Epigraphy and Numismatics
Epigraphy and numismatics study the inscriptions and coins of antiquity—durable, dated, and often precisely located sources that underpin much of ancient history and classical archaeology.
Definition
The combined study of ancient inscriptions (epigraphy), coins (numismatics), and related documentary sources, used as primary evidence for the history and archaeology of antiquity.
Scope
This area covers the auxiliary sciences of classical antiquity that analyze written and minted evidence: Greek and Latin inscriptions on stone, metal, and other media; the coinage of the Greek and Roman worlds; and documentary papyri. It addresses how such sources are read, dated, and interpreted, and how they illuminate politics, religion, society, economy, and administration in ways complementary to literary texts and excavated material.
Sub-topics
Core questions
- How are ancient inscriptions read, dated, and interpreted?
- What can coins reveal about politics, economy, and ideology?
- How do documentary sources illuminate everyday life and administration?
- How do these sources complement literary texts and archaeology?
Key theories
- Inscriptions as primary evidence
- The principle that inscriptions, as contemporary and often securely datable documents, provide direct evidence for ancient institutions, society, and language that supplements and checks literary sources.
- Coins as historical and economic evidence
- Howgego's demonstration that the study of coinage—its types, distribution, and metrology—yields information on ancient politics, ideology, and the economy.
History
Epigraphy and numismatics developed from Renaissance and early modern collecting into rigorous scholarly disciplines, organized through great corpora of inscriptions and coins in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. They remain central auxiliary sciences for ancient history and classical archaeology, increasingly supported by digital corpora and scientific analysis.
Debates
- Representativeness of the surviving record
- Scholars debate how far surviving inscriptions, coins, and papyri reflect ancient realities or are biased by patterns of survival, recovery, and the social groups that produced them.
Key figures
- John Bodel
- Christopher Howgego
- Roger Bagnall
- Louis Robert
Related topics
Seminal works
- bodel2001
- howgego1995
- bagnall2009
Frequently asked questions
- What is epigraphy?
- Epigraphy is the study of inscriptions—texts cut, painted, or stamped on durable materials such as stone, metal, and pottery—used as evidence for ancient history and language.
- What is numismatics?
- Numismatics is the study of coins and currency, including their types, dating, circulation, and what they reveal about ancient politics, economy, and ideology.