Five Small Bronze Hoards from Sardis and Their Implications for Coin Circulation in the Fifth Century<scp>c.e.</scp>

The first concern of the war was to make a levy and call the veterans back to service. The strong communities were appointed for operating workshops for weapons; gold and silver was coined at Antioch, and all things were hastened, each in their proper place through the right officials.-Tacitus, Histories 2.82At the beginning of his bid for the Roman emperorship, the general Vespasian took stock of Syria and the allegiances pledged to him by both the people there and the ones in the surrounding provinces. 1 Berytus hosted a war council. Troops poured in from Judea. Client kings of the region offered their support. Antioch-minted coins. This was neither the first nor the last time that the mint or mints at Antioch would manufacture struck money for an outside conqueror. Indeed, from the earliest of the Seleucid kings to the Roman emperors of Late Antiquity, the operations within the city repeatedly put forth the coins of these ruling authorities. Some of the coins mimicked the designs of those produced elsewhere in the empire; others bore idiosyncratic symbols of Syria. When Antioch's mint(s) and workshop(s) were not consumed with manufacturing issues for these rulers, they created coins for the citizens themselves and celebrated values integral to this population. Whoever the authority, these coins passed through the hands of people within and outside the city. Some remained local to the city's urban space and hinterland, while others moved great distances in the purses of traders, travelers, soldiers, and officials. The wealth of evidence inherent to these objects both in their craft and movement makes them a valuable resource for reconstructing the history of Antioch over time and space.This book begins to synthesize the myriad of historical, political, cultural, geographical, and fiscal data contained within the minted coins of Antioch through the methodologies of Exploratory Data Analysis (EDA);

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2021

Antioch in Syria

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Five Small Bronze Hoards from Sardis and Their Implications for Coin Circulation in the Fifth Centuryc.e.

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Experimental analysis of Roman coin minting

Experimental analysis of Roman coin minting

Antioch in Syria

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