Call for Papers for Panel Sponsored by the FRIENDS OF NUMISMATICS
“COINS AS TEXTS, COINS IN TEXT”
Organized by Nathan T. Elkins (Baylor University), Roberta Stewart (Dartmouth
College)
This colloquium focuses on the methods by which evidence from coins, their symbols and legends, as well as their moments of emission, is selected and used to expand on the evidence of literary texts, inscriptions, or archaeology (monuments, relief, sculpture), and vice versa. The study of coins has been anchored in the study of ancient economy, classical archaeology, and ancient history. Work in recent years has expanded this study to cultures beyond classical Greece and Rome and to questions beyond the political and economic, including gender, religion, and ethnicity. The goal is salutary: to develop a more integrated response to historical context and implications of coins within political, cultural, and social spheres, in order to harness fully their diversity of perspectives. As Metcalf insisted (“Coins as Primary Evidence,” 1998) the value of the coin as historical evidence depends on appreciation of it first as a material artifact and so the internal evidence of the coins--their symbols and inscriptions—needs first to be evaluated in terms of numismatic conventions. But then how do we build out from the coins to explore larger contexts and significance?
We are interested in papers that address the methodological challenges of correlating literary, written texts and visual evidence from coins, as well as the criteria for evaluating and resolving conflicting evidence, and the interconnections of coin designs and contemporary literature or art. Papers may include topics such as how coins illuminate ancient literature and inscriptions, and in what ways do they balance or further inform the written record? How might coins be treated as authoritative sources in their own right, when we compare other archaeological, art historical, epigraphic, and literary evidence? Are there similarities between coin designs and contemporary texts due to the impact of contemporary rhetoric, or literature? Papers should emphasize multiple means of enquiry, with coins as the focus, to help interpret the ancient past.
Please send abstracts that follow the guidelines for individual abstracts (see the SCS Guidelines for Authors of Abstracts) by email to Nathan T. Elkins (nathan_elkins@baylor.edu) and Roberta Stewart (Roberta.Stewart@Dartmouth.edu) by March 5, 2021. Ensure that the abstracts are anonymous. The organizers will review all submissions anonymously, and their decision will be communicated to the authors of abstracts by the end of March 2021, with enough time that those whose abstracts are not chosen can participate in the individual abstract submission process for the upcoming SCS meeting.