From republic to principate: change and continuity in Roman coinage

My thesis analyses the changes which occurred in the coinage of Rome from the mid-first century BC to the succession of Tiberius in AD 14 and investigates how they can contribute to our understanding of the nature and chronology of the formation of the Principate. The first chapter discusses methodological problems. I argue that the current organization and classification of Roman coinage - especially the treatment of all post-31/27 BC coins as "imperial" - have prejudged and obscured the value of coinage as evidence for this transition. The second chapter examines the Octavianic CAESAR DIVI F(ilius) and IMP(erator) CAESAR series of c. 32-27 BC. I argue these coins should be seen in a "Hellenistic monarchic" tradition following the Late Republican debt to Hellenistic artistic media. The third chapter and the fourth chapter focus on coins minted at Rome and in Spain from 23 BC to 16 BC. I argue that while many of these coins still employ numerous Late Republican Hellenising motifs, they also introduce novel elements into the typological inventory of Roman coinage, such as "honorific" and "anticipatory" issues, as well as a boom in the use of explanatory legends. The fifth chapter explores the dramatic shift in "familial" coin typology from the "ancestral" references in the Republic to portrayal of living members of the domus Augusti. The domus Augusti is the one numismatic theme that is found both on Augustan "mainstream" and "provincial" coins, and it seems that these types were first developed on the "provincial" coins. Overall, I conclude that these developments were not unilinear: there had been a general trend starting in the late Republic to adopt "Hellenistic monarchic" elements on Roman coins, while Tiberian coins of the end of Augustus’ reign still have strong "Republican" elements. I argue, however, that, after a ’false start’ before 27 BC, the decisive shift towards "monarchic" typology occurred after 19 BC.

Name dc:type.qualificationname

Doctor of Philosophy

Level dc:type.qualificationlevel

Doctoral Thesis

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

King's College London

Year dc:date.issued

2013

Author dc:creator

• Gyori, Victoria

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Rathbone, Dominic William

Language dc:language

eng

Identifier

oai:kclpure.kcl.ac.uk:studenttheses/79056ebd-faf5-4f69-a4f5-0d75a57ca875

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:kclpure.kcl.ac.uk:studenttheses/79056ebd-faf5-4f69-a4f5-0d75a57ca875