Danny Syon
Coin Circulation in Hellenistic and Early Roman Galilee: Politics, Economy and Ethnicity
Monday 21st May 2012 at 6:00p.m.
King’s College, London, Strand Building, 2nd Floor, WC2R 2LS
The analysis of the distribution pattern of bronze coins at 186 sites in Galilee and the Golan yields interesting insights on the relative influence of the various political and ethnic entities in ancient Galilee. When plotted on a map, the coins of the Seleucids, the cities of Sidon, Tyre and ‘Akko-Ptolemais, as well as the coins of the Jews show a dynamic interaction over time, at a far greater resolution than could be observed or inferred from the analysis of coins from single sites. Coin distribution patterns show not only trade patterns, as often assumed, but can also suggest political boundaries, administrative changes, and surprisingly, even preferences on ethnic grounds. Coins from a specific site can even be, in certain cases, an independent archaeological criterion in evaluating historical processes at that site.
Cases in point are a reorganization of the Seleucid mint of ‘Akko-Ptolemais that is not known from other sources, the formation of the Hasmonean state after the takeover of Galilee, the agricultural hinterland the Phoenician cities depended on and also the location of the boundary of the provincia Iudaea in the first century CE. It will be also suggested that the Jewish areas can be traced through the coin distribution patterns even after the cessation of Jewish minting following the Great Revolt (70 CE). The study of Galilee has been dominated in the past decades by Bible and New Testament scholars, who tried to reconstruct the economical realities of the Galilee of Jesus based on, among other criteria, coin finds. As a cautionary tale, it will be shown that it is hazardous to project processes happening in one period onto another, as this might lead to incorrect conclusions.
Danny’s career in archaeology started as a volunteer at the Gamla excavations, under Shmarya Gutmann where he worked for 14 seasons. He has also worked at the Haifa University underwater excavations at Caesarea under Avner Raban for 13 seasons. Since 1991 he has been working for the Israel Antiquities Authority, where he has conducted approximately 45 excavations, some of them large scale. Since 2007 he has been head of the Scientific Assessment branch of the IAA.
Marina Rustow
Palestine and the Wider Mediterranean: A View from the Middle Ages
Monday 25th June 2012 at 3:00p.m.
Stevenson Lecture Theatre, Clore Education Centre, British Museum