Trade and Industry in Classical Greece

Abstract

quality of all series, including antoniniani of the Gallic empire and bronzes of Postumus, which are poorly represented in the plates of R.I.C. The illustrations are therefore a valuable and much needed aid for the practical work of identification of the many coins of this period which turn up in poor condition. The Hunter collection does not possess specimens of all types and varieties, and following her admirable practise in previous volumes, Professor Robertson has accordingly provided brief and most valuable conspectuses of all recorded types and legends to follow her customary clear and succinct summaries of each emperor's career. The layout of these conspectuses by mint, and within mint by legend and type, illustrates both the development of the network of provincial mints during the later third century, and changes in the denominational system which include the gradual demise of bronze coinage at Rome and the sporadic issue of fractional silver coins over the period as a whole. Aurelian's reform, the chronology of the Gallic Empire, and the mints and denominations of Carausius and Allectus are among the most disputed subjects in third-century numismatics, and Professor Robertson has provided judicious summaries of the debates while avoiding over-active participation in them, which would have been out of place in the catalogue of a specific collection. The full bibliography provided on pp. xxi-xxviii (which includes recent additions to bibliographies from earlier volumes) gives ready access to the detailed arguments in the debate. Surprisingly, the mints of Carausius and Allectus were omitted from the brief treatment of Imperial mints on p. ix-xi, but they received due attention on pp. cxcvi ff.