Coins and Coinage in the Ancient World

1 Course Unit

This class offers in-depth instruction in numismatic methods, theory, and history for advanced undergraduates and graduate students. It addresses the nature of money in antiquity, why cities and states decided to issue coinage in the first place, and explores the relationship between sovereignty and money in the ancient world. The first half of the course surveys core numismatic approaches — die studies, hoard analysis, stylistic and iconographic study, quantification, provenance, and context — and their methodological and historical implications. The second half combines chronological surveys of monetary production and circulation in the Achaemenid, Greek, and Roman worlds with hands-on work on the Penn Museum’s numismatic collection, allowing students to apply these methods to primary material. Not Offered Every Year Mutually Exclusive: CLST 3325 1 Course Unit