Currency
Celtic coinage
was minted by the
Celts
from the late 4th century BC to the mid 1st century AD. Celtic coins were influenced by trade with and the supply of mercenaries to the Greeks, and initially copied Greek designs, especially
Macedonian coins
from the time of
Philip II of Macedon
and his son,
Alexander the Great
.
[1]
[2]
[3]
Thus Greek motifs and
even letters
can be found on various Celtic coins, especially those of southern France.
[4]
The images found on Celtic coins include giants trailing severed heads on rope, horsemen charging into battle, gods and goddesses, skulls and chariot wheels, thunderbolts and lightning, the sun and the moon.
[
citation needed
]
Gaulish coinage
[
edit
]
Greek coinage occurred in three Greek cities of
Massalia
,
Emporiae
and
Rhoda
, and was copied throughout southern Gaul.
[2]
Northern Gaulish coins were especially influenced by the coinage of
Philip II of Macedon
and his famous son
Alexander the Great
.
[2]
Celtic coins often retained Greek subjects, such as the head of
Apollo
on the obverse and two-horse
chariot
on the reverse of the gold
stater
of Philip II, but developed their own style from that basis, allowing for the development of a Graeco-Celtic synthesis.
[2]
After this first period in which Celtic coins rather faithfully reproduced Greek types, designs started to become more symbolic, as exemplified by the coinage of the
Parisii
in the Belgic region of northern France.
[2]
The
Armorican
Celtic style in northwestern Gaul also developed from Celtic designs from the
Rhine
valley, themselves derived from earlier Greek prototypes such as the wine scroll and split
palmette
.
[2]
The
Boii
gave their name to Bohemia and Bologna; a Celtic coin (
Biatec
) from
Bratislava
's mint is displayed on a Slovak 5 koruna coin, which was in use until Slovakia joined the euro zone on January 1, 2009.
A tribe of Celts called
Eburones
minted gold coins with triple spirals (a Celtic good luck symbol) on the front, and horses on the back.
[5]
The coins were either 'struck' or 'cast'. Both methods required a substantial degree of knowledge. Striking a blank coin formed in a clay mould was one way. After forming the blank, it would have been flattened out before striking with a die made from iron or bronze. The tiny details engraved on dies were just a few millimeters in diameter. Casting a coin required a different technique. They were produced by pouring molten alloy into a set of molds which were broken apart when the metal had cooled.
With the Roman invasion of Gaul, Greek-inspired Celtic coinage started to incorporate Roman influence instead, until it disappeared to be completely replaced by Roman coinage.
[2]
British Celtic coinage
[
edit
]
Traditional historians have tended to overlook the role played by Celtic coinage in the early history of British money.
[6]
Over 45,000 of the ancient British and Gaulish coins discovered in Britain have been recorded at the Oxford Celtic Coin Index.
[7]
[8]
The
Trinovantian
tribal
oppidum
of
Camulodunon
(modern
Colchester
) was minting large numbers of coins in the first centuries BC and AD, which have been found across Southern Britain.
[9]
Common motifs on the Camulodunon coins included horses and wheat/barley sheafs,
[10]
with the names of the rulers usually in Latin script, or more rarely in Greek.
[10]
Notes
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
Boardman, p.308
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
Celtic culture: a historical encyclopedia
John T. Koch p.461-
- ^
School of Archaeology, University of Oxford
"Coinage in Celtic society"
. Archived from
the original
on July 16, 2008
. Retrieved
August 10,
2008
.
- ^
Celtic Inscriptions on Gaulish and British Coins
by Beale Poste p.135
[1]
- ^
Cache of Celtic Coins Uncovered in Dutch Cornfield
Archived
2012-10-21 at the
Wayback Machine
.
Associated Press
November 16, 2008.
- ^
Davies, Glyn. A history of money from ancient times to the present day, 3rd ed. Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2002. 720 pages. Paperback:
ISBN
0-7083-1717-0
. Hardback:
ISBN
0-7083-1773-1
.
- ^
"The Celtic Coin Index"
. Archived from
the original
on 2011-05-16
. Retrieved
2010-12-20
.
The Oxford Celtic Coin Index
- ^
"The Celtic Coin Index"
. Archived from
the original
on 2012-06-29
. Retrieved
2012-06-30
.
The Oxford Celtic Coin Index
- ^
Crummy, Philip (1997) City of Victory; the story of Colchester - Britain's first Roman town. Published by Colchester Archaeological Trust (
ISBN
1 897719 04 3
)
- ^
a
b
Crummy, Philip (1987) The Coins as Dating Evidence. In Crummy, N. (ed.) Colchester Archaeological Report 4: The Coins from Excavations in Colchester 1971-9. Published by Colchester Archaeological Trust
References
[
edit
]
- Boardman, John
The Diffusion of Classical Art in Antiquity
, Princeton 1993
ISBN
0-691-03680-2
External links
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edit
]
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