Metcalf Lecture
Frédérique Duyrat, Bibliothèque nationale de France
“Treasure troves. How to Study a Greek Coin Hoard”
Campbell 160, 5:30 PM
Coin hoards are deeply embedded in human imagination. They carry images of limitless wealth, gold and good fortune. For the historian, they bring important data on wealth but also on the communities that created these coins and used them. This lecture will focus on coin hoards in the Eastern part of the Greek world, from Greece to Iran, during the Classical and Hellenistic periods. The analysis of their spatial and temporal evolution, compared with written and archaeological sources tell a lot about centers of power, places and practices of commerce, historical occurrences, such as wars, which influence monetary production, and the habits of users.
Short bibliography and/or website on lecture topic (for lay reader):
Duyrat 2016 : Frédérique Duyrat, Wealth and Warfare. The Archaeology of Money in Ancient Syria, New York, 2016 (Numismatic studies no. 34).