Dr. Peter van Alfen, Chief Curator, American Numismatic Society
Part of the Classical and Near Eastern Archaeology lecture series. In-person attendance at Old Library, 224. Remote attendance via Zoom (link on this page). Food and drink available 30 minutes before lecture.
Abstract
“On the coins we use today, we recognize the link between the images and the political powers that issue them. These images, often produced by leading artists, generally tend as well to represent notions of community and shared values. Already in the Classical period, imagery on coins had settled into these recognizable functions. But in the first generations of coin production, ca. 650–520 BCE, this wasn’t necessarily the case. This talk explores the nexus of power, money, and art and the processes by which coins came to be used as tools of political and communal representation.”