IMC 2014: Sessions
Session 121: Coining and Sealing Empire in the Middle Ages
Monday 7 July 2014, 11.15-12.45
| Organiser: | Susan Solway, Barat College, DePaul University, Illinois |
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| Moderator/Chair: | Susan Solway, Barat College, DePaul University, Illinois |
| Paper 121-a | The Face of the Emperor and the Face of the King: Numismatic Evidence from Vandal North Africa and Ostrogothic Italy (Language: English) Index terms: Art History - General, Historiography - Medieval, Numismatics |
| Paper 121-b | The 'Currency' of Rome: Coining Empire in the Middle Ages (Language: English) Index terms: Art History - General, Art History - Decorative Arts |
| Paper 121-c | The Emperor's New Hair: Imitation and Innovation in Coin Portraits in the Post-Roman West, 5th-9th Centuries (Language: English) Index terms: Mentalities, Numismatics, Political Thought |
| Abstract | During the Middle Ages, coins and seals served crucial political and ideological purposes beyond their most basic functions, which, for coins, was their use as a commercial means of exchange (i.e., currency), and, for seals, to validate and authenticate documents. The principal official material symbols attesting to the identity and to the legitimacy of those in power, they were uniquely positioned to function as cultural signifiers charged with social, religious, and especially, political meaning. This session investigates ways that coins and seals served as vehicles of meaning and signification, conveying imperial messages, and contributing to the concept of 'empire' in the medieval period. |