Numismatics as a Historical Source 2900-HAMC-EL-K2-NZ

This class examines ancient coinage, with particular emphasis on Roman material, as a source for historical analysis. After an initial, lecture-style introduction to basic numismatic method and the principal tools used in the study of coins the course shifts to practical workshop sessions built around thematic case studies.

These workshops address the ways in which coinage communicates political, social, and cultural messages, and how imagery, inscriptions, and selection of themes can be read within their historical contexts. Class meetings combine discussion of assigned readings with the examination of coin images and, where possible, original specimens during museum visits. Students are expected to participate actively in seminar discussions and to deliver short presentations linked to individual workshop topics. By the end of the course, participants should be able to interpret coinage within its broader historical framework and to integrate numismatic evidence with literary, epigraphic, and archaeological sources.

prof. Krystyna Stebnicka; dr Jakub Gruchalski