CfP
Munich, Residenz München, 26–28 June 2025

Organisers: Dr. Elisabeth Günther, Institute for Classical Archaeology and Byzantine
Archaeology, University of Heidelberg; Dr. Hongxia Zhang, Institute for the History of Ancient
Civilizations (IHAC), Northeast Normal University, Changchun, China; Prof. Dr. Sven
Günther, Institute for the History of Ancient Civilizations (IHAC), Northeast Normal
University, Changchun, China
Deadline for abstracts: 31 October 2024
Abstract submissions shall be sent to: Sven Günther; Diese E-Mail-Adresse ist vor Spambots geschützt! Zur Anzeige muss JavaScript eingeschaltet sein. /
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As essential part of coinage, ancient coin legends have, however, received much less attention
than the imagery that has been intensively studied by numismatists, historians, archaeologists,
iconographists, and others. While legends have been often used for die studies, that is, from a
rather technical point of view, or for solving chronological issues as well as analysis of political
key messages, they promise to raise new research questions with regard to semantic, aesthetic,
and socio-cultural aspects.
Hence, the conference attempts to change this current imbalance in numismatic research by
comprehensively examining and contextualizing legends on ancient coins of the wider
Mediterranean world. This means that the lexicographical meaning of the legend text as well as
its composition, design, and placement on the actual coin type will be focused on. In this regard,
the juxtaposition and spatial relationship of legend and imagery and their semantic
interdependencies are of special interest, as well as the selection and order of words, their at
times apparent ambiguity, or their polyvalency as regards abbreviations.
Based on frames and framing methodology as developed in previous conferences we suppose
that coin legends substantially contribute to the “messages” of a respective coin type established
as a frame within a complex and dynamic communication process (along with the time) and are
thus an inextricable part of the multimodal “medium” with its high framing potential.
We invite papers that approach coin legends from a theoretical-methodological perspective or
offer insights through case-studies. In particular, we seek contributions to the panels “coin
legends and interdisciplinary studies”, “coin legends in the Greek & Hellenistic world”, or “coin
legends during the Roman Republic”. Confirmed participants are (in alphabetical order): Sven
Betjes, François de Callataÿ, Andreas Grüner, Fleur Kemmers, Clare Rowan, Ute Wartenberg.
Keynote speaker is Stephanie Geise. The conference will be held in hybrid format. It is
supported by the Thesaurus Linguae Latinae, the Staatliche Münzsammlung München, and the
Kommission für Alte Geschichte und Epigraphik. Selected papers are intended to be published
in a special issue of the double-blind peer-reviewed Journal of Ancient Civilizations (JAC). The
organizers currently apply for funding for travel and accommodation, yet any financial
subsidies can only be confirmed at a later stage of the process.