Coping with Loss and Confusion: Copying Old Coins for a New Identity (20 min)

Presenters

Daniel Qin, University of Pennsylvania

Abstract

This paper provisionally investigates the phenomenon of copying numismatic types within the Hellenistic corpus of Alexandria Troas, a polis formed through a “forced” synoikism of eight existing settlements under Antigonos Monophthalmos. In particular, the project uses coinage types as a lens to better understand the identity formation process of this newly founded polis and the intracity dynamics of such cities during the early years after their foundation. Using primarily the coinage types from Bellinger’s 1961 study of coins from the site, I argue that the citizenry of Alexandria Troas knowingly used existing numismatic types and iconography from their cities of origin as both a coping mechanism for their displacement and loss as well as an experiment for conceiving new civic identity. Everyone implicated in this synoikism had to deal with the loss and confusion of a sudden change in their living environment and social relations, though current scholarship has yet to address this mentality shift in their identification of citizenship and allegiance and how it may be reflected the material culture. This paper offers a preliminary study of the numismatic corpus from one city and I hope it provides a new avenue of thought when considering ancient coins.

The particular types that were copied in Alexandria Troas shed light on the internal negotiations and cooperations between groups of citizens coming from different settlements, which had historical ties, both friendly and hostile, with one another. Both Meadows and Boehm have written on some of the coins this project intends to examine and Boehm in particular highlights the mixed traditions of synoikized poleis such as Alexandria Troas that are communicated through the coinage output. I seek to complicate Boehm’s narrative by emphasizing that the period after any demographic shift within the population, such as a synoikism, is rife with confusion. The coins minted thus serve as artifacts of that time and may showcase reconsiderations the demos is having regarding their civic identity. Moreover, following Knapp and Thonemann in their differentiation of target audience between the silver and bronze coins issued by a city, this paper further nuances the narrative by considering two separate “messages” presented in the outward-facing silver tetradrachms and the more inward-facing bronzes.

  AIA-7B