Fitzwilliam Museum - Coins as an Historical Source:
In the field of Classical Studies, in particular, where the quantity of sources is very restricted, coins constitute a major body of historical, economic and artistic material and evidence. The surviving coins by far outnumber other groups of sources such as ceramics and inscriptions, and contrary to most other classical remains they automatically mirror the public sphere, as by definition their value and acceptance must be guaranteed by the state. So coins - both in themselves and in the context of hoards - are not only sources for economic history or just a medium for art work, but they can also give extensive information about - official - religion and cult, political thought, ideology and autonomous artistic features such as portraiture as well as monetary policy. Nevertheless the numismatic material is still far from being incorporated or understood, and is not well exploited in Classical Studies overall. In Greek numismatics, with its countless coin striking authorities - the poleis, tribes and dynasts - the material is still undergoing the process of collecting and classification. In many cases, the very existence of a polis is only known from its coins.
With some 200,000 numismatic objects, the Fitzwilliam Museum's collection is one of international importance, and the Museum is one of the three main centres for numismatic study in the United Kingdom.
Almost every civilization has had some form of currency, but coins first proliferated nearly three thousand years ago among the Lydians, in what is today modern Turkey. Called croesids, in honor of the Lydian king Croesus, these early coins were quickly copied by the Greeks, who found them easier to exchange than land, cattle, or any of the other commodities of the ancient world. Everyday objects had long served the same purpose, but coins were more durable than the cowrie shells of Africa and more portable than the fei stones of Micronesia, although less delicious than the cocoa seeds of Central America. Parallel money systems took shape in Asia around the same time as in Lydia, with decorative karshapana circulating in stamped and unstamped forms in ancient India and coins that were not round but ornately shaped to resemble knives and farming implements changing hands in China. The earliest incarnations did not display the year or the denomination; instead, their value was understood through material or convention—nomos—and their study, first described by Herodotus, became known as nomismata.
An excerpt from, "Coins as an indispensable communication tool for Roman emperors" Radboud University, March 31, 2022:
Today it is hard to avoid visual stimuli – from advertisements and news reports to announcements and political statements. Roman emperors had significantly fewer options at their disposal, but they were able to spread messages about their reign via coins that circulated throughout the empire. Emperors used coins to announce their titles, illustrate their conquests and depict imposing buildings that were built during their reign.
A ten-volume catalogue was recently published online featuring coins from Emperor Augustus to Zeno – from the period between 31 BC and 491 AD. Betjes was particularly grateful for its arrival. “40,000 coins produced in a period spanning almost five centuries. The catalogue clearly shows how emperors wanted to present themselves in the Roman Empire. You can also see how coins changed and in what respects they remained the same.”
. . .It is difficult to measure the influence of these coins. “Because coins were taken for granted as a means of payment, they were hardly ever written about.” “The famous Roman writer Suetonius once commented on a strange coin issued by Emperor Nero, and Julian the Apostate, the last pagan emperor, was criticised for his unchristian coins. But, in fact, hardly anything was written about the messages on coins.”
However, people really did pay attention to what was on the coins – as we can see from coins issued by emperors with a less than favourable reputation. “Take Maximinus Thrax, for example. He was a good general, but also a demanding emperor who imposed high taxes. People scratched his head off the coins.” The general public had a keen eye for detail, as is also evidenced by Caligula's coins; people scratched off the C of his name. “Although we cannot say with any certainty how much impact the coins had, they were an indispensable means of communication for Roman emperors.”
Epigraphy is the study of inscriptions, or epigraphs, as writing; it is the science of identifying graphemes, clarifying their meanings, classifying their uses according to dates and cultural contexts, and drawing conclusions about the writing and the writers. Specifically excluded from epigraphy are the historical significance of an epigraph as a document and the artistic value of a literary composition. A person using the methods of epigraphy is called an epigrapher or epigraphist.. . .Epigraphy is a primary tool of archaeology when dealing with literate cultures. The US Library of Congress classifies epigraphy as one of the auxiliary sciences of history.. . .The Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum, begun by Mommsen and other scholars, has been published in Berlin since 1863, with wartime interruptions. It is the largest and most extensive collection of Latin inscriptions. New fascicles are still produced as the recovery of inscriptions continues. The Corpus is arranged geographically: all inscriptions from Rome are contained in volume 6. This volume has the greatest number of inscriptions; volume 6, part 8, fascicle 3 was just recently published (2000). Specialists depend on such on-going series of volumes in which newly discovered inscriptions are published, often in Latin, not unlike the biologists' Zoological Record – the raw material of history.. . .For us, accustomed as we are to a vast mass of books, newspapers and other printed or digital documents, it is difficult to realise the extensive use and great convenience assigned to inscriptions in ancient times. Not only were public announcements of all sorts, such as we should make known by advertisements or posters, thus placed before the public, but all kinds of records and enactments – codes of law and political decrees; regulations for all matters, civil and religious; accounts and contracts, public and private; treaties between states; records of public and private benefactions and dedications, and all matters of administration; honours to the living and to the memory of the dead. Many of these were intended to preserve for all time the records which they contained; but others must have been of only temporary interest. It seems, therefore, the more remarkable that they should have been incised on permanent material such as bronze, marble or stone – and incised in the first instance, with a care and perfection of technique which have led to their survival to the present day, so as to preserve for us invaluable evidence as to the life and institutions of the people who made them. Temporary and permanent value are therefore often combined in the same inscription. For instance, any Athenian citizen, visiting the Acropolis or the Agora, could satisfy themselves at first hand as to treaties or decrees of the people, public accounts or state income and expenditure. And at the same time these documents preserved for all time much history, both social and political.
Today, whenever someone comes to power, they simply announce it using newspapers, or TV, or the internet. In the 7th century, when these medias didn't exist, in order for a new king or a caliph to announce to his subjects who he was, he only had one vehicle to do so, and that was minting coins. Everybody had to use coins, so what better way than minting them to say who you were.Thus, the information concerning who was in power and who was in charge in the 7th century lay entirely in coins. The Caliph would include an image of himself, along with his name, and a symbol of his religion on the coin he was minting.So, any coins minted between 622 AD and 661 AD, the period of the 'Rightly Guided Caliphs' should be replete with references to these initial Islamic caliphs, such as Muhammad, Abu Bakr, Umar and Ali. At least they should have images of them, and references to them.According to the Standard Islamic Narrative (SIN), Mecca and Medina would have been the seats of power at this time, as it was where the Caliphs lived and reigned.So, there should be numerous coins with these caliphs names on them, and references to something to do with Islam.Yet, all the coins from that era and that place say nothing about any of these 'rightly guided caliphs', nor anything which we could identify as Islamic at all.
After proving with the coins that the Standard Islamic Narrative is completely wrong concerning how Islam began, we now go to the Rock Inscriptions to find a similar problem.Rock Inscriptions, because they are made out of rocks which don't disintegrate or deteriorate over the centuries, are excellent pieces of evidence from the 7th century to give us a window into what was happening in that part of the world and at that time.So far researchers have located over 100,000 Rock inscriptions with 30,000 of them catalogued and surveyed across Arabia, the Negev, the Trans-Jordan, and Syria. Another 70,000 more have yet to be catalogued.One would expect Muhammad’s name, or references to Islam, or to Muslims, or even references to the Qur'an and Mecca on these inscriptions, all of which are located along the Haj routes, yet we don’t find one inscription with any of these references on them until after 690 AD, a full 60 years after Muhammad supposedly died.