Conveners
RT 4 - TOWARDS A NEW PARADIGM FOR COIN CIRCULATION WITHIN THE ROMAN EMPIRE
- Liesbeth Claes (Leiden University)
RT 4 - TOWARDS A NEW PARADIGM FOR COIN CIRCULATION WITHIN THE ROMAN EMPIRE
- Liesbeth Claes (Leiden University)
Description
Org. and moderator: Liesbeth Claes
The purpose of this round table is to elaborate on the various factors behind coin circulation patterns in order to constitute a new paradigm which can be integrated into the currently accepted model of coin circulation within the Roman Empire (27 BC – AD 235).
No direct evidence has survived to testify the decision-making processes of the Roman imperial authorities regarding coin production or distribution. According to the consensus reached by extrapolating conclusions from small sets of coin hoard data, the Roman Empire minted coins primarily to pay Roman troops stationed at the frontiers. In order to acquire coins to pay taxes to Rome, inhabitants of rural and urban regions sold wares and provided services to the army. According to this deductive model, presented by Hopkins in 1980, Roman coins which entered circulation returned as taxes in Rome. This resulted in homogeneous coin pools in the military and non-military provinces. Although this view has been firmly entrenched in the scholarly debate and followed in numerous handbooks, there is remarkably little empirical evidence to support it. Moreover, more recent studies, such as Howgego 1994, van Heesch 2009, Kemmers 2006 and Hellings 2016, have even demonstrated that other factors in Roman coin circulation have to be taken into account as well.
This round table will bring together a number of speakers to discuss various factors behind coin distribution and transfers, from an understanding of the coins’ particular aspects such as metal, denomination and iconography. In the plenary discussion, these aspects can be related to patterns of coin circulation within the Roman Empire, opening a debate on the distinctive (regional) agencies behind these patterns, the differences in coin patterns between the east and west, and finally, the best methodological tools to analyse coin circulation patterns.
List of palelists:
Liesbeth Claes
Andrew Brown
Alessandro Bona
Andrea Casoli
Johan van Heesch
Suzanne Frey-Kupper
Markus Peter
