Skip to content Skip to navigation
University of Warwick
  • Study
  • |
  • Research
  • |
  • Business
  • |
  • Alumni
  • |
  • News
  • |
  • About

University of Warwick
Publications service & WRAP

Highlight your research

  • WRAP
    • Home
    • Search WRAP
    • Browse by Warwick Author
    • Browse WRAP by Year
    • Browse WRAP by Subject
    • Browse WRAP by Department
    • Browse WRAP by Funder
    • Browse Theses by Department
  • Publications Service
    • Home
    • Search Publications Service
    • Browse by Warwick Author
    • Browse Publications service by Year
    • Browse Publications service by Subject
    • Browse Publications service by Department
    • Browse Publications service by Funder
  • Help & Advice
University of Warwick

The Library

  • Login
  • Admin

Gold coinage in the Roman world: function and production

Tools
- Tools
+ Tools

Green, George Alexander (2020) Gold coinage in the Roman world: function and production. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.

[img] PDF
WRAP_Theses_Green_2020.pdf - Submitted Version
Embargoed item. Restricted access to Repository staff only until 5 April 2023. Contact author directly, specifying your specific needs. - Requires a PDF viewer.

Download (11Mb)
Official URL: http://webcat.warwick.ac.uk/record=b3519333

Request Changes to record.

Abstract

The fundamental position of this thesis is that Roman gold coinage forms an as-yet-under-exploited evidence base for understanding the Roman economy. The work is organised into two sections. The first deals with the ‘function’ of Roman gold coinage and seeks to define how it was used by individuals and why it was used and valued in certain ways at certain times. The second section investigates the production of the aureus and the solidus. The purpose of this section is to determine the purity of the gold coinage and the geological provenance of the gold used to produce it, in order to better understand the nature of state finances over time as well as the complex system of metal extraction and supply that made the regular production of the aureus and solidus possible.

Changes in how the gold coinage was valued, to what degree it was trusted and under what economic principles it operated from 50 BC to AD 450 are identified and discussed. Furthermore, existing thinking on these topics and on the velocity of the circulation of the aureus is challenged. The chapters on these topics make extensive use of a metrological database that contains over 9000 individual weights of aurei and solidi from coin hoards.

This is supplemented with both major and trace element analysis of 573 Roman gold coins held by the Ashmolean Museum. This has allowed for the relatively precise characterisation of a number of distinct gold sources over time. While already historically interesting, the conclusions from the chemical data were also used to further strengthen the conclusions made on the basis of the metrological data. Most notable was the identification of a period of recycling in the late third century, which perhaps explains why aurei of this century are relatively absent in the material record.

Item Type: Thesis or Dissertation (PhD)
Subjects: C Auxiliary Sciences of History > CJ Numismatics
D History General and Old World > DG Italy
H Social Sciences > HC Economic History and Conditions
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): Gold coins -- Rome, Rome -- Economic conditions, Coins, Roman, Coins, Ancient, Coinage -- Rome -- History
Official Date: January 2020
Dates:
DateEvent
January 2020UNSPECIFIED
Institution: University of Warwick
Theses Department: Department of Classics and Ancient History
Thesis Type: PhD
Publication Status: Unpublished
Supervisor(s)/Advisor: Howgego, C. J. ; Butcher, Kevin
Format of File: pdf
Extent: xviii, 340 leaves : charts
Language: eng

Request changes or add full text files to a record

Repository staff actions (login required)

View Item View Item
twitter

Email us: wrap@warwick.ac.uk
Contact Details
About Us