Books by Wolfgang Fischer-Bossert
The Abraham and Marian Sofaer collection consists of 4,000 coins and related objects produced by ... more The Abraham and Marian Sofaer collection consists of 4,000 coins and related objects produced by the peoples who inhabited the Holy Land from the Persian period in the 5th and 4th centuries BCE through the Crusader Kingdom in the 13th century of the modern era. Assembled over more than 30 years, the collection contains gold, silver and bronze coins of the Persians, Greeks, Samarians, Jews, Nabataeans, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, and Crusaders.
Highlights of the collection include a rich selection of the fractional silver coinage of Samaria; a comprehensive assemblage of the coins of the Hasmonaean and Herodian Jewish dynasties; superb examples of coinage issued during the Jewish revolts from Rome; fully representative runs of the coinages of the cities of Galilee, Samaria, Judaea, Idumaea and the Decapolis under Roman rule; and rare examples of the Umayyad and Abassid coinages produced in Jerusalem and elsewhere.
All coins are fully described and illustrated on 238 plates. These volumes will serve as standard reference works for archaeologists, historians and numismatists studying two millennia of the history of the Holy Land.
Coins, Artists, and Tyrants contains the first fully translated and revised text of Lauri Tudeer,... more Coins, Artists, and Tyrants contains the first fully translated and revised text of Lauri Tudeer, Die Tetradrachmenprägung von Syrakus in der Periode der signierenden Künstler, as well as a biography of Tudeer, plus a completely new evaluation of signed coin dies and the artists who produced them. Over 100 years after its first publication, the author completely updates the scholarship and bibliography on signed Syracusan tetradrachms, making this book the single most important source on the subject. The book includes plates, a full-color die-link chart, and three pull-outs featuring Syracusan tetradrachms and hoards.
White Gold Studies in Early Electrum Coinage, 2020
The genesis of this volume took place in 2011 when then Numismatic Curator, Haim Gitler, conceive... more The genesis of this volume took place in 2011 when then Numismatic Curator, Haim Gitler, conceived of a unique exhibition to be held at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem that would showcase the earliest coins in the Western tradition, those struck in electrum. Five hundred coins, all from the collections of Dr. Thomas S. Kaplan, Baron Lorne Thyssen-Bornemisza, and several from the Israel Museum, were displayed in a spectacular exhibition, the first of its kind anywhere that looked at electrum coinage from the seventh to the fourth centuries BCE. Catharine Lorber soon joined Gitler in curating the exhibition, White Gold: Revealing the World’s Earliest Coins, a name suggested by Lorber, which opened in June 2012, with an exhibition catalogue of the same name written by Koray Konuk, Lorber, and edited by Gitler. Meanwhile, Gitler organized a conference on electrum coinage that was held at the Israel Museum the week the exhibit opened. Tom Kaplan and Lorne Thyssen-Bornemisza, who have been keenly interested in this area of numismatic research, both actively participated in the conference. We are also most grateful for their most generous support, which funded the exhibition and conference, as well as this volume, and also for their help and enthusiasm for this project. Initially, Gitler, Lorber, and Konuk planned to publish the conference proceedings with the Israel Museum’s imprimatur, but as many of the conference participants felt a follow-up meeting would be beneficial to address some of the outstanding problematic aspects of early electrum raised in Jerusalem, a second White Gold conference was held in November 2013 at the American Numismatic Society (ANS) in New York City. In 2016, it was decided that publication of the proceedings of the two conferences would be undertaken by the ANS with Ute Wartenberg and Peter van Alfen serving as the volume’s editors, who received considerable editorial and other assistance on several of the chapters from Wolfgang Fischer-Bossert. Since 2013, the scope of the volume grew. Scholars, notably Kristin Kleber and Donald Jones, who had not participated in the two original conferences were invited to contribute chapters, and others who had participated offered additional contributions. While the expanded scope of the volume delayed publication, nonetheless we can now offer a fuller and more detailed picture of the evidence at hand for understanding the various contexts in which early electrum coins were produced and used.
Cista mystica. Festschrift für Wolfgang Szaivert, 2020
Marble reliefs and the relief of coins differ in one essential point: in the case of marble relie... more Marble reliefs and the relief of coins differ in one essential point: in the case of marble reliefs, the front surface forms the starting point for the artist, whereas in the case of coin reliefs it is the background surface. Accordingly, some differences can be identified, even if the coin images were soon oriented towards the technically given visual habits of marble sculpture. The immanent differences gain importance in transitional periods, especially at the end of the 4th century BC, i.e. in the transition to the Hellenistic age. Since there are only very few early Hellenistic marble reliefs, the focus was always on contemporary coin art.
Articles by Wolfgang Fischer-Bossert
Small silver coins with Phrygian legends (the male names IMAN and ATA[s] respectively) are system... more Small silver coins with Phrygian legends (the male names IMAN and ATA[s] respectively) are systematically studies here. It turns out that the lowest denomination (c. 0.2g) may be interpreted as the equivalent to a 1/24 siglos, although two heavier denominations cannot easily be inserted into the Persic standard. While Kelainai has been suggested as the place of minting in earlier literature, general considerations lead to a place farther north, perhaps Anaua or Kydrara. It is also argued that Kelainai might have been a mint of Alexander coinage under the satrap Antigonus Monophthalmos (something already pondered by Edward T. Newell).
Im Theater von Aigeira wurden 215 Münzen gefunden. 120 davon sind vorkaiserzeitlich-griechisch, 7... more Im Theater von Aigeira wurden 215 Münzen gefunden. 120 davon sind vorkaiserzeitlich-griechisch, 79 römisch, der Rest ist unbestimmbar. Byzantinische und andere mittelalterliche Prägungen fehlen fast gänzlich, soweit sie sich nicht unter den unbestimmbaren verbergen. Unter den römischen Münzen sind einige Sesterzen zu verzeichnen, doch ansonsten herrschen kleine Buntmetallnominale vor; Silbermünzen fielen nur sehr wenige an. Die Prägestätten verteilen sich über die gesamte Peloponnes und die nördlichen Anrainer des Korinthischen Golfes; darüber hinaus sind stadtrömische Prägungen sowie Einzelstücke aus Karien und Syrien (Antiochia [?]) zu nennen. Das zeitliche Spektrum erstreckt sich vom 4. Jahrhundert v. Chr. bis in das späte 4. Jahrhundert n. Chr., die Nachzügler aus Mittelalter und Neuzeit bilden keinen kontinuierlichen Begehungshorizont ab.
This article features a full die-study of the series of electrum hectae hitherto attributed to Er... more This article features a full die-study of the series of electrum hectae hitherto attributed to Erythrae in Ionia. Based on various evidence, the series is re-attributed to Heraclea Pontica in Bithynia and dated to c. 530–495 (earlier groups) and c. 480–420 (later groups). The series is likely to have been minted by agreement with the Persian governor/satrap at Dascyleion. Therefore it sheds some light on both Persian politics before and around Dareios I's Scythian campaign and the electrum coinage of Heraclea's rival Cyzicus.
Ein karisches Monster 1 σκοπεῖν χρὴ μὴ οὐκ ἐν τῷ Καρί Plat. Lach. 187 b In Karien (Abb. 1) hat di... more Ein karisches Monster 1 σκοπεῖν χρὴ μὴ οὐκ ἐν τῷ Καρί Plat. Lach. 187 b In Karien (Abb. 1) hat die Monetarisierung vermutlich im späten 3. Viertel des 6. Jahrhunderts v. Chr. eingesetzt. Den Anfang machten die griechischen Städte der dorischen Hexapolis: die rhodischen Städte Lindos, Ialysos und Kamiros, ferner Kos, und auf dem Festland Knidos und, wie wir seit kurzem wissen, auch Halikarnassos. 2 Hinzu traten Chersonesos auf der Halbinsel von Knidos und Poseidion auf der Insel Karpathos. 3 Die ethnischen Karer des Festlandes schlossen erst Jahrzehnte später auf: Kaunos und die Prägestätte der 'Winged Carians' des Typus B im frühen 5. Jahrhundert. 4 Die metrologischen Verhältnisse der frühen Silberprägungen Kariens wirken auf den ersten Blick verwirrend, doch bei genauerem Hinsehen zeichnen sich gewisse Muster ab. Nur Ialysos steht isoliert, seine Statere folgen einem epichorischen Standard, der irgendwo zwischen 14,95 und 14,45 g liegt (Abb. 2). 5 Ansonsten kann man immer wieder jene Sequenz von zwei Standards feststellen, die Herbert Cahn für Knidos nachgewiesen hat. Dort setzte die Prägung im milesischen Standard ein (Hemidrachma und kleinere Teilwerte, vorwiegend Trihemiobolia) und ging nach kurzer Zeit zum äginetischen Standard über (Abb. 3-4). 6 Wenn man in Karien nach den beiden genannten Standards Ausschau hält, erkennt man rasch, daß sich diese Sequenz-erst milesisch, dann äginetisch-durch Zwischenstufen (Reduktionen) weiter differenzieren läßt. So stehen die Statere von Poseidion unzweifelhaft alle im milesischen Standard,
White Gold. Studies in Early Electrum Coinage, 2020
Zäch (Winterthur) for their kind help with illustrations and inventories.
B. Woytek (ed.), Infrastructure and Distribution in Ancient Economies. Proceedings of a conference held at the Austrian Academy of Sciences, 28–31 October 2014. Vienna, 2018
Die verwendete Papiersorte in dieser Publikation ist DIN 6738 geprüft und erfüllt die Anforderung... more Die verwendete Papiersorte in dieser Publikation ist DIN 6738 geprüft und erfüllt die Anforderungen der Lebensdauerklasse LDK 24 -85. Archivability tested according to the requirements of DIN 6738, Lifespan class LDK 24 -85.
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Books by Wolfgang Fischer-Bossert
Highlights of the collection include a rich selection of the fractional silver coinage of Samaria; a comprehensive assemblage of the coins of the Hasmonaean and Herodian Jewish dynasties; superb examples of coinage issued during the Jewish revolts from Rome; fully representative runs of the coinages of the cities of Galilee, Samaria, Judaea, Idumaea and the Decapolis under Roman rule; and rare examples of the Umayyad and Abassid coinages produced in Jerusalem and elsewhere.
All coins are fully described and illustrated on 238 plates. These volumes will serve as standard reference works for archaeologists, historians and numismatists studying two millennia of the history of the Holy Land.
Articles by Wolfgang Fischer-Bossert
Highlights of the collection include a rich selection of the fractional silver coinage of Samaria; a comprehensive assemblage of the coins of the Hasmonaean and Herodian Jewish dynasties; superb examples of coinage issued during the Jewish revolts from Rome; fully representative runs of the coinages of the cities of Galilee, Samaria, Judaea, Idumaea and the Decapolis under Roman rule; and rare examples of the Umayyad and Abassid coinages produced in Jerusalem and elsewhere.
All coins are fully described and illustrated on 238 plates. These volumes will serve as standard reference works for archaeologists, historians and numismatists studying two millennia of the history of the Holy Land.
WFB, 2nd May 2018
Aufschriften zur Gänze lesbar, und tatsächlich scheint sich die alte Vermutung zu bestätigen. Allerdings stimmt die Abfolge der Prägungen mit der aus Herodot bekannten Abfolge der lydischen Könige nicht überein. Eine Revision der lydischen Königsliste – und damit auch der Ereignisgeschichte im Kleinasien des 7. und frühen 6. Jahrhunderts – steht also an.
49 ancient Sicilian coins preserved in the collection of the National Museum in Krakow (MNK). The small collection of Sicilian coins is mainly the result of three major acquisitions: the collections of Franciszek Piekosiński, Karol Wilhelm Halama (Hallama) and Lech Kokociński. It was supplemented by some minor acquisitions.
The coins are catalogued in a standard format.
The 6th International Congress of Numismatics and Monetary History (Padua, 27th-29th October 2022) aims to examine the recent acquisitions of the numismatic research concerning these connections with particular regard to those involving the central and eastern parts of Africa bordering the Mediterranean Sea (between Egypt and Proconsularis / Mirs and Ifriqiya) and the area of western Europe centered on the Italian peninsula. A particular attention will be devoted to the results coming from archaeological excavations carried out by international teams operating in North Africa. Not only the Greek and Roman monetary traditions but also the Byzantine, Islamic and Western European ones will be addressed as well as the history of the numismatic studies related to the connections between the two areas considered.
The Congress is organized by the University of Padua in the year which marks the 800th anniversary of its birth. The same institution boasts a long tradition in numismatic studies and plays an active role in the development of the cultural relations between the two shores of the Mediterranean Sea.
I rapporti tra le sponde meridionale e settentrionale del Mediterraneo in età antica e post-antica sono elementi portanti della storia culturale europea e africana. L’indagine su tali legami si è svolta e continua a svolgersi in sede storica e archeologica sulla base di una pluralità di fonti, tra le quali emerge sempre più evidentemente quella monetaria, non soltanto come veicolo di diffusione di modelli iconografici ed economico-monetari, ma anche come tramite di contatti religiosi, politico-militari, commerciali e più generalmente culturali. Il VI Congresso Internazionale di Numismatica e di Storia Monetaria (Padova, 27-29 ottobre 2022) intende prendere in esame i più recenti sviluppi della ricerca numismatica su questi legami, tenendo in particolare considerazione i rapporti tra l’ambito centro-orientale dell’Africa affacciata sul Mediterraneo (tra Egitto e Proconsolare / tra Mirs e Ifriqiya) e l’area centro-occidentale dell’Europa, gravitante attorno alla penisola italiana, e soffermandosi sui risultati scientifici delle missioni archeologiche internazionali operanti in nord Africa. Saranno considerate non soltanto le tradizioni monetarie greca e romana, nell’accezione imperiale e provinciale, ma anche le fasi post antiche di matrice bizantina, islamica ed europea occidentale, senza escludere contributi di storia degli studi numismatici relativi alle relazioni tra le aree considerate e nei periodi in esame. Il Congresso è organizzato dall’Università degli Studi di Padova nell’anno in cui si celebra l’ottavo centenario dalla nascita di questa istituzione, la quale vanta una consolidata tradizione nel campo degli studi numismatici e costituisce essa stessa soggetto attivo e propositivo nello sviluppo dei rapporti culturali tra le due sponde del Mediterraneo.