CORDIS - Forschungsergebnisse der EU
CORDIS

The Creation of Tokens in Late Antiquity. Religious 'tolerance' and 'intolerance' in Fourth and Fifth Centuries AD

Projektbeschreibung

Der Religionswechsel im Römischen Reich anhand von numismatischen Relikten

Für den Zeitraum des 4. und 5. Jahrhunderts n. Chr., als das Römische Reich vom Heidentum zum Christentum konvertierte, scheint die Frage nach Religionsfreiheit kontrovers. Das EU-finanzierte Projekt TOK will den Sachverhalt untersuchen, dass in der Spätantike gefertigte Figuren als Objekte verstanden werden, die das Verhältnis zwischen verschiedenen religiösen Identitäten in der römischen Gesellschaft verkörpern. Anhand dieser „heidnischen“ Objekte als innovativer Evidenz will TOK Religionspolitik, religiöse Verhältnisse, religiösen Austausch und Religionskultur untersuchen sowie allgemeinere Aspekte aus der Innenwelt antiker Gemeinschaften klarer herausarbeiten.

Ziel

This innovative project aims to investigate the phenomenon of the production of late-antique tokens as objects embodying the relations between different religious identities in Roman society. In particular, the study focuses on the so-called “Vota Publica coinage” (or “Festival of Isis coinage”) and “Asina tokens”, both minted in the Roman West during the fourth century and perhaps the fifth century AD. These issues are still partly unpublished and furnish valuable data. Since the creation of these “pagan” objects took place during the gradual repression of polytheistic cults by a Christian government, the project will shed light on the question of religious freedom and on the dynamics of religious “propaganda” during an era that saw the transformation of the pagan Roman Empire into a Christian one. Unlike traditional approaches, religious politics will be examined through the innovative perspective supplied by the numismatic evidence of tokens, which, as an expression of relationships, exchanges and culture, contain a remarkable informative potential for the understanding of broader aspects within ancient communities.
Through this lens, the project will focus on specific social, religious, and cultural experiences in the context of the “conflict” between pagans and Christians in the fourth and fifth centuries AD. The adoption of an interdisciplinary approach and the mobilization of intellectual tools forged by classical disciplines will help to formulate appropriate patterns and to develop an analytical inquiry on the psychological, social, religious and political changes and interactions revealed by tokens in the late Roman empire.
This project will therefore make a historical contribution to current reflections on religious “tolerance” and “intolerance” that have a significant preponderance in societies past and present. Addressing a matter of continuing concern, the project will help inform contemporary debates in different fields of the scientific research

Koordinator

UNIVERSITY OF WARWICK
Netto-EU-Beitrag
€ 212 933,76
Adresse
KIRBY CORNER ROAD UNIVERSITY HOUSE
CV4 8UW COVENTRY
Vereinigtes Königreich

Auf der Karte ansehen

Region
West Midlands (England) West Midlands Coventry
Aktivitätstyp
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
Links
Gesamtkosten
€ 212 933,76