Coins, Inscriptions and Papyri

Offers guidance on how to evaluate the evidence that coins provide. With examples from antiquity through the seventeenth century, Burnett explains how we can establish when and where a coin was made, and what a coin's function as a piece of money tells us about the economy in which it participates. Finally, he asks how we can use the designs of coins to throw light on the political, religious, and cultural life of the past.

A very useful handbook on using various historical sources. See particularly the section on 'Numismatics'.

Describes and analyses the main contributions the study of coins can make to ancient history, showing through numerous examples how the character, patterns and behaviour of coinage bear on major historical themes. Topics range from state finance and economic policy to imperial domination and political propaganda through coin types. The period covered by the book is from the invention of coinage (ca 600BC) to AD 400.