A Select Bibliography for Roman Republican and Augustan Numismatics

Index

• The Basics
• Introductions, Surveys and Technical Aspects of Coinage
• Republican Corpora and Catalogues
• Imperial Corpora and Catalogues
• How Mint and Treasury Operated, and How Moneyers Were Chosen
• Other Selected Special Studies on Republican/Triumviral Coinage
• Other Selected Special Studies on Augustan Coinage
• Other Selected Special Studies on the Empire (General)
• Other Regional Studies

Note: works available in the Rutgers Libraries' collections are marked, and their citations linked to, with an

The Basics:

CRAWFORD, M.H. Roman Republican Coinage 2 Vols. (Cambridge 1974) ​ [beginnings to 31 BC; lots of biblio. p. 797ff. and also p. 123-125; volume two has several instructive essays about various aspects of Republican coinage; most dates given these days are Crawfords, but note the corrective by Hersh (1977) and Hersh & Walker (1984), cited below]
​SYDENHAM, E.A. The Coinage of the Roman Republic (London 1952) [superseded by Crawford in dating, etc., but still useful, esp. since it has the Italian Social War Coinage and Crawford does not]
SUTHERLAND, C.H.V. & R.A.G. CARSON (Edd.) Roman Imperial Coinage, vols. 1-2, rev. ed. (London 1984) [has first few Julio-Claudian emperor’s coins in these volumes; later imperial coins by different editors in later volumes]
BURNET, A., M. AMANDRY & P. RIPOLLÈS Roman Provincial Coinage, Vol I: From the Death of Caesar to the Death of Vitellius (44 BC - AD 69) (London 1992) [almost none of the Republican coins from the provinces are in Crawford or Sydenham]

NB: MELVILLE JONES, J. A Dictionary of Roman Coins (London 1990) [provides a useful short treatment of persons, terms and coin-types]

NB: the following bibliographic surveys:

ALFARO, C. & A. BURNETT (Edd.) A Survey of Numismatic Research 1996-2001 (Madrid 2003)
BURNETT, A., ILISCH, L., & W. STEGUWEIT (Edd.) A Survey of Numismatic Research 1990-1995 (Berlin 1997)
HACKENS, T., NASTER, P. et al. (Edd.) A Survey of Numismatic Research 1985-1990 (Brussels 1991) [Republic: p. 176-203]
PRICE, M., BESLY, E., MACDOWALL, D., JONES, M., & A. ODDY (Edd.) A Survey of Numismatic Research 1978-1985 (London 1986) [Republic: p. 20-42]
CARSON, R., BERGHAUS, P., & N. LOWICK (Edd.) A Survey of Numismatic Research 1972-1977 (Berne 1979) [p. 161-176]
NASTER, P., COLBERT DE BEAULIEU, J.-B., & J.M. FAGERLIE (Edd.)A Survey of Numismatic Research 1966-1971 (New York 1973) [Republic: 293-302]
MØRKHOLM, O. (Ed.)A Survey of Numismatic Research 1960-1965 (Copenhagen 1967) [Republic: 153-161]

NB the extremely useful journal: Numismatic Literature [= NL] (operated by the ANS) [“semiannual survey of current publications in or related to numismatics with abstracts of their contents”; subdivided by field of study, e.g. “Greek”, “Roman”)

A. Introductions, Surveys and Technical Aspects of Coinage (emphasizing the Republic)

BURNETT, A.M. “The First Roman Silver Coins”, QT 9 (1980) 169-174
BURNETT, A.M. Coinage in the Roman World (London 1987) [one of most sensible of the general introductions to Roman coinage, but without bibliography (!)]
BURNETT, A.M. “The Beginnings of Roman Coinage”, AIIN 36 (1989) 33-64
BURNETT, A.M. & D.R. HOOK "The Fineness of Silver Coins in Italy and Rome During the Late Fourth and Third Centuries BC”, QT 18 (1989) 151-167
BUTTREY, T.V. “Calculating Ancient Coin Production: Facts and Fantasies”, NC 153 (1993) 333-351
BUTTREY, T.V. “Calculating Ancient Coin Production II: Why It Cannot Be Done”, NC 154 (1994) 341-352
BUTTREY, T.V. “Calculating Ancient Coin Production, Again”, AJN 9 (1997) 113-135 [this and the above do a good job of refuting attempts to calculate issue-sizes based on numbers of dies]
CRAWFORD, M.H. “Plated Coins—False Coins", NC 8 (1968) 55-59
CRAWFORD, M.H. “Coin Hoards and the Pattern of Violence in the Late Republic”, PBSR (1969) 76-81
CRAWFORD, M.H. “Money and Exchange in the Roman World”, JRS 60 (1970) 40-48
CRAWFORD, M.H. Roman Republican Coin-Hoards (London 1969) [redating of hoards that would lead to the chronological revision in the RRC]
CRAWFORD, M.H. Coinage and Money under the Roman Republic: Italy and the Mediterranean Economy (Berkeley 1985)
DOMERGUE, C. Les mines de la péninsula ibérique dans l'antiquité romaine Collection de l'École française de Rome 127 (Rome 1990) [origin of much Republican silver]
EHRHARDT, C.T.H.R. “Roman Coin Types and the Roman Public”, JNG 34 (1984) 41-54
EVANS, J.D. The Art of Persuasion: Political Propaganda from Aeneas to Brutus (Ann Arbor 1992)
FLOWER, H.I. Ancestor Masks and Aristocratic Power in Roman Culture (Oxford 1996) 79-88, 333-338 [good sketch of history of coins and their propaganda value for aristocratic families]
GRIERSON, P. Numismatics (Oxford 1975) [good sketch on history of money and how money is minted]
HARL, K.W. Coinage in the Roman Economy: 300 BC to AD 700 (Baltimore 1996)
HERSH, C.A. “Overstrikes as Evidence for the History of Roman Republican Coinage”, NC 13 (1953) 33-68
HERSH, C.A. “Notes on the Chronology and Interpretation of the Roman Republican Coinage. Some Comments on Crawford's Roman Republican Coinage”, NC 17 (1977) 19-36 [offers some alternative chronology from Crawford, esp. for coins ca. 211 BC, and several corrections; see also Hersch and Walker (1984)]
HERSH, C.A. & A. WALKER “The Mesagne Hoard”, ANSMusN 29 (1984) 103-134 [offer further new chronology for Crawford; see also Hersch (1977)]
HOWGEGO, C. Ancient History from Coins (London 1995)
LO CASCIO, E. “State and Coinage in the Late Republic and Early Empire”, JRS 71 (1981) 76-86
MATTINGLY, H.B. New Studies of Roman Republican Coinage, Proceedings of the British Academy 39 (London, 1955)
MATTINGLY, H.B. Roman Coins from the Earliest Times to the Fall of the Western Empire 2nd Ed. (London 1960)
SAVIO, A. “La numismatica e i problemi quantativi: intorno al calcolo del volume delle emissioni”, Rivista Italiana di Numismatica e Scienze Affini 98 (1997)
SCHEIDEL, W. “Finances, Figures and Fiction”, CQ 46 (1996) 222-238
THOMSEN, R. Early Roman Coinage 3 Vols. (Copenhagen 1957-1961) [some of this has been superseded by Craw-ford, but there is much more detail on the early stuff and other Italic coins; Wm. Metcalf: “If there were a Nobel Prize in Numismatics, this book would have won it.”]
VERMEULE, C.C. Some Notes on Ancient Dies and Coining Methods (London 1954)
WALKER, D.R. The Metrology of the Roman Silver Coinage 3 Parts: Augustus to Aemilian (Oxford 1976-1978)
WALKER, D.R. “The Silver Contents of the Roman Republican Coinage”, in METCALF, D.M. & W.A. ODDY (Edd.) Metallurgy in Numismatics Vol. 1 (London 1980) 55-72
WEST, L.C. Gold and Silver Standards in the Roman Empire ANSMusN 94 (New York 1941) [outdated for silver by Walker, but still used for gold]
WOOLF, G. “Imperialism, empire and the integration of the Roman economy”, WA 23 (1992) 283-293
ZEHNACKER, H. Moneta. Recherches sur l'organisation e l'art des émissions monétaires de la république romaine BEFAR 222 (Rome 1973)

B. Republican Corpora and Catalogues (in addition to above)

BABELON, E. Monnaies de la République Romaine (Paris 1886) [outdated by Crawford, but arranges coins according to family and really tries to work in prosopographical details]
BANTI, A. & L. SIMONETTI Corpus Nummorum Romanorum (1972- ) [the standard Italian catalogues; red cover is for Republican and Augustan {moneyers are noted alphabetically} and Green for Imperial—first 18 volumes of later only go through Nero!]
GRUEBER, H.A. Coins of the Roman Republic in the British Museum 3 Vols. <Rev. Ed.> (London 1910)
HÄBERLIN, E.J. Aes Grave. Das Schwergeld Roms und Mittelitaliens (Frankfurt 1910)
MOMMSEN, TH. Geschichte des römischen Münzwesens (Berlin 1860) [translated with additions and corrections by the Duc de Blacas; this French edition is usually the one cited = MOMMSEN, TH. Histoire de la monnaie romaine (Paris 1865-1870)]
SYDENHAM, E.A. Aes Grave (London 1926) [a sort of concise version of Häberlin]

C. Imperial Corpora and Catalogues (note also Banti, Mommsen and Burnet above)

CARSON, R.A.G. HILL, P.V. & J.P.C. KENT Late Roman Bronze Coinage (London 1960) [widely used for excavations]
COHEN, H. Description Historique des Monnaies Frappées sous l'Empire Romain 2nd Ed., 8 Vols. (Leipzig 1930) [French Imperial companion to Babelon; lots of errors, but for some periods it's all there is]
MAURICE, J. Numismatique constantinienne (Paris 1908-1912) [mostly outdated by Mattingly & Sydenham]
MATTINGLY, H. & E.A. SYDENHAM The Roman Imperial Coinage Vol. I-IX: 31 BC – AD 395 (London 1923) [superseded by Sutherland & Carson, above; other volumes cover later coins]

D. How Mint and Treasury Operated, and How Moneyers Were Chosen

BARLOW, C.T. "The Sanctius Aerarium and the Argento Publico Coinage”, AJPh 98 (1977) 290-302
BURASELIS, K. “Vix aerarium sufficeret. Roman Finances and the Outbreak of the Sec¬ond Macedonian War"”, GRBS 37 (1996) 149-172
BURNETT, A.M. “The Authority to Coin in the Late Republic and Early Empire”, NC 17 (1977) 37-63 [argues that Republican moneyers were not elected, but appointed by consuls]
BUTTREY, T.V. JR., “The Denarii of P. Crepusius and the Roman Republican Mint Orga¬nization”, ANSMusN 21 (1976) 67-108
FABRE, P. “Lentulus, César et l'aerarium”, REA 33 (1931) 26-32
HOLLANDER, D.B. “The Management of the Mint in the Late Roman Republic” AHB 13 (1999) 14-27 [Columbia diss. by him on this topic?]
JONES, J.R. “Mint Magistrates in the Early Roman Empire”, BICS 17 (1970) 70-78 [gives a catalogue of these from Augustus to Severus Alexander]
KUNKEL, W. Staatsordnung und Staatspraxis der römischen Republik Dritter Teil. Zweiter Abschnitt: Der Magistratur 2 Vols. (Munich 1995) [details and bibliography on magistracies, including monetales at 547-551, and quaestors]
MATTINGLY, H.B. “The Management of the Roman Republican Mint” Annali dell'Istituto Italiano di Numismatica 29 (1982)
MEADOWS, A. & J. WILLIAMS “Moneta and the Monuments: Coinage and Politics in Republican Rome”, JRS 91 (2001) 27-49 [lots of biblio. on mint location]
PINK, K. “The Triumviri Monetales and the Structure of the Coinage of the Roman Republic.” Numismatic Studies #7 of the ANS (New York 1952)
TUCCI, P.L. “‘Where high Moneta leads her steps sublime.’ The Tabularium and the Temple of Juno Moneta” JRA 18 (2005) 7-33
YAKOBSON, A. & H. HORSTKOTTE “‘Yes, Quaestor.’ A Republican Politician Versus the Power of the Clerks”, ZPE 116 (1997) 247-248 [for Cato the Younger's reform of the treasury]

E. Other Selected Special Studies on Republican/Triumviral Coinage

ALFÖLDI, A. “The Main Aspects of Political Propaganda on the Coinage of the Roman Republic”, in CARSON, R.A.G. & C.H.V. SUTHERLAND (Edd.) Es¬says in Roman Coinage Presented to Harold Mattingly (Oxford 1956) 63-95
ALFÖLDI, A. Caesar in 44 v. Chr. I. Studien zur Caesars Monarchie und ihrer Wurzeln. Antiquitas 3rd ser. vol. 16 (Bonn 1986); II. Das Zeugnis der Münzen. Antiquitas 3rd ser. vol. 17 (Bonn 1974)
ANGELINI BUFALINI PETROCCHI, G. “L'iconografia dei Dioscuri sui denari della re¬pubblica romana”, in NISTA, L. (Ed.) Castores. L'immagine dei Dioscuri a Roma (Rome 1994) 101-105 [claims that the iconography of Castor and Pollux on coins of the 2nd and 1st BC are "associated with symbols of the gens of the moneyer"]
BURNETT, A.M. “The Coinages of Rome and Magna Graecia in the Late Fourth and Third Centuries B.C.”, RSN 56 (1977) 92-121
BURNETT, A.M. “The Second Issue of Roman Didrachmas”, QT 9 (1980) 169-174
BURNETT, A.M. “The Iconography of Roman Coin Types in the Third Century BC”, NC 146 (1986) 67-75
BUTTREY, T.V. “The Triumviral Portrait Gold of the Quattuorviri Monetales of 42 B.C.” ANSMusN (1956)
BUTTREY, T.V. “On the Retariffing of the Roman Denarius”, ANSMusN (1957) 57-65 [the classic reference for this issue]
BUTTREY, T.V. “The Morgantina Excavations and the Date of the Roman Denarius”, in Congresso Internazionale di Numismatica Roma 1961 II. Atti (Rome 1965) 261-267
CAPELLETTI, L. “Il giuramento degli Italici sulle monete del 90 a.C.”, ZPE 127 (1999) 85-92 [says that the Italians, in Italic fashion, are striking pigs with swords and not with stone knives as the Roman fetiales do]
CRAWFORD, M.H. “Coinage of the Age of Sulla, with Prospographical Notes by T.P. Wiseman”, NC (1964) 141-158
FARNEY, G.D. Ethnic Identity and Aristocratic Competition in Republican Rome (Cambridge 2007) [appendix and sections in chapters have information about coins advertising ethnic origins of moneyers]
FREY-KUPPER, S. & C. STANNARD “‘Pseudo-mints’ and small change in Italy and Sicily in the late Republic” AJN 20 (2008) 351-420
FUCHS, G. Architekturdarstellungen auf römischen Münzen der Republik und der frühen Kaiserzeit AMUGS 1 (Berlin 1969)
HARLAN, M. Roman Republican Moneyers and their Coins: 63 – 49 BC (London 1995)
HILL, P.V. “From Naulochus to Actium: the Coinages of Octavian and Antony”, QTicNumAntClass 3 (1976) 121-128
HILL, P.V. “Coin-Symbolism and Propaganda during the Wars of Vengence (44 - 36 BC)”, QTicNumAntClass 4 (1975) 157-207
HÖLSCHER, T. “Die Bedeutung der Münzen für das Verstandnis der politischen Repräsentationskunst der späten römischen Republik”, in HACKENS, T. & R. WEILLER (Edd.) Actes du 9ème Congrès Inernational de Numisma-tique: Berne Septembre 1979 (Louvain-la-Neuve 1982) 269-282
LO CASCIO, E. “Carbone, Druso e Gratidiano: la gestione della res nummaria a Roma tra la Lex Papiria e la Lex Cornelia”, Athenaeum 57 (1979) 215-238
MAZZONI, C. She-wolf: the story of a Roman icon (Cambridge 2010) [non vidi]
MOREL, J.-P. “Thèmes sabins et thèmes numaïques dans le monnayage de la république romaine”, MEFRA 74.1 (1962) 7-59
POBJOY, M. “The first Italia" in HERRING, E. & K. LOMAS (Edd.) The Emergence of State Identities in Italy in the First Millenium BC. London: 187-211 [excellent discussion of Italian Social War Coinage]
SANTINI, A. Saggio di catalogo generale delle monete consolari anonime con simboli (Milan 1939)
SERENA FAVA, A. I simboli nelle monete argentee repubblicane e la vita dei romani (Turin 1969)
VÄLIMAA, J. "I Dioscuri nei tipi monetali della Roma repubblicana” in STEINBY, E.M. (Ed.) Lacus Iuturnae I (Rome 1989) 110-126 [argues that Dioscuri do not serve as symbols of Italian home-towns]

F. Other Selected Special Studies on Augustan Coinage

BUTCHER, K. & M. PONTING “The Roman Denarius under the Julio-Claudian Emperors: mints, metallurgy and technology” OJA 24 (2005) 163-198
GRANT, M. The Six Main ‘Aes’ Coinages of Augustus (Edinburgh 1953)
GURVAL, R.A. Actium and Augustus (Ann Arbor 1995) [works in much numismatic evidence with other kinds]
GURVAL, R.A. “Caesar's Comet: the Politics and Poetics of an Augustan Myth”, MAAR 42 (1997) 39-71 [latest word on sidus Iulium on coins with survey of earlier astrological imagery on coins; contains previous biblio.]
KRAFT, K. Zur Münzprägung des Augustus (Wiesbaden 1969)
SUTHERLAND, C.H.V The Cistophori of Augustus RNS Special Publication 5 (London 1970)
WALLACE HADRILL, A. “Image and Authority in the Coinage of Augustus”, JRS 76 (1986) 66-87 [good analysis of Republican images, too]
ZANKER, P. The Power of Images in the Age of Augustus (Ann Arbor 1988) [a classic; works the imagery of the coins in well with other types of evidence]

G. Other Selected Special Studies on the Empire (General)

AARTS, J. “Coins, Money and Exchange in the Roman World. A cultural-economic perspective” Archaeological Dialogues 12 (2005) 1-27, with discussion following to 44.
BOLIN, S. State and Currency in the Roman Empire to 300 AD (Stockholm 1958)
BUTCHER, K. & M. PONTING “The Roman Denarius under the Julio-Claudian Emperors: mints, metallurgy and technology” OJA 24 (2005) 163-198
CLAY, C.L. “Roman Imperial Medallions: the Date and Purpose of their Issue”, Actes du 8ème congrès international de numismatique (Paris 1965) 253-265
DUNCAN-JONES, R.P. “Mobility and Immobility of Coin in the Roman Empire”, AIIN 36 (1989) 121-137
DUNCAN-JONES, R.P. Money and Government in the Roman Empire (Cambridge 1995)
GARSTAD, B. “Saturn, the first coins, and the meaning of ab ipso in Tertullian's Apologeticum 10,8” Latomus 61 (2002) 961-963 [shows that ancients like Tertullian, etc. were looking and thinking about coins]
HARRIS, W.V. “A Revisionist View of Roman Money” JRS 96 (2006) 1-24 [credit much bigger in Roman economy, esp. Empire, than usually assumed]
HILL, P.V. Monuments of Ancient Rome as Coin Types (London 1989)
HOWGEGO, C.J. Greek Imperial Countermarks. Studies in the Provincial Coinage of the Roman Empire (London 1985)
LEVICK, B. “Propaganda and the Imperial Coinage”, Antichthon 16 (1982) 104-116
MICKWITZ, G. Geld und Wirtschaft im römischen Reich (Helsinki 1941)
PAUL, G.M. & M. IERARDI (Edd.) Roman Coins and Public Life under the Empire E. Togo Salmon Papers II (Ann Arbor 1999) [some essays]
ROBERTSON, A.S. “The Romans in North Britain. The Coin Evidence” ANRW II.3 (1975) 346-476
SUTHERLAND, C.H.V. “The Intelligibility of Roman Coin Types”, JRS 49 (1959) 46-55
TOYNBEE, J.M.C. Roman Medallions Rep. by METCALF, W.E. (New York 1986)
WALLACE-HADRILL, A. “The Emperor and his Virtues”, Historia 30 (1981) 298-323

H. Other Regional Studies

BURNETT, A. “The Coinages of Rome and Magna Graecia in the Late Fourth and Third Centuries BC”, SNR 56 (1977) 92-121
JENKINS, G.K. “Varia Punica”, in HOUGHTON, A., Et al. (Edd.) Festchrift für Leo Mildenberg (Wetteren 1984) 127-136
JENKINS, G.K. & R.B. LEWIS Carthaginian Gold and Electrum Coins (London 1963)
KNAPP, R.C. “The Date and Purpose of the Iberian Denarii”, NC 17 (1977) 1-18 [for use of native and Roman coins during early Roman period, esp. 2nd century BC]
MACDOWALL, D.W. “Finds of Roman Coins in South Asia: Problems of Interpretation”, Ancient Ceylon 9 (1990) 49-74
MACDOWALL, D.W. “The Export of Roman Republican Denarii to South Asia”, Ancient Ceylon 8 [7 on cover] (1990) 62-74
MACDOWALL, D.W. “Indian Imports of Roman Silver Coins”, in AMAL KUMAR JHA (Ed.) Coinage, Trade and Economy, 3rd International Colloquium, January 8th – 11th 1991 Indian Institute of Research in Numismatic Studies 145-163
MAYS, M. (Ed.) Celitic Coinage: Britain and Beyond (Oxford 1992)
RUTTER, N.K. Campanian Coinages, 475 - 380 BC (Edinburgh 1979)
TURNER, P. Roman Coins from India (London 1989)

Bibliography compiled by:

Dr. Gary D. Farney
Rutgers University