The Metallurgy of Roman Silver Coinage

The Metallurgy of Roman Silver Coinage PDF Author: Kevin Butcher
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107027128
Category : Antiques & Collectibles
Languages : en
Pages : 841

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Book Description
A new account of the role of coinage in the finances and economy of the Roman Empire.

The Metallurgy of Roman Silver Coinage

The Metallurgy of Roman Silver Coinage PDF Author: Kevin Butcher
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107027128
Category : Antiques & Collectibles
Languages : en
Pages : 841

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Book Description
A new account of the role of coinage in the finances and economy of the Roman Empire.

Edgar, King of the English, 959-975

Edgar, King of the English, 959-975 PDF Author: D. G. Scragg
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer Ltd
ISBN: 1843833999
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 292

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Book Description
Fresh assessments of Edgar's reign, reappraising key elements using documentary, coin, and pictorial evidence.

Debasement

Debasement PDF Author: Kevin Butcher
Publisher: Oxbow Books
ISBN: 1789254019
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 234

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Book Description
The debasement of coinage, particularly of silver, was a common feature of pre-modern monetary systems. Most coinages were issued by state authorities and the condition of a coinage is often seen (rightly or wrongly) as an indicator of the broader fiscal health of the state that produced it. While in some cases the motives behind the debasements or reductions in standards are clear, in many cases the intentions of the issuing authorities are uncertain. Various explanations have been advanced: fiscal motives (such as a desire to profit or a to cover a deficit caused by the failure to balance expenditure and revenues); monetary motives (such as changing demand for coined money or a desire to maintain monetary stability in the face of changing values of raw materials or labour costs); pressure from groups within society that would profit from debasement; misconduct at the mint; or the decline of existing monetary standards due to circulation and wear of the coinage in circulation. Certain explanations have tended to gain favour with monetary historians of specific periods, partly reflecting the compartmentalization of scholarship. Thus the study of Roman debasements emphasizes fiscal deficits, whereas medievalists are often more prepared to consider monetary factors as contributing to debasements. To some extent these different approaches are a reflection of discrepancies in the amount of documentary evidence available for the respective periods, but the divide also underlines fundamentally different approaches to the function of coinage: Romanists have preferred to see coins as a medium for state payments; whereas medievalists have often emphasized exchange as an important function of currency. The volume is inter-disciplinary in scope. Apart from bringing together monetary historians of different periods, it also contains contributions from archaeometallurgists who have experience with the chemical and physical composition of coins and technical aspects of production of base alloys

The Metallurgy of Roman Silver Coinage

The Metallurgy of Roman Silver Coinage PDF Author: Kevin Butcher
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1316060896
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 841

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Book Description
The fineness of Roman imperial and provincial coinage has been regarded as an indicator of the broader fiscal health of the Roman Empire, with the apparent gradual decline of the silver content being treated as evidence for worsening deficits and the contraction of the supply of natural resources from which the coins were made. This book explores the composition of Roman silver coinage of the first century AD, re-examining traditional interpretations in the light of an entirely new programme of analyses of the coins, which illustrates the inadequacy of many earlier analytical projects. It provides new evidence for the supply of materials and refining and minting technology. It can even pinpoint likely episodes of recycling old coins and, when combined with the study of hoards, hints at possible strategies of stockpiling of metal. The creation of reserves bears directly on the question of the adequacy of revenues and fiscal health.

Destabilizing the Global Monetary System: Germany’s Adoption of the Gold Standard in the Early 1870s

Destabilizing the Global Monetary System: Germany’s Adoption of the Gold Standard in the Early 1870s PDF Author: Mr.Johannes Wiegand
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 1498301223
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 28

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Book Description
In 1871-73, newly unified Germany adopted the gold standard, replacing the silver-based currencies that had been prevalent in most German states until then. The reform sparked a series of steps in other countries that ultimately ended global bimetallism, i.e., a near-universal fixed exchange rate system in which (mostly) France stabilized the exchange value between gold and silver currencies. As a result, silver currencies depreciated sharply, and severe deflation ensued in the gold block. Why did Germany switch to gold and set the train of destructive events in motion? Both a review of the contemporaneous debate and statistical evidence suggest that it acted preemptively: the Australian and Californian gold discoveries of around 1850 had greatly increased the global supply of gold. By the mid-1860s, gold threatened to crowd out silver money in France, which would have severed the link between gold and silver currencies. Without reform, Germany would thus have risked exclusion from the fixed exchange rate system that tied together the major industrial economies. Reform required French accommodation, however. Victory in the Franco-Prussian war of 1870/71 allowed Germany to force accommodation, but only until France settled the war indemnity and regained sovereignty in late 1873. In this situation, switching to gold was superior to adopting bimetallism, as it prevented France from derailing Germany’s reform ex-post.

Money, Power and Politics in Early Islamic Syria

Money, Power and Politics in Early Islamic Syria PDF Author: John Haldon
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317094247
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 227

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Book Description
The transformation of the eastern provinces of the Roman empire from the middle of the seventh century CE under the impact of Islam has attracted a good deal of scholarly attention in recent years, and as more archaeological material becomes available, has been subject to revision and rethinking in ways that radically affect what we know or understand about the area, about state-building and the economy and society of the early Islamic world, and about issues such as urbanisation, town-country relations, the ways in which a different religious culture impacted on the built environment, and about politics. This volume represents the fruits of a workshop held at Princeton University in May 2007 to discuss the ways in which recent work has affected our understanding of the nature of economic and exchange activity in particular, and the broader implications of these advances for the history of the region.

The Formation of the English Kingdom in the Tenth Century

The Formation of the English Kingdom in the Tenth Century PDF Author: George Molyneaux
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0192542931
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 360

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Book Description
The central argument of The Formation of the English Kingdom in the Tenth Century is that the English kingdom which existed at the time of the Norman Conquest was defined by the geographical parameters of a set of administrative reforms implemented in the mid- to late tenth century, and not by a vision of English unity going back to Alfred the Great (871-899). In the first half of the tenth century, successive members of the Cerdicing dynasty established a loose domination over the other great potentates in Britain. They were celebrated as kings of the whole island, but even in their Wessex heartlands they probably had few means to regulate routinely the conduct of the general populace. Detailed analysis of coins, shires, hundreds, and wapentakes suggests that it was only around the time of Edgar (957/9-975) that the Cerdicing kings developed the relatively standardised administrative apparatus of the so-called 'Anglo-Saxon state'. This substantially increased their ability to impinge upon the lives of ordinary people living between the Channel and the Tees, and served to mark that area off from the rest of the island. The resultant cleft undermined the idea of a pan-British realm, and demarcated the early English kingdom as a distinct and coherent political unit. In this volume, George Molyneaux places the formation of the English kingdom in a European perspective, and challenges the notion that its development was exceptional: the Cerdicings were only one of several ruling dynasties around the fringes of the former Carolingian Empire for which the late ninth, tenth, and eleventh centuries were a time of territorial expansion and consolidation.

The Emergence of Islam in Late Antiquity

The Emergence of Islam in Late Antiquity PDF Author: Aziz Al-Azmeh
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 110772936X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 659

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Book Description
Based on epigraphic and other material evidence as well as more traditional literary sources and critical review of the extensive relevant scholarship, this book presents a comprehensive and innovative reconstruction of the rise of Islam as a religion and imperial polity. It reassesses the development of the imperial monotheism of the New Rome, and considers the history of the Arabs as an integral part of Late Antiquity, including Arab ethnogenesis and the emergence of what was to become Muslim monotheism, comparable with the emergence of other monotheisms from polytheistic systems. Topics discussed include the emergence and development of the Muhammadan polity and its new cultic deity and associated ritual, the constitution of the Muslim canon, and the development of early Islam as an imperial religion. Intended principally for scholars of Late Antiquity, Islamic studies and the history of religions, the book opens up many novel directions for future research.

The Long Eighth Century

The Long Eighth Century PDF Author: Inge Lyse Hansen
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9789004117235
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 404

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Book Description
This book is a major reassessment of the archaeological and documentary evidence for the economic history of eighth-century Europe and the Mediterranean.

The History of al-Ṭabarī Vol. 22

The History of al-Ṭabarī Vol. 22 PDF Author:
Publisher: State University of New York Press
ISBN: 1438418132
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 256

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Book Description
This volume chronicles the history of the Islamic state in the years A. H. 74-81 (A. D. 693-701), after the final defeat of Ibn al-Zubayr in Mecca put an end to twelve years of civil war and reunited the empire under the rule of the Marwānid caliph 'Abd al-Malik. Syria and the Hijaz enjoyed a period of relative peace during this time, and stability and consolidation were furthered by such basic administrative reforms as the institution of an official Islamic coinage. Pacification of Iraq, where Khārijite rebel bands still roamed and mutiny was spreading among the government forces, was entrusted by 'Abd al-Malik to the victorious general al-Ḥajjāj ibn Yūsuf. Al-Ṭabarī i gives a detailed account of this iron-fisted governor's administration, concentrating on his war against the redoubtable Shabib b. Yazid, a Khārijite guerilla leader with a band of a few hundred men who held out against all odds and twice even entered the capital at al-Kufah and prayed in its mosque. Vivid eyewitness reports from participants on both sides of this conflict provide a valuable picture of Arab life in Iraq at this time, as well as evidence for the ideology of the Kharijites and the sources of discontent in the wider society. Attention is also given to developments in the frontier provinces of the east, eventually also placed under the authority of al-Ḥajjāj. In Khurasan, the vicious tribal feuds that had interrupted the policy of continued conquest were gradually resolved and campaigning resumed. In Sijistan, a crushing defeat of Arab troops led al-Ḥajjāj to outfit the "Peacock Army," a force of unprecedented size and impressiveness, which, when it rebelled under its leader, Ibn al-Ash'ath, was to offer the governor the gravest challenge of his career.