The "SILVER" project will study the composition of silver coins from the ancient worlds (Greek and Roman) up to 250 AD thanks to very advanced technologies used daily by geochemists. The questions raised are those of the origin of money and the link between economic development and the circulation of silver coins and objects of worship.
At the time, money was the foundation of the current economy: it was used to pay salaries and balances, as well as for ordinary transactions. Gold was too rare to be really useful for the payment needs of the population. As for copper as it was used for small change, in the Egypt of the Ptolemies for example, it was of such little value that people were forced to mint heavy coins. In addition, copper money competed with the demand for bronze used for weapons. It is therefore through money that wealth circulated and it is the study of this circulation that is the subject of this project.
Currently, there are 2,771 entries in the database.
The Greek Die-Studies Database (GDSD) aims to gather and make available all the produced die-studies for the Greek world in its broad acceptance from Spain. It is intended to offer a key tool for putting monetary productions into perspective and estimating their volumes. The GDSD largely enlarges and improves the c. 630 cases collected and presented by the two Recueils quantitatifs de la production monétaire. The development of the website by Bernhard Krabina has been made possible by the ERC SILVER with grateful thoughts for Francis Albarède who allows to hire Dr. Caroline Carrier who carefully prepared the spreadsheets for more than 2,000 die-studies. 1 2
Currently, there are 2,963 entries in the database.
