Coins
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Holdings and Their History The coin collection is one of the oldest components of the Collection of Classical Antiquities, with origins dating back to the early eighteenth century. When the distinguished classical scholar Friedrich Gottlieb Welcker was appointed Professor of Greek Literature and Archaeology at the University of Giessen in 1809, a small collection of approximately 500 coins already existed. Around the middle of the nineteenth century, the collection was significantly expanded by Johann Valentin Adrian (1793–1864), the collection’s first director. Renamed the “Kunst-, Münzen- und Antikenkabinett” (“Cabinet of Art, Coins, and Antiquities”) in 1835, the collection continued to grow through major acquisitions from important private collections. Today, it comprises approximately 4,100 coins and offers a broad overview of ancient coinage, including issues from Greek city-states and Magna Graecia, Hellenistic rulers, Roman emperors, as well as Celtic and Iberian coinages.
Coins as Archaeological Objects Coins constitute a distinctive category of archaeological object and provide valuable historical evidence. They offer insights not only into ancient monetary systems, patterns of wealth and social hierarchy, trade networks, and commercial exchange, but also into the visual and ideological world of antiquity through their imagery. The designs chosen for the obverse and reverse of coins were traditionally used to communicate the self-representation of issuing authorities as well as political, religious, and cultural messages. Coin imagery is remarkably diverse and includes depictions of gods, heroes, and personifications, celebrated monuments, portraits of rulers and their achievements, and forms of political propaganda.
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