The Roman Provinces, 300 BCE-300 CE

Provincial coinage gives us a unique insight into the Roman world, reflecting the values and concerns of the elites of the many hundreds of cities in the Roman empire. Coins offer a very different perspective from written history, which usually represents the views of the senatorial class, and which was usually composed long after the events that are described. The coins, in contrast, provide evidence without hindsight, and uniquely allow a systematic examination across the whole Roman world. This volume makes it possible for instructors and students and scholars to deploy a complex set of material evidence on many historical topics. It includes over two hundred illustrations of coins with detailed captions, so providing a convenient sourcebook of the most important items, and covers topics such as the motivation for Roman conquest, the revolution of Augustus, the world of the Second Sophistic and the crisis of the third century.

Author Biography

ANDREW BURNETT was Deputy Director of the British Museum from 2002 to 2013, having begun his career at the Museum in 1974 in the Coins and Medals department as Research Assistant. He went on to become Deputy Keeper in 1990 and Keeper in 1992. He is a past President of the Royal Numismatic Society, the Roman Society, and of the International Numismatic Commission, and is currently an Honorary Research Associate at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. His main research interests are in the coinage of Roman Britain; the early Roman coinage of the third century BC; Roman provincial coinage; and the history of numismatics. He is a Fellow of the British Academy, and has been awarded many prizes and honours for his publications.