, i.e. to study medieval onomasiological patterns in all complexity of social, cognitive, and ideological aspects. Semiotic study of Anglo-Norman coinage gives an isight into the meaning of messages Kings of England and France tried to communicate to each other and their subjects through coin iconography employing a set of elaborate images based on culturally preferred symbolic elements. By studying references to medieval coinage in various literary genres, we propose to outline some of the contours of new metaphoricity based on the concept of money and new mercantile ideology.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.sal.32.0.19597

An Innovative Cloud-Based System for the Diachronic Analysis in Numismatics

Nowadays, ancient coins are under-estimated. In fact, their iconography can provide students and researchers more information than they expect. Existing web solutions allow to retrieve data and to display ancient mints on digital maps, but they do not consider a powerful iconographic approach. The “Digital Iconographic Atlas of Numismatics in Antiquity” (DIANA) fulfill this gap providing a tool for the in-deep analysis of ancient mints specifically considering coin iconography, chronology, and geographical location. In this article, we present the new Cloud-based DIANA architecture that was recently re-engineered extending the Drupal platform. In particular, we focus on a new innovative Graphical User Interface (GUI) and system back-end that allows researchers a smarter diachronic study of the ancient culture according to the mints and coin iconography. The innovative features are highlighted through four case studies regarding personage, animal/mythical creature, flora, and object iconographies.

ANCIENT AND MODERN ICONOGRAPHY IN THE CONTEXT OF MONETARY ALLIANCES

In ancient times, the presence of identical marking on various poleis coins minted during the same timeframe was often indicative of a political, military or economic link. In some cases the numismatic datum merely confirms information found in literary sources, as in the case of the Achaian League, while in others, coin iconography becomes an important source for historical reconstruction. In this perspective we will analyse cases of Agathoklean coinage and its influence – obvious to us – on Magna Graecia currency of the same time, with particular reference to Locri and stephanephoroi of the second century BC, where – conversely – the laurel wreath does not appear to express alliances of any sort. In recent times, monetary alliances reveal less attention for iconographic aspects, as in the nineteenth-century Latin Monetary Union.

‘Art in the Round’: New Approaches to Ancient Coin Iconography

‘Art in the Round’: New Approaches to Ancient Coin Iconography

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Imaging the Golden Age: the coinage of Antoninus Pius

Given that few ancient accounts of the reign of Antoninus Pius survive from antiquity, other monuments, in particular coinage, become important in reconstructing his reign. In this article coin hoards are used to reconstruct a quantitative understanding of Pius's numismatic imagery. It is clear from the results that the three different coin metals (gold, silver and aes) differed in their messages: while gold coinage emphasized the imperial family and the concept of pietas, silver and aes coinage focused on the emperor's concern for the grain supply (annona). This broad understanding of Pius's numismatic image is supplemented by more detailed analysis of coin iconography in particular years. The liberalitas and Britannia series of Pius are explored in depth. The study highlights coinage's role as one imperial monument among many, contributing to the communication of imperial ideologies. It is clear that the image of Pius as a virtuous emperor ruling in a ‘Golden Age’ was one cultivated by the imperial bureaucracy, and so it is not surprising that the concept features in the preserved texts. The long-term impact of Pius's coinage is also considered. In the absence of significant quantities of aes coinage struck by the Severans, the coinage of Pius continued to be of importance in many regions throughout the third century, conveying impressions of Empire among users well after the emperor's death.