Description

Bringing cutting-edge numismatic research into conversation with the wider study of ancient history, this book offers interdisciplinary perspectives on the intersection between economic and political power in the Hellenistic world.

From the fourth to first century BC, a diversity of cultural zones and political spaces emerged in the Hellenistic eastern Mediterranean and West Asia, each shaped by varying economic practices, as documented by a range of different kinds of evidence. At the same time, coinage was produced in larger quantities than ever before, and its use became one of the few common behaviours attested across this vast geographical area. This book thus tackles the complexity of Hellenistic economies through the lens of monetary behaviour.

As the product of state initiative, coinage is also a medium that allows analysis of the production and movement of money within the framework of political spaces to a unique extent. Through examining a diversity of regions, including Thrace, the Aegean, Anatolia, Egypt, the Middle East and Central Asia, the chapters explore the nature of money, how it was used in different states, and how its study can offer alternative narratives of historical change.