Pallas-Athena/Minerva and the Emporiae Latin Coins
[EN] The mint of Emporiae (L’ Escala, Girona, Spain) was one of the most productive provincial centres in the Western Mediterranean. According to available data, it was one of the mints in Hispania Citerior Tarraconensis that minted the most series, as it was even able to issue a greater number of c...
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| Tipo de recurso: | artículo |
| Estado: | Versión publicada |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2025 |
| País: | España |
| Institución: | Universidad de León |
| Repositorio: | BULERIA. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de León |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:buleria.unileon.es:10612/26426 |
| Acceso en línea: | https://shs.cairn.info/journal-dialogues-d-histoire-ancienne-2025-1-page-37 https://hdl.handle.net/10612/26426 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palabra clave: | Historia Antigua Numismatics Iconology Cultural Identity Ampurias Hispano-Roman Municipium 55 Historia 5504.01 Historia Antigua 5505.06 Numismática 5505.05 Iconografía 5505.03 Epigrafía |
| Sumario: | [EN] The mint of Emporiae (L’ Escala, Girona, Spain) was one of the most productive provincial centres in the Western Mediterranean. According to available data, it was one of the mints in Hispania Citerior Tarraconensis that minted the most series, as it was even able to issue a greater number of coins than the provincial capital itself, the nearby city of Tarraco (Tarragona, Spain). Specifically, available records, show that Emporiae minted at least 22 series of basic units and three series of quadrantes, most of which had a particularly high number of variants. In keeping with the most developed production dynamics in the Western Mediterranean, all these coinages were produced on coin blanks made of bronze and bore inscriptions written in Latin. However, contrary to what is found on almost all the Latin coins issued in these areas, especially in the provinces of Hispania, none of the Emporitan coins included elements related to the emperor or any member of his family. The absence of these elements hinders the chronological interpretation of these coins. Several authors have concluded that they began to be issued during the reign of Augustus (27 BCE‑14 CE), while others believe that they began to be produced a few years earlier. The period in which the city’ s workshop was closed has also given rise to different interpretations. Although most researchers have not agreed on a specific date, some historians have raised the possibility that coin production at Emporiae stopped some time before Augustus’ death, while others claim that production continued for a few more years and the workshop closed after Caligula’ s accession to power (37‑ 41 CE). However, whether they were produced in one period or another, the large number and diversity of countermarks engraved on some of the specimens that have been recovered and are known to date prove that a very important proportion of these coins may have continued to circulate during a much longer period than whenthe Emporitan workshop was in operation. As a result, the intangible connection between the city of Emporiae and the particular icons that it had chosen for its minted coins years before could have been preserved in the memory of some people. These circumstances justify our interest in an in‑depth study of the dissemination of the icons adopted on the provincial coins produced by this mint, given the importance that this mint may have had, both because of its tradition and because of the high production volume mentioned above. In addition, our research is also based on several elements reported in scientific literature on the topic. The characteristics of the coins minted in the Empúries region have drawn the attention of a considerable number of authors who have studied the Ancient History of the area. However, most of the research has focused on analysing the particular specimens put into circulation by the Greek/indigenous centre, for which the authors have studied general aspects and other much more specific ones that have been updated and supplemented over the years. |
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