Conveners
S28. ANTIQUITY AND MIDDLE AGES 2. COINAGE OF AND IN ANTIOCH ON THE ORONTES
- Alan Stahl (Princeton University)
Description
Org. and chair: Alan Stahl
Antioch on the Orontes was a center of minting and of coin circulation from the early Hellenistic period through the Crusader era. Much recent work has been done on the nature of minting in Antioch, which maintained parallel imperial and municipal coinages from the Seleucid through the Roman periods. Renewed work on the Princeton-led excavations of the 1930s and contemporary archaeological exploration in the city have greatly enriched our understanding of coin circulation in Antioch over the millennium-and-a-half from 300 BCE to 1300 CE. The four papers in this session will integrate existing scholarship with new research to explore Antioch as a mint and as a site for coin finds.
In this paper, I study two short-lived emperors, Trajan Decius and Trebonianus Gallus (along with their sons and co-emperors), and focus on their production of tetradrachms at Antioch. I will present the results of three die studies: one of the first officina for each emperor and another of the third officina under Trebonianus Gallus. These studies provide a window into the scale of production...
This paper discusses how digital numismatics facilitates new research into ancient Antioch in Syria. My monograph, Antioch in Syria: A History from Coins (300 BCE-450 CE) (Cambridge University Press, 2021), critically reassesses the capital city by applying the techniques of Exploratory Data Analysis and digital mapping to a database of 300,000 coin finds. Although Antioch’s prominence is...
This paper introduces the main trends and features of the Antiochene coinage in the period between 324 and 610. This period was rather significant for the development of Antioch as it covers the era of tremendous growth when the city served as a residence for various fourth century emperors and reaches the years when Antioch struggled with economic problems, natural catastrophes and Persian...
If the numismatic work on the Antioch excavation of 1932-1939 and ensuing coin catalogue production were a relay race, Dorothy Waagé, its anchor, would ultimately have run every leg - and crossed the finish line more than once.
Waagé joined the Antioch Expedition as her husband’s assistant in 1937, for the 6th of 9 excavation seasons, with no prior numismatic experience and feeling “almost...
