The Roman Coin (Class) Project

So I'm teaching a Classics course this semester. Here's the reading list:

Apuleius. The Golden Ass. Trans. P. G. Walsh. Oxford: Oxford UP,
Augustine. Confessions. Trans. F. J. Sheed. 2nd ed. Indianapolis: Hackett, 1993.
Ogilvie, R. M. The Romans and their Gods. New York: W. W. Norton, 1970.
Virgil. The Aeneid. Trans. Robert Fitzgerald. New York: Vintage, 1990.
Ovid, and Charles Martin. Metamorphoses. W.W. Norton, 2005.

I'll probably sprinkle in some Julian II "Advice to Priests" and some Eusebius on Constantine. A real treat will be our own @Victor_Clark coming to visit us on November 5 to talk about the coinage of Constantine.

As part of the course, the students will also have to ID a Roman coin, which they get to keep. The coins are in low grade but should be identifiable; @Valentinian's pick bin was helpful in getting some interesting coins for $5 or so.

Below is the assignment and the coins. Any reflections on the assignment or thoughts about how to improve it for future courses are welcome.

--------------------
English 430
The Roman Coin Project
Dr. Richardson

Length:1 page single-spaced
Due: Monday, Oct. 29
Grade: 8% of course grade

Assignment: You have been given a genuine fourth-century late imperial Roman coin. You job is to attribute the coin and write a few discussion paragraphs placing the coin in its cultural and historical context. You will offer a 5-10 minute PPT presentation or Prezi on your coin the week of October 29. The coin is yours to keep.

Attribution:

Emperor, obverse and reverse legends in Latin with English translation, basic descriptions, year(s) struck, mint and officina (if legible), diameter in mm, weight in grams, and obverse/reverse orientation. I will bring in a scale and calipers sometime in the next few weeks. See the text box to the right for an identification format. RIC (Roman Imperial Coinage) volume and number. RIC volumes are in the library.

Your first attribution stop: http://coins2.calkinsc.com/old_site/rcrc/rcrc.html

This site also walks you through the basic steps of attribution and gives you some helpful online tools: http://www.romancoin.info/

To learn how to use RIC, read this tutorial and come see me with questions. https://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/idric.html

Start by trying to transcribe the obverse legend on the coin. After making a couple of good faith efforts, see me if you’re still having trouble. When you think you have the emperor, or a few candidates, consult this website and try to find a match for your coin. Be sure to click for thumbnail images. If you find a close match, most of the info will fall into place. I can help determine if you’re on the right track: http://www.wildwinds.com/coins/ric/i.html#C

Discussion:

Write a paragraph discussing your emperor and his times.

Write a paragraph discussing your coin’s legends and iconography. What is this coin trying to say? What is its “narrative”? What connections to our course texts do you perceive?

Recommended Websites:

A good site for educational resources, from rank beginners on up: http://augustuscoins.com/ed/

Guides to abbreviations found on Roman coins: http://www.davidrsear.com/academy/roman_legends.html

Doug Smith’s excellent coin pages: https://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/

Searchable site of reliable classical numismatic vendors that may help in finding coins similar to yours: http://www.vcoins.com/ancient/

A searchable ancient coins discussion board: https://www.cointalk.com/forums/ancients/

Site for the coins of Constantine: http://www.constantinethegreatcoins.com This site is owned by Victor Clark, who will be lecturing on the coins of Constantine at 3:30-4:30; Grant Center Salon 2 on Monday, November 5. Attendance is required.

Evaluation Rubric

ALL SECTIONS WORTH 20 POINTS

Obverse & Reverse ID; paragraph discussing your emperor and his times. 20
Paragraph discussing your coin’s legends and iconography. What is this coin trying to say? What is its “narrative”? 20
What connections to our course texts do you perceive? 20
Oral Presentation 20
Grammar & Style of Written Presentation 20

TOTAL 100

COMMENTS:

 

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Are you a college proffessor?

 

Yes. Did my elbow patches give me away?

 

Think I would enjoy your class. Actually wish I could hear @Victor_Clark 's presentation.

 

Hmmm. Maybe I'll see if I can record it, if Victor says it's OK. There may be a way to make it zoom-able.

 

Excellent assignment Gavin. I really like that you assigned 20% TO "Grammar and style". Control of these elements is very often missing in today's undergraduate papers.

I like your question "What connections to our course texts do you perceive?". However, I might add something about connecting numismatics and the study of history. You address this indirectly with the above question as it asks students to relate their coin to the text studied, but I think a more direct link to history would be helpful.

One final thought. Is there anyway you could integrate Cointalk into the lesson? Maybe have the class search for similar coins posted to this site. I suppose you might even have them register and ask for help concerning their coins.

This is truly an excellent assignment and I hope your students have fun with it.

Andrew

 

Sounds like a great class @Gavin Richardson with a nice sprinkling of Roman culture from the reading list in both earlier and later times. As an undergrad I read some of these books, particularly the Aeneid, Apuleius, and the Confessions, though the reading was spread out over the course of two classes, Ancient Roman History, taught by Erich Gruen for the ealier, and Late Antiquity, taught by Peter Brown.

Ah, those were the days. I double majored in Egyptian Archaeology & Language and Classics. Ended up getting an MBA and then a Ph.D. in Business, so I veered off course a bit from the ancient world, but the underpinnings of my education in the classics was highly useful in the course of my business career. That's why I always advise undergraduates to study a mind expanding curriculum rather than majoring in Business or Economics.

 

Very cool assignment and really super coins to learn from! It might be a bit of a tall order to ask a newcomer to distinguish between the members of the Tetrarchy; even I get stumped on Galerius vs. Maximinus Daia at times.

Not for this time around, but it's worth considering for the future to pick up some nice, well-loved second century denarii. They're a lot easier to ID without having to study line breaks to decide between Constantine II, Constantius II, and Constans on a GLORIA EXERCITVS type. A few vauctions ago, I picked up a couple bulk lots of worn denarii for about $7 each, fees and all. All the better to connect to The Golden Ass if you can snag a Severan denarius with an Egyptian god reverse!

 

Thanks Andrew. I really like the idea of integrating cointalk into the assignment. Of course, I wouldn’t want to clutter up everybody’s feeds with lazy questions such as “can anybody tell me something about campgates?” But I think it would be good for students to see rich discussion, disagreement, multiple examples, variants, etc. I think I will suggest it.

By the way, I am a member of a medieval literature LISTSERV. There’s one professor who, whenever he suspects that a lazy student is trying to get the board to do his homework for him, replies with lengthy, terrible incorrect information. E.g., “Beowulf was written by Geoffrey Chaucer in 1066…”. I’m not evil enough to do that. But I must admit, I never correct the info.

 

I think your idea of having students research and attribute the coins in their care is great. It sounds like an excellent way to connect them to the people of ancient Rome! I could really get absorbed in a class like that. I'd be a far better student and get better grades now than back then. Oh well You can't go home again.

 

That’s a great testimony. And Peter Brown! Wow! I use his “the world in late antiquity.” He’s the man. And of course his biography of Augustine is legendary.

 

Yes. I have a Julia Domna denarius with the Isis reverse. I do bring that in when we discuss that text. But I ain’t giving it away! I would like to get a little bit more variety in the coins that the students work with, but cost is obviously a factor. I ask the students to pitch in a few dollars and I eat the rest on a few coins. Like I said, Warren’s pick bin helps me do projects like this pretty economically.

But keeping my eye out for a lot of worn denarii is a great idea.

 

I'll add also that Tesorillo is one of the best and most indispensable resources for an ancient coin newbie:

http://www.tesorillo.com/aes/_rev/index1i.htm

Very clean and logical organization that can help narrow down the coins by type without having to search blind through wildwinds et al.

 

Can I come take your class?

 

I know that will be a memorable class, Gavin. I can think of no one more qualified, or highly motivated, than you to teach it. Having Victor Clarke there to make a presentation devoted to Constantinian coinage is a wonderful bonus.

 

Come on!

 

I have never used this site! I’ve got the Guido Bruke (sp?) book that does this kind of thing. My students are already thanking you.

 

wow! so kool of you to do that @Gavin Richardson!

 

Apologies for reviving an old thread, but I just finished up the prep work to do something sismilar (and I had inadvertently used the same name as Gavin’s project...).

Since I teach high school freshman, I figured I needed to do a little more prep work to ensure they don’t get too frustrated with the process and just give up. The students will receive a handout with step-by step instructions, and relevant links to webpage resources which will help. I also photographed each coin so students can work at home without taking the coin with them (because I know they will get lost or disappear if that happens...). As you can see from the screenshot of the class website, the photos aren’t the best, but they will do. Maybe I will try to improve the photos as times goes on (summer project perhaps...).



After attributing, they will have to write a short paper on the significance of the emperor’s reign, and what the symbolism on the coin means. I have two classes (of about 16 students each) which will be doing this project. I can’t afford to let them all keep their coins, but I figure the student from each class who does the best job of researching and writing about their coin will get to keep it (two coins each year I can afford to replace).



I couldn’t have pulled this together without the help of several people on this board - so thank you @John Anthony for helping me secure some cheap Romans, and many thanks to those who donated coins (particularly @dougsmit @Valentinian and @Alegandron whose 2017 Imperitor win was the first coin outside my own personal collection to join the group). This project will end the semester. Unfortunatly I will not be able to post pictures of the kids working on their project (legal issues, as you could imagine). It I’ll let you know how it goes.

Speaking of, how did your project work out @Gavin Richardson ?

 

My most successful attribution project involved me handing out coins and basically saying "tell me all about it at the end of the assignment," and giving them an example of a coin I wrote up. They had three days in the library I think. Students had a stack of catalogs, in various languages, to help, as well as the internet (and I floated around giving hints when they got really desperate). It was remarkable how well they did. My "scaffolded" lessons in the past were far less fun and productive.