Special Episode – Roman Republican Coinage with Professor Liv Yarrow

We were absolutely delighted to sit down recently with Professor Liv Yarrow to talk all about ancient Roman coinage from the republican period.

Special Episode – Roman Republican Coinage with Professor Liv Yarrow

Liv Yarrow is a professor at the City University of New York (CUNY). She holds a BA from the George Washington University and an MPhil and DPhil from the University of Oxford. Her scholarship spans the areas of ancient historiography and numismatics. In 2006 she published Historiography at the End of the Republic: Provincial Perspectives on Roman Rule (Oxford 2006) and in 2020 her book The Republic to 49 BCE: Using Coins as Sources came out with Cambridge University Press. She is also a co-director of the Roman Republican Die Project with the American Numismatic Society.

What's Coming up with Roman Coins!

In this conversation we explore a range of topics, including:

• how to approach the study of coins (numismatics) – it is a very specialised field!
• how the questions we ask of evidence changes affects our inferences and ideas
• what makes a coin particularly beautiful
• how coins can help us understand society, architecture, politics, and iconography
• some of the amazing fashion you might spot on coins!

Coins to Keep in Mind!

Yarrow weaves a number of coin issues into the conversation, here's some examples that we discuss: 

Denarius of Sulla. ANS 1944.100.1502. Obverse: L·MANLI [PRO]·Q – Helmeted head of Roma right. Border of dots. Reverse: L·SVLLA·IM – Triumphator, crowned by flying Victory, in quadriga right, holding reins in left hand and caduceus in right hand. Border of dots. 

Silver tetradrachm of Mithradates VI, Pontus, 120 BC – 63 BCE. 1944.100.41480. Obverse: head of Mithradates VI. Reverse: stag feeding 

Silver Coin, Rome, 55 BCE 1944.100.2636 ANS 1944.100.2636. RRC 428/3. Obverse: Head of Genius Populi Romani right, with sceptre over shoulder. Border of dots. Reverse: Q·CASSIVS – Eagle on thunderbolt right; on left, lituus; on right, jug . Border of dots. Just one example of a wild haired deity on Roman coinage, echoing Mithridates’ aesthetic!