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The coinage of Bar Kosiba (Bar Kokhba), the leader of the Second Jewish Revolt (132-135/6 CE), has long been acknowledged as a source of data for understanding the ideology and goals of the rebel regime he headed. In particular, the imagery and legends on Bar Kosiba's tetradrachms have been the subject of many interpretations and controversies. This article proposes that the facade of the temple on the obverse of Bar Kosiba's tetradrachms and the four species on its reverse side are complementary symbols, joined together to represent the future inauguration ceremony of the restored temple. Furthermore, this imagery on the tetradrachms may have been intended to respond to the coins issued to commemorate the founding of the colony of Aelia Capitolina on the site of Jerusalem. Keywords Bar Kokhba, Second Jewish Revolt, tetradrachm, Sukkot, Jerusalem temple, Aelia Capitolina., Introduction The Second Jewish Revolt against Rome (132-135/6 CE) led to the emergence of a short-lived independent Jewish state in Judea headed by Shimon Bar Kosiba (Bar Kokhba). (1) The [...]

ANALYSIS OF COIN FINDS in an area Of NE. England employs and modifies methods developed for Iron-age and Romano-British assemblages alongside quantitative analysis developed specifically for Anglo-Saxon coinages. The results illustrate that observed patterns of coin loss do represent the overall coin loss for the study area, and sites can be confidently compared to each other and the region as a whole. The role and function of coinage apparently changes dramatically over the period from a medium of long-distance trade in the early period to a cash currency by the Viking takeover of York. A review of 'productive sites' suggests that these sites can only be adequately interpreted through analysis of their assemblages against the background of the regional circulation of coinage and artefacts.

Domitian's Ludi Saeculares coinage (88 C.E.) violates the usual patterns of Roman mint production: one festival dominates all six denominations of gold, silver, and bronze. Consistency in legends and in reverse types across the issue suggests that unusual care was taken in designing these coins. One composition is even repeated in both silver and bronze. Ten events during the Ludi Saeculares, nine of them religious rituals prescribed by the Sibylline oracle, are depicted on the bronze coinage. Variations among specimens within each type, however, indicate that some details, such as the pedimental iconography of temples, were created by individual die carvers and must not have been specified in the original design. Using the textual evidence for other imperial celebrations of the Ludi Saeculares, previous scholars have focused on matching each coin type with a known event and each architectural background with a specific location in Rome. This article reveals the problems with such an approach and uses instead a variety of historical, iconographic, and numismatic methodologies to explore questions of design, audience, context, and interpretation. I conclude that, for a limited audience, these coins attempted to send a coherent message emphasizing the solemnity and ritual completeness of Domitian's Ludi Saeculares and linking his celebration to Augustus' Ludi Saeculares of 17 B.C.E. But, because Domitian's experiment in using the coinage for detailed communication was not subsequently imitated, this set of coins is unique.

Early in 1555, King Philip I of England minted at the Tower of London over 40,000 pounds in sterling from New World silver brought from Spain. By probing Spanish and English accountancy procedures, this article demonstrates that this sum has not been included in either sixteenth-century or modern calculations of the circulating medium. Revised estimates for the money supply are given and possible inflationary effects on the mid-Tudor price rise are considered.

The soldiers of the Islamic states of the Middle East in the 7th, 8th, and 9th centuries were paid in cash. This was an important reason why Muslim countries of this period developed cash-based economies earlier than the Christian countries of Europe.

The 3rd-century A.D. emperor Gallienus chose to be portrayed on coins in feminized form, though retaining his beard. This was a tribute to the two-gendered deity Allat, thanking the ruler Odaenathus of Palmyra for his victories over the Persians and predicting the resurgence of Roman rule in the Mediterranean.

Nathan Sussman's criticism of Harry Miskimin's research into medieval coinage is flawed and inaccurate. Miskimin's research was not conclusive but strongly suggested patterns of coinage which were adversely affected by a bullion shortage. Sussman discredits Miskimin's approach to counting coins but fails to deal seriously with the matter of double counting. Sussman chooses to call Miskimin's findings useless because his own flawed statistical approach failed to find concurring evidence.

Roman monetary history between 200 BC and AD 300 could be studied more fruitfully by assessing all the economic forces that influenced the money supply. This approach would be more reliable than the quantitative numismatic technique in which the number of circulating coins is deduced from the number of dies used to make them. Such factors as the amount of available precious metal and the actual use of that metal in coins will give a better idea of how money was used during this period. This evidence shows that the use of coin extended to the provinces rather than being limited to populous cities.

Contrary to the beliefs of Professor Harry A. Miskimin, the theory of a French bullion shortage in the late 14th-century is not supported by a statistical analysis of the records. Miskimin's reliance on the figures supplied by De Saulcy is unfortunate, for those figures are not supported by the Cremieu mint records from 1386-1418 that are located both in Paris and Grenoble, France. Even when accounting for missing documents, the available production figures for 1308-1343 have an equivalent mean to those of 1384-1419.

The mint in Agen, France was initially under church control when founded in 1040, but was monitored by the citizens to maintain the value of the coins produced, since there were many competitive mints. In 1340 the Crown assumed control, which became ownership during the Hundred Years War. The Crowns's monopoly in minting coins led to a decrease in the number of mints which led to recessions in Agenais in the 14th-century and inflation in the 17th and 18th-centuries. This centralization, now universal, was not economically desirable and medieval methods may have been superior.

Numismatic evidence has given credence to Livy's accounts that victorious imperators returning from Asia Minor from 190 to 187 B.C. had amassed silver tetradrachmae called cistophori in the Roman treasury. His reports have been questioned for historical inconsistencies on the basis of coinage dating, cistophori countermarks and of the coins' rare use outside the conquered territories. Historical evidence, however, gives credence to Livy's contention that the cistophori were introduced in 190 B.C. and that various currencies circulated in the Greek world in that period as a result of Roman victories.

Almost any kind of rubbish used to pass as copper money... button tops, tokens or any round bit of metal. And all this made the trade of the false coiner [...]

An attempt made to put numbers to the quantity of money in England, the quantity of the coinage in England for the period from 1180 to 1247 is discussed. Recoinages of 1158 and 1279 and the quantity of the coinage at that time are described.

MIRIAM S. BALMUTH (ed.). Hacksilber to coinage: new insights into the monetary history of the Near East and Greece (Numismatic Studies 24)134 pages, 48 figures, 14 tables. 2001. New York [...]

EVERYONE HAS HEARD of Charlemagne, whose rule over most of continental western Europe is rightly celebrated. Fewer know of his son Louis the Pious, who reigned as sole emperor over [...]

The usage of the Euro as a single currency across Europe may slowly drain countries of their individual powers. The history of coins as currency is traced with an eye toward the future of the economic effects of a single monetary system.