Glancing Back, Looking Forward: Prototype-Type-Metatype in Roman Numismatic Aegidophoric Portraiture
By Alexei Alexeev, University of Ottowa
One of the most impressive examples of Roman Imperial numismatic propaganda is the heroic type portraying a resolute emperor with dignified laureate head, confident leftward profile, and naked upper torso seen from rear. The sitter is depicted with his left shoulder covered by an elaborate “classical” aegis and his back crossed by a balteus (sword-belt). The obliquely protruding spear reinforces the general leftward thrust of the composition.
The Political and Economic Implications of Nero’s Olympic Series of Alexandrian Coinage
By Samantha Doleno, Washington University in St. Louis
Emperor Nero’s Alexandrian coinage was not only an artistic innovation but a political and technological one as well, and because great quantities were minted (Christiansen 1988), his coinage circulated for more than two centuries after his death in 68 CE. Because of recently discovered data, the Olympic series of coinage (66-68 CE) in particular can provide valuable insight into the political and economic attitudes and policies of Roman Egypt during the mid-1st c. CE.
Heracleote and Amastrian Connectedness: External Prosopographies (and Coins)
By Chingyuan Wu, Peking University
This paper considers the connectedness of the two ports-of-call of Amastris and Heraclea Pontica in the eparcheia of Pontus during the Roman principate. Stanford's ORBIS platform offers a heuristic model of connectedness. We find the two ports-of-call the most popular segments along the south for maritime traffic coming from eastern Pontus and the Bosporus. Where the two is most different concerns their connections with the interior. Heraclea Pontica connected Ancyra to the Pontic coast, while Amastris had none.