The Imperial Physician: Asclepius and Roman Coinage
By Caroline Wazer
In this paper I argue that an increase in the frequency and geographic range of Roman imperial Asclepius coins, begun by Domitian and continuing until the Third Century Crisis, is a rich example of Wallace-Hadrill’s (2008) “circulation” model of Hellenization and Romanization, a process that continued in waves long after the Roman subjugation of the Greek world. In particular, I draw connections between the appearance of Asclepius on imperial coins and a resurgence of Roman interest in Greek Asclepius sanctuaries after a lengthy period of neglect.
Coinage and the Client Prince: Philip the Tetrarch’s Homage to the Roman Emperor
By Katheryn Whitcomb
This paper examines the coinage of Philip (r. 4 B.C.E.-34 C.E.), son of Herod the Great and tetrarch of Batanea, Trachonitis, Paneas and Auranitis, in the context of the coins of three other groups of minting authorities: contemporary client rulers, defined for the purposes of this paper as independent rulers who achieved their position through Roman support; contemporary municipal coinages of Syria; and other successors to Herod.
Kleopatra VII’s Empire and the Bronze Coinages of Ituraean Chalkis
By Katie Cupello
This paper explores the ways in which the bronze coins struck for Kleopatra VII at Ituraean Chalkis (i.e. Chalcis sub Libano in Coele Syria) simultaneously express the queen’s authority as a monarch in her own right and as a partner to Mark Antony. Kleopatra received Chalkis from Antony, the Roman triumvir with hegemony over the eastern provinces, as part of the territorial grant of 37/6 B.C.E. This grant restored to the queen areas that were once part of the overseas empire of the Ptolemies, including Coele Syria and part of Phoenicia.
Silver and Power: The Three-fold Roman Impact on the Monetary System of the Provincia Asia (133 B.C.E. – 96 C.E.)
By Lucia Francesca Carbone
εἰς τὸν Εὔξεινον πόντον, Σύλλας δὲ τὴν Ἀσίαν δισμυρίοις
ταλάντοις ἐζημίωσε, προσταχθὲν αὐτῷ τά τε χρήματα ταῦτα
πρᾶξαι καὶ νόμισμα κόψαι
Peace being presently made, Mithridates sailed off to the Euxine sea,
but Sulla taxed the inhabitants of Asia twenty thousand talents,
and ordered Lucullus to gather wealth and coin the money.
(Plutarch, Lucullus 4.1)
The Distribution of Victoriati in the Po River Valley during the Second Century B.C.E.
By Dominic Machado
This paper presents the results of my analysis of the chronological and geographic distribution of the five largest issues of victoriati, a silver coinage without a mark of value minted alongside the denarius for a period of forty years at the end of the third and beginning of the second century B.C.E. I argue that the victoriatus’ appearance in the Po River Valley in the early second century B.C.E and its metrological similarities to local coinages (Crawford 1985) represent a conscious economic decision related to the contemporaneous Roman colonization initiative in the region.