"Indianisation" of a Roman coin design in Early Historic India: a study of an imitation from the British Museum

2022, 31, Tom 31, Nr Regular Issue


Publication date

30.12.2022

Publishing model

open access

License type


Field

Humanities

Discipline

archeology

Language of publication

English

Downloads

PDF 745 KB

Article

Number of views:749

Number of downloads:133

Crossref citations:0

Altmetric score:0


Abstract

Roman aurei and solidi in India led to imitations of gold being produced there of these coins, with a gradual infiltration of indigenous elements observed in the iconography of some examples. An imitation of a Roman aureus, now in the British Museum collection, demonstrates how the Roman coin design was renegotiated to fit an Early Historic Indian cultural landscape. Specifically, the design of the reverse of this specimen finds no prototype in Roman coinage of the times. It must have been a local development, with the Indian craftsman reworking a representation of a female deity known from issues of the Roman emperor Antoninus Pius and adding a temple to it. The Indian form of the building suggests that the figure should be interpreted as a Hindu goddess, possibly Lakshmi, shown in the act of blessing her temple.

Keywords:

Bibliography

RIC I2 = Sutherland, C.H.V. (1984). The Roman imperial coinage I. From 31 BC to AD 69 (2nd, rev. ed.). London: Spink & Son

RIC II.12 = Carradice, I. and Buttrey, T.V. (2007). The Roman imperial coinage II.1. From AD 69–96: Vespasian to Domitian (2nd, rev. ed.). London: Spink & Son

RIC III = Mattingly, H. and Sydenham, E.A. (1930). The Roman imperial coinage III. Antoninus Pius to Commodus. London: Spink & Son

RIC IV.1 = Mattingly, H. and Sydenham, E.A. (1938). The Roman imperial coinage IV.1. Pertinax to Geta. London: Spink & SonAbdy, R., Moorhead, S., and Bracey, R. (2018). Vespasian and a humped bull? Journal of the Oriental Numismatic Society, 231, 27–28

Agrawala, P.K. (1965). The depiction of punch-marked coins in early Indian art. Journal of the Numismatic Society of India, 27, 170–176

Ahuja, N.P. (2005). Changing gods, enduring rituals: Observations on early Indian religion as seen through terracotta imagery, c. 200 BC–AD 100. In C. Jarrige and V. Lefèvre (eds), South Asian archaeology 2001: Proceedings of the sixteenth international conference of the European Association of South Asian Archaeologists, held in Collège de France, Paris, 2–6 July 2001, II (pp. 345–354). Paris: Éd. Recherche sur les Civilisations

Allan, J. (1936). Catalogue of the coins of ancient India. London: British Museum

Anne van’t Haaff, P. (2004). Saurashtra, c. 450–50 B.C., Surasena, c. 500–350 B.C. Silver punchmarked coinage. Nasik: IIRNS Publications

Aravamuthan, T.G. (1938). Catalogue of Venetian coins in the Madras Government Museum. Madras: Government Press

Berghaus, P. (1993). Indian imitations of Roman coins. In Séminaire de Numismatique Marcel Hoc (ed.), Actes du XIe congrès international de numismatique organisé à l’occasion du 150e anniversaire de la Société Royale de Numismatique de belgique: Bruxelles, 8–13 septembre 1991, II. Monnaies celtiques et romaines (pp. 305–310). Louvain-la-Neuve: Société Royale de Numismatique de Belgique

Bhandare, S. (2004). Foreign coins in traditional jewellery of Deccan. In D.W. MacDowell and A. Jha (eds), Foreign coins found in the Indian subcontinent: 8th–10th January, 1995; 4th international colloquium (pp. 111–114). Nasik: IIRNS Publications

Borell, B. (2014). The power of images—Coin portraits of Roman emperors on jewellery pendants in early Southeast Asia. Zeitschrift fur Archäologie Aussereuropäischer Kulturen, 6, 7–43

Bracey, R. (2012). Policy, patronage, and the shrinking pantheon of the Kushans. In V. Jayaswal (ed.), Glory of the Kushans: Recent discoveries and interpretations (pp. 197–217). New Delhi: Aryan Books International

Brancaccio, P. (2005). Perceptions of “Westerners” in Satavahana times: The archaeological evidence. In C. Jarrige and V. Lefèvre (eds), South Asian archaeology 2001: Proceedings of the sixteenth international conference of the European Association of South Asian Archaeologists, held in Collège de France, Paris, 2–6 July 2001, II (pp. 401–406). Paris: Éd. Recherche sur les Civilisations

Coomaraswamy, A.K. (1927). History of Indian and Indonesian art. London: Edward Goldston

Cribb, J. (1998). The end of Greek coinage in Bactria and India and its evidence for the Kushan coinage system. In R. Ashton and S. Hurter (eds), Studies in Greek numismatics in memory of Martin Jessop Price (pp. 83–98). London: Spink & Son

Cunningham, A. (1891). Coins of ancient India. From the earliest times down to the seventh century AD. London: B. Quaritch

Darley, R.R. (2013). Indo-Byzantine exchange, 4th to 7th centuries: A global history (Ph.D. diss.). University of Birmingham

Errington, E. and Cribb, J. (eds). (1992). The crossroads of Asia: Transformation in image and symbol in the art of ancient Afghanistan and Pakistan. Cambridge: Ancient India and Iran Trust

Göbl, R. (1976). The Roman-Kushanian medallion in the British Museum. Journal of the Numismatic Society of India, 38, 21–26

Göbl, R. (1984). System und Chronologie der Münzprägung des Kušānreiches. Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften

Gopal, R. (2005). Venetian coins in Karnataka. Hospet: Government of Karnataka, Directorate of Archaeology and Museums

Gupta, P.L. (1987). The Brahmanya coins. Numismatic Digest, 11, 28–39

Gupta, P.L. (1988). Numismatic history of Himachal Pradesh, and the catalogue of coins in Himachal State Museum, Shimla, and Bhuri Singh Museum, Chamba. New Delhi: B.R. Publishing Corporation

Handa, D. (2007). Tribal coins of ancient India. New Delhi: Aryan Books International

Jayaswal, K.P. (1955). Hindu polity: A constitutional history of India in Hindu times. Bangalore City: Bangalore Printing and Publishing Co.

Jongeward, D., Cribb, J., and Donovan, P. (2015). Kushan, Kushano-Sasanian, and Kidarite coins: A catalogue of coins from the American Numismatic Society. New York: The American Numismatic Society

Kemmers, F. and Myrberg, N. (2011). Rethinking numismatics. The archaeology of coins. Archaeological Dialogues, 18(1), 87–108

Kuwayama, S. (1997). A hidden import from imperial Rome manifest in stupas. In F.R. Allchin, B. Allchin, N. Kreitman, and E. Errington (eds), Gandharan art in context: East-west exchanges at the crossroads of Asia (pp. 119–171). New Delhi: Regency Publications

Lal, B.B. (1949). Sisupalgarh 1948: An early historical fort in eastern India. Ancient India, 5, 62–105

Mann, R D. (2012). The rise of Mahāsena: The transformation of Skanda-Kārttikeya in North India from the Kuṣāṇa to Gupta Empires. Leiden–Boston: Brill

Mishra, S.V. and Ray, H.P. (2017). The archaeology of sacred spaces: The temple in Western India, 2nd century BCE–8th century CE. London–New York: Routledge

Mitchiner, M. (1998). The coinage and history of southern India I. Karnataka—Andhra. London: Hawkins

Mitchiner, M. (2004). Ancient trade and early coinage. London: Hawkins Publications

Pieper, W. (2013). Ancient Indian coins revisited. Lancaster, PA: Classical Numismatic Group

Rajgor, D. (1996). Coinage of Saurashtra Janapada. Journal of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, 56, 87–109

Singh, K. (2018). Two new kings of Panchala. Journal of the Oriental Numismatic Society, 234, 15–17

Smagur, E. (2018). From coin to bulla: A cultural response to the influx of Roman denarii to India. Numismatic Digest, 42, 63–78

Smagur, E. (2020). Regulated Roman coins and their imitations from India: Did Roman coins circulate as money in the Subcontinent? Notae Numismaticae – Zapiski Numizmatyczne, 15, 179–210

Smagur, E. (forthcoming). Indian imitations of Roman aurei reconsidered. The Numismatic Chronicle, 182

Smith, M.L. (2015). The concept of copies: An archaeological view of the terracotta ornaments from Sisupalgarh, India. West 86th: A Journal of Decorative Arts, Design History, and Material Culture, 22(1), 23–43

Srinivasan, D.M. (2010). Śrī-Lakṣmī in early art: Incorporating the north-western evidence. South Asian Studies, 26(1), 77–95

Stone, E.R. (2006). “The Amaravati Master”: Spatial conventions in the art of Amaravati. In A. Banerji (ed.), Hari smriti: Studies on art, archaeology, and Indology: Papers presented in memory of Dr. Haribishnu Sarkar I (pp. 51–60). New Delhi: Kaveri Books

Stone, E.R. (2008). The sculpture of Andhra Pradesh and Roman imperial imagery. In P. Chenna Reddy (ed.), Krishnabhinandana: Archaeological, historical, and cultural studies: Festschrift to Dr. V.V. Krishna Sastry (pp. 100–106). New Delhi: Research India Press

Stone, E.R. (2016). Reflections of Roman art in Southern India. In A. Shimada and M.D. Willis (eds), Amaravati: The art of an early Buddhist monument in context (pp. 59–69). London: The British Museum

Thurston, E. (1909). Castes and tribes of southern India V. Madras: Government Press

Turner, P.J. (1989). Roman coins from India. London: Royal Numismatic Society

Tye, R. (1984). Punch-marked silver coins of Saurashtra. Oriental Numismatic Society Newsletter, 92–93, 8

Zin, M. (2015). Pictures of paradise for good luck and prosperity: Depictions of Thames irrelevant for enlightenment in the Older Buddhist tradition (with special reference to the paintings of Ajanta). In V. Kumar and B. Rawat (eds), Mani-sushma: Archaeology and heritage (Dr. B.R. Mani festschrift) I (pp. 125–147). Delhi: B.R. Publishing Corporation

Zin, M. (2016). Buddhist narratives and Amaravati. In A. Shimada and M.D. Willis (eds), Amaravati: The art of an early Buddhist monument in context (pp. 46–58). London: The British Museum

Similar publications