When Sovereignty is not enough: Money Supply in 4th-Century CE Egypt
By Irene Soto
The political turmoil that characterized the Roman state during the 3rd century CE strongly affected the economic stability of the empire. The continuous debasement of coinage caused high inflation as commodity prices were adjusted to fit the new value of the minted currency and its diminished precious metal content. Subsequently, trust in imperial currency declined almost completely throughout the provinces.
Sovereignty and Coinage. The case of the late cistophori of Tralles
By Lucia Carbone
Can the study of a provincial coinage provide useful elements for a better understanding of the Roman idea of sovereignty? Are sovereignty and the right to issue coinage related?
Roman Coins Abroad: Foreign Coinage and Strategies of Sovereignty in Ancient India
By Jeremy Simmons
Was the currency of one ancient culture ever utilized to express the sovereignty of another? This paper explores how the relationship between sovereignty and money in the ancient world changes when a currency created by one state travels well beyond the extent of its sovereign control and becomes an integral feature in other monetary systems. In order to elucidate this phenomenon, I address one example in particular, namely the large presence of imperial Roman coinage in India.
Epigraphical Evidence for sovereign lending in Classical Athens
By Georgios Tsolakis
This paper aims to provide a comparative approach of the epigraphic evidence for instalments and for the acquisition of debt from the city of Athens by private individuals in order to understand question of sovereignty as it pertains to the use of currency by centralized authorities. Hunter initially categorized types of loans by the apparent relationship of the state to the citizen, as well as different types of penalties placed upon debtors (Hunter 2000).
Silver Coinage, Sovereignty, and Symmachia: Byzantion and Athens in the Fourth Century B.C.
By Nick Cross
In this paper I reexamine Byzantion’s first autonomous issues of coinage in the classical Greek period and how their dating can have an impact on the interpretation of Byzantion’s politico-economic relationship with Athens. This approach broadens the topic of money and sovereignty from a local to an interstate context. By so doing, this case study demonstrates the compatibility of a city-state both minting its own coinage and possessing a formal political alliance (symmachia) with Athens.