The American Numismatic Society (ANS) will host a three-day virtual conference on the Roman provinces’ coinage before provincial coinage in late March.
The event, co-sponsored by the City University of New York, will feature 15 speakers, including Claude Eilers, of Hamilton, Ont.’s McMaster University. Each speaker’s paper will offer a numismatic and historical overview of each region represented by the coins in the R. B. Witschonke Collection.
While the ancient Romans dominated the Mediterranean world, they ruled most of it without imposing their own coinage. Its separate regional economies were interconnected through tribute payments and the movements of armies and goods. Although payment in kind played a significant role, coinage was paramount in transactions between the provinces and Rome.
The 4,000 coins included in the Witschonke Collection, mainly dating from the second and the first century BCE, provide the prologue to the study of Roman provincial coinage. Most of the specimens are of great historical and numismatic value as they illustrate the gradual transition from distinct to compatible monetary systems in the Mediterranean basin. With a variety of appearances and weights, the coins tell the tale of a partial convergence toward the Roman monetary system before the inception of the so-called Roman provincial coinage.
For full details, visit numismatics.org/witschonke.
The conference is free to attend. To reserve a spot for the March 23-25 event, register online by March 22.