Archaeology

ANNALISA POLOSA
ANNALISA POLOSA

Aim of the course is providing students with knowledge ant methods needed for deepening the study of monetary history and economics of the ancient world.

The course has tha aim to provide students with knowledge on the monetary history of the ancient world; this will allow students to use numismatic sources in the frame of archaeological and historical research.

no prerequisite is required

Introduction to numismatics; introduction to economic history; methodology and tools; history of coinage (Asia Minor, Greece and the Greek world; Rome and the Roman world); case studies.

1 handbook to be chosen between:
R. Cantilena, La moneta in Grecia e a Roma. Appunti di Numismatica antica, Bologna (Monduzzi) 2008.

F. Barello, Archeologia della moneta. Produzione e utilizzo nell'antichità, Roma (Carocci) 2006).

can be supplemented with 2 chapters (one on a Greek topic,one on a Roman topic) from:
W. E. Metcalf (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Greek and Roman Coinage, Oxford 2012.

Further reading related with case studies or students’ individual projects will be provided during the course.

Lectures and seminars

WED– FRI 8-12, aula di Etnologia E. De Martino (4° floor)
from 10/11/25 to 20/12/25

Not mandatory. Students not attending the course are required to agree an alternative program with the teacher.

Assessment takes place at the end of the course through a seminar discussion on topics agreed upon with the teacher, and through a final oral exam designed to verify the student's acquisition of knowledge in the field of economic and monetary history of the ancient world.

When and where was coinage introduced in the Greek world; the structure of Athenian coinage; the chronology and organization of the Roman monetary system; recognition of coins examined during the lessons.

• numismatics: geograohical and chronological frame


• definition of coins (metal, weight, image)


• methods and tools


• coins as an economic tool


• economic models in the ancient world


• the birth of coinage


• developments of coinage in the Greek world


• developments of coinage in the Roman world


• case studies: structures


• case studies: archaeology and coins