Thompson - The Athenian Agora ~ Coins from the Roman through the Venetian period, NUMIZMATYKA I PIENIÄ„DZ PAPIEROWY
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THE
ATHENIAN
AGORA
RESULTS OF EXCAVATIONS
CONDUCTED BY
THE AMERICAN SCHOOL OF CLASSICAL STUDIES AT ATHENS
VOLUME II
COINS
FROM THE ROMAN THROUGH THE VENETIAN PERIOD
BY
MARGARET
THOMPSON
THE AMERICAN
SCHOOL OF CLASSICAL STUDIES AT ATHENS
PRINCETON,
NEW
JERSEY
I954
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
PRINTED
IN GERMANY at
J.J.AUGUSTIN
GLOCKSTADT
PREFACE
Between
the
years
1931 and 1949 the Americanexcavations in the Athenian
Agora produced
55,492
coins of Roman and later
periods.
The
catalogued
entriesin this
publication, ranging
in date
from the last
century
of the Roman
Republic
to the
decliningyears
of
the
Republic
of
Venice,
total
37,090
specimens;
the
remaining
Islamic and Modern Greek
pieces
have been
listed
summarily
in
order that the
tally may
be
complete.
This is an
overwhelming
amount of
coinage,
which in sheer
quantity represents
a collection
comparable
to
many
in the numismatic
museums of the world.
Unfortunately
very
few of the
Agora
coins are museum
pieces,
but
lamentable as is their
general
condition to the
eye
of the coin collector or the
cataloguer, they
do
provide
for the historian an invaluable record of the
money circulating
in one of the chief
cities of
antiquity
from the time of Sulla to our own
present.
The
Agora
Excavations are still in
progress.
Coinshave been
unearthed since
1949
and more
will
certainly
result from successive
years
of
digging
until
the
project
is at last finished. How-
ever,
the area as a whole has been excavated
in
depth;
what remains to be done is more in
the nature of a
cleaning-up operation,
from which coins
emerge
in
fairly
small numbers. There
is no reason to
suppose
that whatever is found in the future will affect the
present picture
to
any appreciable
extent.
For the classification of the
Agora
coins an admirable
recording system
was
developed by
Mrs.T. Leslie
Shear,
who has been in
charge
of the Coin
Department
from the
beginning
of the
excavation
program.
Each identifiable coin was
given
a
separate envelope
on which were
typed
details
of
size, metal,
provenance,
date of
finding, description
and reference.
These
envelopes
were filed
chronologically by
excavation sections.
In
every
case,
the same information was
transcribedon individual
catalogue
cards,
which were
arrangedby emperors
and
types.
While
the coins remainin Athens and will
eventually
form an
integral
part
of the
contemplated
Agora
Museum,
the cards were
brought
to this
country
for
study purposes
and are now located at the
Institute for
Advanced
Study
in Princeton. It is from these cards that the
present publication
has
been
compiled.
There is no need to
point
out the drawbacksinvolved in
working
from a card
catalogue
with
the
documents
themselves five thousand miles distant.
Ideally
each coin should have been
checked
prior
to
publication.
An
undertaking
of this sort would
require
someone
thoroughly
experienced
in
excavation material
and able to
devote several
years
to a slow and
painstaking
reexamination.
Perhaps
such a
person
could have been found
in the course of time. I confess
that
my
spirit quails
at the
very thought
of
going
back over
3775
coins of Manueland 1855 of
Constantius
II,
and it seems to me doubtful
tha
the
resulting
increasein
accuracy
would be
commensuratewith the labor involved. Without
any question
there
are
mistakes
in the
present
tabulation-mistakes of identification and mistakes
of
transcription.Many
individuals worked
vi
THE ATHENIAN AGORA: COINS
at one time or another on the classification and on the records. We would
all,
I
think,
agree
that
in
the course of our
exposure
to the
swollen,
chipped
and defaced
scraps
of metal which
excavations
invariably produce,
we at times saw
things
we
ought
not to have seen and left
unseen those
things
which we
ought
ta have
seen.
Yet in all
sincerity
I do not believe that such
errors are
numerous,
and I am confident that those which do exist have no real
significance
against
a
background
of
37,000
coins.
The
inaccessibility
of the material has in
some
cases
presented particular problems
for a
detailed tabulation. Where
criteria of
style
determine
the
attribution of
issues
identical in
type,
I
have,
without the coins before
me,
been unable even to
attempt
a distinction between
the differentmints. Such
pieces
have been listed under the
city supplying
the
greaterproportion
of the
Agora coinage
for the
period,
and referencehas been made in the
commentary
to the
possibility
of an
alternative
mint. The amount of illustrative
material
is
admittedly slight.
Most
of the coins are well-known
types
which need
none,
but I should have liked to
reproduce
all
variant and unusual
specimens. Unfortunately,
as will be obvious from even a
cursory glance
at the
plates,
the condition of the
average
excavation
piece
is so bad that illustration is almost
useless.
Even if it were
otherwise,
I could not
feel
justified
in
imposing
so
great
a burden of
sorting, selecting
and
cast-making
on someone else.
To
offset
in some measure the
handicaps,
I
have been
most
fortunate
in
having
the
help
of
Mrs.William
P.
Wallace,
who
spent
the first four months of 1952
in
Athens and who
generously
offered to examine coins whose identification seemed
open
to
question.
Mrs.Wallace checked
nearly
300
pieces
andher effortshave rectifiedsome uncertain
readings
and verified others. The
notation "confirmed"in
many
sections of the
commentary
derives from her labors.
All of these difficulties were
given
careful
consideration
beforeit was decided to undertake
this tabulation. In the end
it
was felt
by
the
majority
of those
directly
concerned that the
advantages
of
prompt publication,
even
allowing
for inevitable
shortcomings,
overbalancedthe
disadvantages.
With a few notable
exceptions,
coins tend to be the
stepchildren
of excavations.
Their
publication,
if
attempted
at
all,
is often
delayed beyond
the
period
of
greatest utility.
For those now
working
on other
Agora
material and
for
anyone
concerned
with the
history
of
Athens,
the coins
provide
vital
evidence
for
the
political
and economic vicissitudes of the
city,
evidence
which
cannot
safely
be
disregarded. Bringing
this fundamentalmaterial out in usable
form
at
the earliest
possible
moment
has,
therefore,
seemed
highly
desirable.
The record in its
entirety
is
here,
but it cannot be
overemphasized
that it is intended
pri-
marily
as
a
recordand
not
as
a
definitive
study
of the
Roman
and
Byzantine coinage
from the
Agora.
It
is
to
be
hoped
that whatever sections seem
worthy
of further research and inter-
pretation
will be
expanded
into
special
publications
as
opportunity
arises. Attention
should
also be
given
to the hoard material.
Surprisingly
few closed
deposits
of
Roman
and later
periods
were
found,
and in
general
their chief
importance
was in
dating
the contexts
in
which
they
were buried rather than in their intrinsic
composition.
Nevertheless
they
should be
analyzed
and worked over in connection with the excavation records. In this
catalogue
such coins have
been included
only
as individual
pieces
without
reference
to
their hoard associations.
usble
ubliationof
te
cois
frm
Dua-Eurpos.Everyeffotrha
excellent and
thoroughly
usable
publication
of the coins from
Dura-Europos.Every
effort has
For the most
part
the format of the tabulation is borrowed
directly
from
AlfredR.
Bellinger's
excelent
nd
througly
PREFACE
vii
been made to
provide
sufficient information to make the record useful without
compelling
the
reader to refer
constantly
to the standard
catalogues
and at the same time to
compress
the
data into
reasonably
economical limits. These considerations have influenced the
seemingly
inconsistent
pattern
which the
arrangement
of the
descriptive
material
presents
for different
periods.
All issues of
any
given
emperor
are
grouped together
in a
silver, antoniniani,
bronze
sequence
with each
category
listed
chronologically.
The
catalogue
numbersof silver coins are in
italic
type
and the same convention has been used for
plated
and billon
specimens.
An asterisk
following
a number
indicates
that there is some discussion of that
entry
in the
commentary.
Unless otherwise
specified,
the dates and mint identifications are those of the cited reference
works. In some
cases,
notably
with the British Museum
publications
of the Roman
period,
the
dates
suggested
in the introductions are at times
more
specific
than those
given
in
the
catalogues
proper.
Where such restricted
datings
seem
well-established,
they
have been
adopted
in
prefer-
ence to broader
chronological
divisions. Mention has been made
in
the
commentary
of some
articles
supplementing
or
superseding
the
general
reference
books,
but
undoubtedly
many
valu-
able studies have been
overlooked,
which would need to be consideredin
any
final
study
of the
currency.
For the later Roman
period,
where
uncertainty
exists as to the nomenclature of the various
denominations,
I have followed Pearce's formula of
AE1, AE2,
AE3 and AE4. This
equates
roughly
with Cohen and Sabatier in this manner:
AE1
=
Cohen GB
AE2 - CohenMB - Sabatier AE1
AE3
=
CohenPB
=
Sabatier AE2
AE4
=
CohenPB
Q
=
Sabatier AE3
Such differentiationin size
is,
of
course,
only
relative within
any given period
and not absolute
in
any
sense.
Mint
marks
have
been
omitted from this
listing
although
they
are recordedon the
catalogue
cards. The
Agora
coins
provide
additions
to the
officinae striking
certain
types,
as cited
by
Mauricefor the Constantinianera
and
by
Wroth for the
early Byzantine,
but such additions
are of minor
significance
and it was felt
that
little useful
purpose
would be served
by
a
long
and detailed record of the various
officinae
and their
proportionate
representation.
Where,
however,
there is a new or unusual form of the mint
mark,
it has been noted in the
commentary.
There remains the
pleasant duty
of
sharing
whatever merit this
publication may possess.
The
primary
credit
belongs
without
question
to Mrs. Shear and her co-workersin the
Agora
whose
composite
labors created the overall record. Of the
many
Americans and Greeks who
spent
months and
years
on the
cleaning, identifying
and
cataloguing
entyn
n tou of these
coins,
I know
only
a few and it would be unfair to
single
them out
by
name,
but I cannot forbear a word of
appreciation
to MissAziza Kokoni who worked with me in 1948 on the residue of coins from
earlier excavation seasons. Without her
competent
aid it would have been
impossible
to com-
plete
the classification of this
backlog
for inclusion in the tabulation. To
my
associates at the
Agora
I
should
like to
express my
warm
thanks,
particularly
to Miss
Lucy
Talcott for her
kindness
in
providing
materials and to Professor Homer A.
Thompson
for the
opportunity
of
publishing
this
report
and for
helpful
advice in connection with its contents.
My
debt to Pro-
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