What impact did coin inscriptions and images have on the Roman public? Were coins perceived exclusively as money or as visual and textual media too? And how did people engage with them, both materially and, perhaps, even emotionally? By addressing these questions this chapter aims to contribute to the discussion on the materiality of texts in the ancient world through the lens of coinage, considering both literary and archaeological sources. In the first part, I will give an overview of the scholarly debate on the reception of coin imagery and inscriptions in the Roman world. In the second and third parts, I will examine two categories of numismatic evidence (graffitoed and defaced coins), which can shed light on how people in Rome and in the provinces altered coins either to use them as carriers of messages or to react to the messages that they conveyed.
Inspecto nummo...The materiality of coin imagery and inscriptions in the Roman world
Dario Calomino
2023-01-01
Abstract
What impact did coin inscriptions and images have on the Roman public? Were coins perceived exclusively as money or as visual and textual media too? And how did people engage with them, both materially and, perhaps, even emotionally? By addressing these questions this chapter aims to contribute to the discussion on the materiality of texts in the ancient world through the lens of coinage, considering both literary and archaeological sources. In the first part, I will give an overview of the scholarly debate on the reception of coin imagery and inscriptions in the Roman world. In the second and third parts, I will examine two categories of numismatic evidence (graffitoed and defaced coins), which can shed light on how people in Rome and in the provinces altered coins either to use them as carriers of messages or to react to the messages that they conveyed.
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