Periodic Reporting for period 1 - TOK (The Creation of Tokens in Late Antiquity. Religious 'tolerance' and 'intolerance' in Fourth and Fifth Centuries AD)
Período documentado: 2019-11-07 hasta 2021-11-06
The TOK project dealt with the tokens (tesserae) produced in late antiquity as objects embodying a plurality of religious experiences in late Roman society. Tokens in classical antiquity are mainly monetiform objects, but not coins, which played a role in forming social relations, communities and identity in ancient world. This project fit into the broader interest in ancient tokens arising out of an ERC-funded Starting Grant at the University of Warwick, ‘Token Communities in the Ancient Mediterranean’ (TCAM).
This project catalogued and analysed token specimens belonging to two late antique issues from the fourth and fifth centuries AD, which are respectively named the ‘Vota Publica’ series (also known as the ‘Festival of Isis’ coinage) (AD 294-378 or 394) and the ‘Asina’ series (c. AD 404-423).
The objectives (O1-O2) achieved by the project are as follows:
- O1: Analysis of typological, morphological, and functional aspects of late antique tokens, which was carried out through museum and library research, including photography, measurements and cataloguing of late antique tokens. This task led to the classification and publication of 289 ‘types’ and 1,010 ‘specimens’ of the considered material.
- O2: Interpretation of the cultural and historical significance of late antique tokens and examination of their informative potential to disclose key aspects of religious ‘conflict’ and coexistence in late antiquity. This task was carried out through the analysis of literary sources and of a comparative material including tokens and coin-like objects from the Hellenistic and Roman ages (using data gathered by TCAM) as well as contemporary official Roman coinages.
The project highlighted how late antique tokens, as material manifestations of particular religious expressions and identities, contributed to the formation of social and religious communities in fourth and fifth century Rome. Late antique tokens were examined in connection to their use, authority, and distribution context, allowing us to document and define the ideologies and dynamics that shaped - in a delicate balance - religious dialogue and coexistence between pagans and Christians in the late Roman Empire.
This project catalogued and analysed token specimens belonging to two late antique issues from the fourth and fifth centuries AD, which are respectively named the ‘Vota Publica’ series (also known as the ‘Festival of Isis’ coinage) (AD 294-378 or 394) and the ‘Asina’ series (c. AD 404-423).
The objectives (O1-O2) achieved by the project are as follows:
- O1: Analysis of typological, morphological, and functional aspects of late antique tokens, which was carried out through museum and library research, including photography, measurements and cataloguing of late antique tokens. This task led to the classification and publication of 289 ‘types’ and 1,010 ‘specimens’ of the considered material.
- O2: Interpretation of the cultural and historical significance of late antique tokens and examination of their informative potential to disclose key aspects of religious ‘conflict’ and coexistence in late antiquity. This task was carried out through the analysis of literary sources and of a comparative material including tokens and coin-like objects from the Hellenistic and Roman ages (using data gathered by TCAM) as well as contemporary official Roman coinages.
The project highlighted how late antique tokens, as material manifestations of particular religious expressions and identities, contributed to the formation of social and religious communities in fourth and fifth century Rome. Late antique tokens were examined in connection to their use, authority, and distribution context, allowing us to document and define the ideologies and dynamics that shaped - in a delicate balance - religious dialogue and coexistence between pagans and Christians in the late Roman Empire.
The fellow analyzed late antique tokens from the fourth and fifth centuries AD after collecting and studying specimens of this material that are housed in 51 museums from Europe and the USA and about sixty private collections.
The scientific publications arising from the projects, which have been deposited in Green Open Access in http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/ include:
- A paper on ‘The cult of the Saints and Roman Communities under the Theodosians. Social and Religious Memory on the Early Christian tesserae’, which will be published in the forthcoming issue of the ‘Numismatic Chronicle’ (no. 181, 2021) (Green Open Access)
- A paper on ‘Alexander the Great on Lead: Notes on some tokens from Roman imperial Athens’, which is to be published in the volume ‘Tokens in Classical Athens: Politics, Communities and Contexts’ edited by Mairi Gkikaki (Liverpool: LUP, forthcoming) (Gold Open Access)
- A paper on ‘Shaping creeds and identity in early Christian iconography: The roles and meaning of late Roman tesserae’, which will appear in the miscellaneous volume Magistra Optima. Scritti in onore di Maria Caltabiano per i suoi 50 anni di studi numismatici, edited by B. Carroccio, D. Castrizio, K. Mannino, M. Puglisi, and G. Salamone (Messina-Rome 2022: forthcoming)
Also, a forthcoming co-authored book by L. Bricault and C. Mondello on ‘Isis Moneta. The «Vota Publica» tokens from late antique Rome. Volume 1: Catalogue’ will be included in the Royal Numismatic Society’s ‘Special Publications’ (Green Open Access).
In addition to scientific publications, the fellow disseminated his research through outreach activities. The research results have been communicated via the following deliverables:
- The launching of about 50 tweets on late antique tokens via the fellow’s Twitter account (@CristianMondel1)
- The publication of three blogs launched on the Coins at Warwick Blog as well as on the website of the Corinium Museum, UK:
https://blogs.warwick.ac.uk/numismatics/entry/casting_roman_tokens/
https://coriniummuseum.org/2021/06/a-festival-of-isis-token-from-kingscote-gloucestershire/
https://blogs.warwick.ac.uk/numismatics/entry/engraving_roman_tesserae/
- The launching of four digital stories on the YouTube channel of the Department of Classics and Ancient History of Warwick University:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McpnxUCjNWg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXmmibtsabE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLXL9VxWgXg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2TQ5cKupGc
- The data entry of 289 ‘types’ and c. 300 ‘specimens’ of late antique tokens in the Tokens Nomisma Database created by Warwick University:
https://coins.warwick.ac.uk/token-types/
https://coins.warwick.ac.uk/token-specimens/
- Presentation of two papers and a poster at three conferences as well as a public lecture held at Messina University:
https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/classics/research/dept_projects/tcam/events/athens/
https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/classics/research/interests/numismatics/numismaticday/numismaticworld
https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/classics/research/dept_projects/tcam/publications/mondello_aia_poster.pdf
The scientific publications arising from the projects, which have been deposited in Green Open Access in http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/ include:
- A paper on ‘The cult of the Saints and Roman Communities under the Theodosians. Social and Religious Memory on the Early Christian tesserae’, which will be published in the forthcoming issue of the ‘Numismatic Chronicle’ (no. 181, 2021) (Green Open Access)
- A paper on ‘Alexander the Great on Lead: Notes on some tokens from Roman imperial Athens’, which is to be published in the volume ‘Tokens in Classical Athens: Politics, Communities and Contexts’ edited by Mairi Gkikaki (Liverpool: LUP, forthcoming) (Gold Open Access)
- A paper on ‘Shaping creeds and identity in early Christian iconography: The roles and meaning of late Roman tesserae’, which will appear in the miscellaneous volume Magistra Optima. Scritti in onore di Maria Caltabiano per i suoi 50 anni di studi numismatici, edited by B. Carroccio, D. Castrizio, K. Mannino, M. Puglisi, and G. Salamone (Messina-Rome 2022: forthcoming)
Also, a forthcoming co-authored book by L. Bricault and C. Mondello on ‘Isis Moneta. The «Vota Publica» tokens from late antique Rome. Volume 1: Catalogue’ will be included in the Royal Numismatic Society’s ‘Special Publications’ (Green Open Access).
In addition to scientific publications, the fellow disseminated his research through outreach activities. The research results have been communicated via the following deliverables:
- The launching of about 50 tweets on late antique tokens via the fellow’s Twitter account (@CristianMondel1)
- The publication of three blogs launched on the Coins at Warwick Blog as well as on the website of the Corinium Museum, UK:
https://blogs.warwick.ac.uk/numismatics/entry/casting_roman_tokens/
https://coriniummuseum.org/2021/06/a-festival-of-isis-token-from-kingscote-gloucestershire/
https://blogs.warwick.ac.uk/numismatics/entry/engraving_roman_tesserae/
- The launching of four digital stories on the YouTube channel of the Department of Classics and Ancient History of Warwick University:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McpnxUCjNWg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXmmibtsabE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLXL9VxWgXg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2TQ5cKupGc
- The data entry of 289 ‘types’ and c. 300 ‘specimens’ of late antique tokens in the Tokens Nomisma Database created by Warwick University:
https://coins.warwick.ac.uk/token-types/
https://coins.warwick.ac.uk/token-specimens/
- Presentation of two papers and a poster at three conferences as well as a public lecture held at Messina University:
https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/classics/research/dept_projects/tcam/events/athens/
https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/classics/research/interests/numismatics/numismaticday/numismaticworld
https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/classics/research/dept_projects/tcam/publications/mondello_aia_poster.pdf
The role of late antique tokens in contributing to the formation of ‘pagan’ and ‘Christian’ identities in fourth and fifth century Rome had remained unexploited or scarcely touched upon in scholarship. The project came to change this and increase awareness of the objects as such as well as their roles in forming religious communities and their communication dynamics in late antiquity. Hundreds of late antique tokens which were neglected and lay in obscurity in museum deposits or private collections were catalogued, photographed, and made accessible to the broader public as well as to scholars through blogs, conference presentations, specialised publications as well as the Tokens Nomisma Database. Numismatists, epigraphists, ancient historians and not least experts of the modern cryptocurrency have evidently realised the importance of late antique tokens in shaping religious history and include these now as a new perspective in their own studies. Through the production of peer-reviewed publications, the project highlights how late antique tokens can be used as genuine sources to investigate a plurality of religious experiences in late antique society and their interaction. The project thus contributed in an original way to fuel the current debate on the theme of religious ‘tolerance’ and ‘intolerance’ in the Roman world. The impact on the academic community will be further evidenced as soon as the co-authored volume ‘Isis Moneta. The «Vota Publica» tokens from late antique Rome. Volume 1: Catalogue’ by Bricault & Mondello will be published in print as well as in Green Open Access. In light of the growing interest in this token specialty on the market and in auction sales, this volume will also be of interest to a wider audience beyond academia including those working in museums, art markets, and auction houses, as well as coin collectors worldwide. The project will thus consolidate Europe and UK’s positions as world leading in numismatics and the study of tokens from antiquity.