Descripción del proyecto
Uso de la evidencia numismática de los símbolos para comprender un Imperio romano en proceso de transición
Durante los siglos IV y V e. c., la época de la transición del Imperio romano del paganismo a la cristiandad, la cuestión de la libertad de culto parece controvertida. El proyecto financiado con fondos europeos TOK tiene como objetivo investigar el fenómeno de la producción de símbolos de la Antigüedad tardía como objetos que encarnan las relaciones entre las distintas identidades religiosas de la sociedad romana. A través de la evidencia innovadora que estos objetos «paganos» aportan, TOK tiene por objeto estudiar la política religiosa, las relaciones, los intercambios y la cultura, y lograr una mejor comprensión de los aspectos más generales inherentes a las comunidades antiguas.
Objetivo
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 These issues are still partly unpublished and furnish valuable data.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
Ámbito científico
Programa(s)
Régimen de financiación
MSCA-IF-EF-ST - Standard EFCoordinador
CV4 8UW COVENTRY
Reino Unido