The Byzantine Empire lasted for almost a thousand years after the fall of the Roman Empire in the West. The period covered by this catalogue is from the reign of Anastasius I (491518) until the capture of Constantinople by the Turks in 1453. When this catalogue was first published in 1974 it was hailed as containing more information in a concise form than any other single volume on the Byzantine series.
"The first part [of this publication] is a second edition of Byzantine coinage, originally published in 1982 as number 4 in the series Dumbarton Oaks Byzantine Collection Publications ... The second part ... is a condensation of a much longer unpublished typescript, produced for the Coin Room at Dumbarton Oaks, describing the formation of the collection and its publication."--Preface.
Like other volumes in this series, Ancient History from Coins demystifies a specialism, introducing students (from first year upwards) to the techniques, methods, problems and advantages of using coins to do ancient history. Coins are a fertile source of information for the ancient historian; yet too often historians are uneasy about using them as evidence because of the special problems attaching to their interpretation. The world of numismatics is not always easy for the non-specialist to penetrate or understand with confidence. Dr Howgego describes and anlyses the main contributions the study of coins can make to ancient history, showing shows through numerous examples how the character, patterns and behaviour of coinage bear on major historical themes. Topics range from state finance and economic policy to imperial domination and political propaganda through coins types. The period covered by the book is from the invention of coinage (ca 600BC) to AD 400.
