Robert Bracey
The British Museum, Money and Medals, Department Member
- The British Museum, Beyond Boundaries, Post-DocThe British Museum, Coins and Medals, Department Member, and 2 moreadd
- Robert Bracey has worked on a variety of research projects associated with the British Museum: the Kushan Coins Proje... moreRobert Bracey has worked on a variety of research projects associated with the British Museum: the Kushan Coins Project; Empires of Faith; and currently Beyond Boundaries. He also works with the collection of South and Central Asian coins.edit
This paper was originally prepared for a conference in November 2019, but the subsequent publication is not easily available in the UK, so it was reprinted in JONS vol.253. The main body and footnotes of the article remain unchanged and... more
This paper was originally prepared for a conference in November 2019, but the subsequent publication is not easily available in the UK, so it was reprinted in JONS vol.253. The main body and footnotes of the article remain unchanged and the style of the original has been retained, but the bibliography has been updated, and a postscript has been added at the end to include work since 2019.
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Originally posted online in 2007 this paper looks at the depictions of the female body in sculpture in the Kushan period.
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The 1960 London Conference on the Date of Kanishka involved many leading scholars of Central and South Asian studies and had a profound impact on the field. This article examines the historiography of the central problem posed at the... more
The 1960 London Conference on the Date of Kanishka involved many leading scholars of Central and South Asian studies and had a profound impact on the field. This article examines the historiography of the central problem posed at the conference: In what year did the era of Kanishka commence? It traces the advances in evidence that led to the solution of AD 127 between 2000 and 2010. The complexity of this process is often omitted in historiographical accounts, which opens the final solution to criticism and also fails to address why the field polarised after 1960 and found it so hard to reconcile new evidence. The article suggests that the eventual solution was a result of the cumulative effect of new data. It also shows that the field as a whole arrived at a solution long before it arrived at a consensus. This suggests that the failure of new evidence to bring about a solution more quickly is a major challenge to South and Central Asian studies in the future.
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A short overview of the published catalogues of 'Iranian Hun' coins including some sample images. The appendix to the source book provides some concordances and explains the slightly daunting numbering system which has accumulated through... more
A short overview of the published catalogues of 'Iranian Hun' coins including some sample images. The appendix to the source book provides some concordances and explains the slightly daunting numbering system which has accumulated through several decades of work by numismatists in Vienna. The whole collection (included in the document) is excellently edited by Daniel Balogh.
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A short overview of the Playing with Money exhibition at the British Museum in 2019 which looked at representations of money in board games, the history of gambling, and the use of money as a toy through the centuries.
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Discusses the problem of dating minor sculpture in the Kushan period where dated examples are rare or unknown.
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From the catalogue of the Ashmolean exhibition Imaging the Divine, edited by Stefanie Lenk and Jas Elsner
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A short piece in the exhibition catalogue 'Imagining the Divine' which was a temporary exhibition held at the Ashmolean museum in Oxford (October 2017 to February 2018). The exhibition contrasted how the iconography of five different... more
A short piece in the exhibition catalogue 'Imagining the Divine' which was a temporary exhibition held at the Ashmolean museum in Oxford (October 2017 to February 2018). The exhibition contrasted how the iconography of five different religions developed in the first millennium. Steffi planned the whole exhibition while I worked primarily on Buddhism - but we wrote this piece together on the important role women played in all of these developments.
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Published in the Proceedings of the International Numismatic Congress, it is based on a presentation at the INC in Taormino in 2015, a draft of which was posted on academia.edu in advance. The question of how die charts relate to the... more
Published in the Proceedings of the International Numismatic Congress, it is based on a presentation at the INC in Taormino in 2015, a draft of which was posted on academia.edu in advance. The question of how die charts relate to the production of ancient coinage is still unclear and the paper attempts to specifically address the logic of interpreting non-planar charts.
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The 1960 London Conference on the Date of Kanishka involved many leading scholars of Central and South Asian studies and had a profound impact on the field. This paper examines the historiography of the central problem posed at the... more
The 1960 London Conference on the Date of Kanishka involved many leading scholars of Central and South Asian studies and had a profound impact on the field. This paper examines the historiography of the central problem posed at the conference: in what year did the era of Kanishka commence? It traces the advances in evidence that led to the solution of AD 127 between 2000 and 2010. The complexity of this process is often omitted in historiographical accounts, which opens the final solution to criticism and also fails to address why the field polarised after 1960 and found it so hard to reconcile new evidence. The paper suggests that eventual solution was a result of the cumulative effect of new data. It also shows that the field as a whole arrived at a solution long before it arrived at a consensus. This suggests that the failure of new evidence to bring about a solution more quickly is a major challenge to South and Central Asian studies in the future.
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This paper is preliminary to two larger studies, one being prepared by other authors is a study of gold coins through XRF, my own is on the coinages of Sind in the third to the fifth century AD.
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** In the summary table the entry (and figure) for AS2ii duplicates AS1ii and should be ignored** The Amirs of Sind issued coins from the early ninth century until they were deposed by Mahmud of Ghazni in the eleventh. This paper uses... more
** In the summary table the entry (and figure) for AS2ii duplicates AS1ii and should be ignored**
The Amirs of Sind issued coins from the early ninth century until they were deposed by Mahmud of Ghazni in the eleventh. This paper uses the database of finds from the Museums in Rajasthan to explore the distribution of later Amirs of Sind coins. As it shows, ironically, the Amirs coins are primarily known from finds in Rajasthan which over-represent the later Amirs.
The Amirs of Sind issued coins from the early ninth century until they were deposed by Mahmud of Ghazni in the eleventh. This paper uses the database of finds from the Museums in Rajasthan to explore the distribution of later Amirs of Sind coins. As it shows, ironically, the Amirs coins are primarily known from finds in Rajasthan which over-represent the later Amirs.
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[I don't have an electronic offprint so the download here is a very late draft of the paper - there were no substantial changes in the published version but probably some typos] In this paper I look at the Brahmi inscriptions of the... more
[I don't have an electronic offprint so the download here is a very late draft of the paper - there were no substantial changes in the published version but probably some typos]
In this paper I look at the Brahmi inscriptions of the Kushan period and if they can be dated by using letter forms. It is well known that many inscriptions in Brahmi are dated and that these dates are in several different eras. The question therefore arises as to whether the inscriptions whose eras we know can be used as a guide to those whose eras we don't. Here I explore by building an index series of letter forms for securely dated inscriptions. Which shows how certain forms (particularly 'sya' 'ma' etc) do change over the period but how the evidence of change is weakest in precisely that part of the period where it would be most useful.
In this paper I look at the Brahmi inscriptions of the Kushan period and if they can be dated by using letter forms. It is well known that many inscriptions in Brahmi are dated and that these dates are in several different eras. The question therefore arises as to whether the inscriptions whose eras we know can be used as a guide to those whose eras we don't. Here I explore by building an index series of letter forms for securely dated inscriptions. Which shows how certain forms (particularly 'sya' 'ma' etc) do change over the period but how the evidence of change is weakest in precisely that part of the period where it would be most useful.
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"This includes a die corpus of the coins of Wima Kadphises (a 'live' version is available at the link) as well as a discussion of the order of the die corpus. The article re-orders the coins and lays out the mint structure based on the... more
"This includes a die corpus of the coins of Wima Kadphises (a 'live' version is available at the link) as well as a discussion of the order of the die corpus. The article re-orders the coins and lays out the mint structure based on the die study. Wima was the first Kushan Emperor to issue gold and the study shows that this began as one-off productions in the same tradition as earlier NW India, Central Asian gold issues and only became a regular production at the end of his reign. It also shows how with the exception of the first gold issue the images of the Kushan god Wesho derive from the copper coinage.
This is also the article in which I introduce the concepts of non-planar graphs for establishing the existence of more than two work stations. At the time this was the only three work-station arrangement that had been published predating Carroccio's publication on 'Parallel Striking Reconstruction...' in 2011 and at the time I had not seen the year 3 Herod types studied by Ariel and Fontanille and for which I published a clearer description of the analysis in 2012. The application of graph theory to die studies is still very basic (using only the simplest graph theory concepts) and requires much more detailed working through.
The paper here is not paginated as it is a pdf of the original paper rather than an offprint. Note in Phase III a new type has been published since this article was written (it is noted in the live catalogue but not in the paper).
This is also the article in which I introduce the concepts of non-planar graphs for establishing the existence of more than two work stations. At the time this was the only three work-station arrangement that had been published predating Carroccio's publication on 'Parallel Striking Reconstruction...' in 2011 and at the time I had not seen the year 3 Herod types studied by Ariel and Fontanille and for which I published a clearer description of the analysis in 2012. The application of graph theory to die studies is still very basic (using only the simplest graph theory concepts) and requires much more detailed working through.
The paper here is not paginated as it is a pdf of the original paper rather than an offprint. Note in Phase III a new type has been published since this article was written (it is noted in the live catalogue but not in the paper).
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Robert Bracey, “KUSHAN DYNASTY iv. Coinage of the Kushans,” Encyclopædia Iranica, online edition, 2016, available at http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/kushan-dynasty-04 (accessed on 17 August 2016).
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A short note on an imitation Roman Coin in the British Museum
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This is an analysis of how coins are attributed to mints and how those mints are located in Kushan studies. It gives a number of examples of attribution, including a lengthy and previously unpublished account of the organization of the... more
This is an analysis of how coins are attributed to mints and how those mints are located in Kushan studies. It gives a number of examples of attribution, including a lengthy and previously unpublished account of the organization of the control marks on the coinage of Shaka (the penultimate Kushan Emperor), followed by a section which examines the evidence for different sites acting as mints.
Errata: On page 127 I go to some trouble to explain the relative positions of Sarghoda (in the north) and Dada Fatehpur (in the south) and that they are linked, respectively to Mint B and Mint A. I then put A in brackets for the northern mint and B for the southern. These should be the other way round.
Errata: On page 127 I go to some trouble to explain the relative positions of Sarghoda (in the north) and Dada Fatehpur (in the south) and that they are linked, respectively to Mint B and Mint A. I then put A in brackets for the northern mint and B for the southern. These should be the other way round.
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"This article explores the evidence for rapid production of the 'year 3' type of the coinage of Herod. This has implications for the interpretation of that coinage and its relationship to Herod's conquest of Jerusalem. This is not my... more
"This article explores the evidence for rapid production of the 'year 3' type of the coinage of Herod. This has implications for the interpretation of that coinage and its relationship to Herod's conquest of Jerusalem. This is not my research. Ariel and Fontanille have now published a large volume on the coinage of Herod and this article is based on data they kindly shared. I made a very small contribution by assisting in the analysis of die study. In this paper I present an extended analysis of the 2009 paper in Gandharan Studies discussion of the relationship between non-planar graphs and the use of three or more workstations.
The paper is not straightforward and the problem needs to be revisited. Another paper was published about the same time which argued for more than three work-stations in a number of Greek mints. The analysis was flawed but the problem of extending the analysis to four work-stations remains (in fact just generalising the analysis)
The paper is not straightforward and the problem needs to be revisited. Another paper was published about the same time which argued for more than three work-stations in a number of Greek mints. The analysis was flawed but the problem of extending the analysis to four work-stations remains (in fact just generalising the analysis)
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I prepared this paper in 2008 but it wasn't published until 2012. As a result some things moved on in that period. I've spoken to people very sceptical about the Sarapis theory I quoted part way through and one new god has shown up in the... more
I prepared this paper in 2008 but it wasn't published until 2012. As a result some things moved on in that period. I've spoken to people very sceptical about the Sarapis theory I quoted part way through and one new god has shown up in the Kushan pantheon since. I would not insist as strong as this reads on the essential unity of the pantheon (though I'm more convinced than I was about the essentially closed nature of the royal pantheon).
In this paper I looked at the evidence for Kushan royal patronage (particularly that of the gold coinage) and how that is interpreted. A lot of existing literature sees the gold coinage as reflecting a variety of different religious beliefs which the king's patronised. I argued two-fold that the apparent diversity is a very narrow window, essentially the reigns of Kanishka and Huvishka (and in a recent ONS talk I explained how the greatest diversity belongs to an even narrower period in the reign of Huvishka); and secondly that the pantheon can be seen as much more coherent than it is often given credit for.
This is a big topic, there is a lot here I skim over or don't tackle (such as the identification of the 'archer' on Huvishka's copper). However, I think the thrust of the argument that the coins reflect, often mediated through workers who don't understand, a religious practice that is coherent, and essentially detached from other religious activity in the period.
In this paper I looked at the evidence for Kushan royal patronage (particularly that of the gold coinage) and how that is interpreted. A lot of existing literature sees the gold coinage as reflecting a variety of different religious beliefs which the king's patronised. I argued two-fold that the apparent diversity is a very narrow window, essentially the reigns of Kanishka and Huvishka (and in a recent ONS talk I explained how the greatest diversity belongs to an even narrower period in the reign of Huvishka); and secondly that the pantheon can be seen as much more coherent than it is often given credit for.
This is a big topic, there is a lot here I skim over or don't tackle (such as the identification of the 'archer' on Huvishka's copper). However, I think the thrust of the argument that the coins reflect, often mediated through workers who don't understand, a religious practice that is coherent, and essentially detached from other religious activity in the period.
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This article was prepared with W.A Oddy. Essentially it just introduces a programme of research that Andrew Oddy undertook in the late 1970s and early 1980s on Gold coins of Central and South Asia. He carried out extensive specific... more
This article was prepared with W.A Oddy. Essentially it just introduces a programme of research that Andrew Oddy undertook in the late 1970s and early 1980s on Gold coins of Central and South Asia. He carried out extensive specific gravity tests (a measure of density) on the coins which made it possible to understand the gradual debasement of those coins. An analysis of that work was published by Andrew with Joe Cribb in Ex Moneta, 1998. However the results themselves only existed on file cards. The link takes you to a complete spreadsheet of the data.
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This paper was published after a single day event celebrating the 150th anniversary of the Coins & Medals department of the British Museum, at which I was asked to talk about South Asian coins. I wanted to spend the paper trying to... more
This paper was published after a single day event celebrating the 150th anniversary of the Coins & Medals department of the British Museum, at which I was asked to talk about South Asian coins. I wanted to spend the paper trying to explore ways in which new ways of doing (at least new for South and Central Asian ancient numismatics) history were transforming the stories told about the period I work on, which is primarily the Kushan dynasty. I talk about the use of die studies to understand numismatics and about the concept of a coinage tradition which was introduced in a number of articles by Joe Cribb. I even spend a few lines talking about wikipedia, and had I been more presient I suspect I would have spent more than that (since then I've had the chance to see a Wikithon at a public institution and become involved in a collaborative project which has highlighted both the strengths and weaknessess of just how radically different wikipedia's model is from traditional scholarship).
Anyway the paper should not be seen as research but as op-ed on what I think is worth doing in South and Central Asian numismatics.
Anyway the paper should not be seen as research but as op-ed on what I think is worth doing in South and Central Asian numismatics.
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An editorial piece as part of a themed issue on collecting.
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I was asked to prepare a review of online numismatic databases, which was accompanied by a list of links on the Money and Medals network site. I view the article in this case as a fluid one so the version that appears here has been... more
I was asked to prepare a review of online numismatic databases, which was accompanied by a list of links on the Money and Medals network site. I view the article in this case as a fluid one so the version that appears here has been amended and altered following changes in the material I was reviewing or comments by readers.
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This article was a response to an article by Meenakshi Singh in which he used a coin of Huvishka to argue the Kushan Emperor was devotee of the Hindu divinity Skanda. What is here is based on work by Gobl (1984) and Rosenfield (1967) so... more
This article was a response to an article by Meenakshi Singh in which he used a coin of Huvishka to argue the Kushan Emperor was devotee of the Hindu divinity Skanda. What is here is based on work by Gobl (1984) and Rosenfield (1967) so doesn't add anything new, but the data in those is inaccessible.
I first of all demonstrated how the coin used by Singh is in fact a case of damage to the die and then discuss some other examples of bird symbolism on the coins. Other than summarising existing research I am presenting an argument about the way coins are made. It is still the case today in numismatics that coins are treated as if they direct expressions of a rulers will. In fact they are mediated by a whole series of people involved in their production and by the need for them to perform a particular function (as money). So it is the same ground as my short 2008 note on Huvishka.
I first of all demonstrated how the coin used by Singh is in fact a case of damage to the die and then discuss some other examples of bird symbolism on the coins. Other than summarising existing research I am presenting an argument about the way coins are made. It is still the case today in numismatics that coins are treated as if they direct expressions of a rulers will. In fact they are mediated by a whole series of people involved in their production and by the need for them to perform a particular function (as money). So it is the same ground as my short 2008 note on Huvishka.
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A very short note on die engraving in the reign of the Kushan Emperor Huvishka. It touches on the same issues in my 2009 JNSI article, who makes coin images and how the intentions of rulers are mediated.
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"This is a short narrative account of the Hellenistic Kingdoms of Bactria, Gandhara, and the Punjab from the time of Diodotus to the last Greek named kings Strato II and III. It is not going to go online because it is not very good.... more
"This is a short narrative account of the Hellenistic Kingdoms of Bactria, Gandhara, and the Punjab from the time of Diodotus to the last Greek named kings Strato II and III. It is not going to go online because it is not very good.
Progress in an academic field depends as much on forgetting as it does on building on past work. The community has to forget the dead-ends, the flawed methodologies, the failed experiments, and misleading evidence, if it is not to become mired in an endless cycle of navel gazing. And this article is written in a paradigm of Bactrian and Indo-Greek studies which has exhausted any stock of useful contributions it might have had. Future progress in the field depends on essentially dumping large swathes of what has been written in the tradition of WW Tarn and finding a new, more technical less politically centred approach to understanding the third to first centuries in the region. "
Progress in an academic field depends as much on forgetting as it does on building on past work. The community has to forget the dead-ends, the flawed methodologies, the failed experiments, and misleading evidence, if it is not to become mired in an endless cycle of navel gazing. And this article is written in a paradigm of Bactrian and Indo-Greek studies which has exhausted any stock of useful contributions it might have had. Future progress in the field depends on essentially dumping large swathes of what has been written in the tradition of WW Tarn and finding a new, more technical less politically centred approach to understanding the third to first centuries in the region. "
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Few words have such long and complex histories, and have held such widespread influence, as those relating to money. Take the word ‘dollar’, for instance, or ‘franc’, ‘rupee’ or ‘drachma’; all terms that will be familiar to most people,... more
Few words have such long and complex histories, and have held such widespread influence, as those relating to money. Take the word ‘dollar’, for instance, or ‘franc’, ‘rupee’ or ‘drachma’; all terms that will be familiar to most people, even if they have never actually used them as currency. A new book written by curators at London’s British Museum takes an alternative approach to monetary history. It uses currency terms such as these as its starting point, discussing historical events through the prism of ten well-known coin names. Some are no longer in everyday use, but they survive as linguistic terms, preserved in vocabulary and literature. They are legacies of trade and migration, and are sometimes revived in new and unexpected ways.
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I will be speaking about Sogdian collection at the Kochnev seminar (remotely) at Hofstra on 9 March 2024
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This introduces a YouTube play list that incorporates both episodes of Historical Perspective and lectures given at various points since 2008 on the subject of die studies.
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The flyer for a seminar to be held in 2021, organised by Emilia Smaugur, on coins in Indian Ocean Trade. My own talk will be based in part on this https://youtu.be/5XMwt_NgrY4.
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An online seminar presented by Joe Cribb (with contributions by Lauren Morris and myself)
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A joint presentation by Amelia Dowler and myself as part of a day on the way academic data is stored and used. This is a basic introduction first to the issues immediately around the management of data in the project and some of the... more
A joint presentation by Amelia Dowler and myself as part of a day on the way academic data is stored and used. This is a basic introduction first to the issues immediately around the management of data in the project and some of the broader issues associated with numismatic databases.
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A conference on material culture/art history and religion in the first millenium AD, in conjunction with the exhibition taking place at the Ashmolean Museum in the same period. At which I will be chairing one of the sessions.
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This talk explores the relationship between late Kushan coins and the early Gupta issues, particularly gold.
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This event in Summer 2017 will look at the Central Asian Hunnic period (the fourth to sixth century). It will bring together a range of specialists and it is hoped that a volume of collated sources will result.
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"Is it Appropriate to Ask a Celestial Lady's Age?" As part of the first CARC seminar on the subject of chronology in Gandhara art this talk will use a piece from contemporary (and by comparison vastly understudied Mathura) to ask if how... more
"Is it Appropriate to Ask a Celestial Lady's Age?"
As part of the first CARC seminar on the subject of chronology in Gandhara art this talk will use a piece from contemporary (and by comparison vastly understudied Mathura) to ask if how much weight should be placed on the date of pieces.
The talk was recorded and is available on line.
As part of the first CARC seminar on the subject of chronology in Gandhara art this talk will use a piece from contemporary (and by comparison vastly understudied Mathura) to ask if how much weight should be placed on the date of pieces.
The talk was recorded and is available on line.
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A discussion of coin moulds in Indian archaeology.
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I will be speaking first about the structure of Kushan power, the nature of imperial administration, and the limits of the evidence we have for that. In the second part I will explore what evidence exists for the edges of the Kushan... more
I will be speaking first about the structure of Kushan power, the nature of imperial administration, and the limits of the evidence we have for that. In the second part I will explore what evidence exists for the edges of the Kushan empire, the people only partially or resistant to being incorporated.
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A well-known series of gold coins copying Sasanian designs is usually attributed to Sind in the fourth and the fifth centuries. The principle study, by Joe Cribb, remains unpublished. This talk wil look at the series in general and... more
A well-known series of gold coins copying Sasanian designs is usually attributed to Sind in the fourth and the fifth centuries. The principle study, by Joe Cribb, remains unpublished. This talk wil look at the series in general and suggest, following Cribb, it was issued by a Hunnic polity.
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The Therigatha is a collection of poems known in the Pali tradition and attributed to the first generation of nuns who were ordained by the Buddha. Conventional wisdom, as represented by the four independent translations into English, is... more
The Therigatha is a collection of poems known in the Pali tradition and attributed to the first generation of nuns who were ordained by the Buddha. Conventional wisdom, as represented by the four independent translations into English, is that the poems were arranged in their current form at an early Buddhist council, by the third century BC.
This talk looked at one particular verse and the coin which its commentators, beginning in the sixth century AD with the monk Dhammapala, have identified.
This talk looked at one particular verse and the coin which its commentators, beginning in the sixth century AD with the monk Dhammapala, have identified.
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This event, held at the Univeristy of Chicago, featured presentations by members of the Empires of Faith project team on historiographic issues in first millenium Eurasian art history. The event finished with a presentation of the teams... more
This event, held at the Univeristy of Chicago, featured presentations by members of the Empires of Faith project team on historiographic issues in first millenium Eurasian art history. The event finished with a presentation of the teams work on Mithas. I gave two talks, the first 'The Gandharan Problem' looked at issues around the study of Gandharan art (first to seventh century, NW India, Pakistan, Afghanistan) and the strategies that different authors have sought to avoid the cultural biases that everyone inevitably brings to the subjects. The second 'Hindu Art(s)' examined how modern conceptions of Hinduism, particularly the way that various interests (modern practice, colonial scholarship, nationalism, a preference for textual studies) have tended towards projecting a timeless Hinduism back on to the first millenium. This paper focused on debates about how the Kushan divinity god Wesho has been identified.
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This is a copy of a poster relating to a talk which was given at the International Numismatic Congress 2015 in Taormina - warning I spotted at least one type when I first unrolled it.
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Parts of this paper were presented in Mumbai and has benefited from valuable comments at that seminar. The paper will discuss production and circulation of coins using a mathematical model. The details of the model are discussed in the... more
Parts of this paper were presented in Mumbai and has benefited from valuable comments at that seminar. The paper will discuss production and circulation of coins using a mathematical model. The details of the model are discussed in the attached document.
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This is an introduction to numismatics and its potential contribution to the historical studies of South Asia in the fourth to seventh centuries.
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For the Coins & Medals Summer School I gave talks to students on Die Studies, once with classical examples and once with medieval examples. The medieval talk was recorded and is available here. Die studies are enormously important but... more
For the Coins & Medals Summer School I gave talks to students on Die Studies, once with classical examples and once with medieval examples. The medieval talk was recorded and is available here.
Die studies are enormously important but unless you actually unpick the information from other people's studies the theory is presented at only a very basic level. This talk aims a bit higher, and though it is only an introduction it outlines the major types of analysis and touches on some of the theory that underpins them (in less than thirty minutes, you might want to use pause).
Die studies are enormously important but unless you actually unpick the information from other people's studies the theory is presented at only a very basic level. This talk aims a bit higher, and though it is only an introduction it outlines the major types of analysis and touches on some of the theory that underpins them (in less than thirty minutes, you might want to use pause).
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"The coinage of the Kushan Emperor Huvishka is typologically the most complex in the dynasty after that of Kujula Kadphises. This talk examined one narrow part of that coinage, those coins issued from the main gold mint (probably located... more
"The coinage of the Kushan Emperor Huvishka is typologically the most complex in the dynasty after that of Kujula Kadphises. This talk examined one narrow part of that coinage, those coins issued from the main gold mint (probably located near Balkh in modern Afghanistan) after the designs were reformed about half way through his reign (AD 150-190). This phase of production contains the greatest variety in the depictions of divinities of any production phase and often features (unknowlingly) as the main focus of discussions of Kushan religion.
The talk presented die studies as a form of micro history and explored what could be understood about wider historical issues by understanding in detail questions of procedure.
The talk was originally scheduled for the Money & Medals network but because of changes we made to schedules there it won't appear. As an experiment I have put it with the slides on youtube - if you listen please leave a comment so I can know this was worth the effort.
The talk presented die studies as a form of micro history and explored what could be understood about wider historical issues by understanding in detail questions of procedure.
The talk was originally scheduled for the Money & Medals network but because of changes we made to schedules there it won't appear. As an experiment I have put it with the slides on youtube - if you listen please leave a comment so I can know this was worth the effort.
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The king or emperor is displayed in his semi-divine glory and on the reverse of the coin a god offers their support. For nearly a thousand years this simple juxtaposition formed the basis for all coin designs, from Italy to Magadha.... more
The king or emperor is displayed in his semi-divine glory and on the reverse of the coin a god offers their support. For nearly a thousand years this simple juxtaposition formed the basis for all coin designs, from Italy to Magadha. Elements of the idea are Iranian but Alexander's successors, Seleucus and Ptolemy, shaped it. And in the seventh century Abd al-Malik broke decisively with the tradition.
This short talk will introduce a seminar on Image and Authority organised by Dario Calomino.
This short talk will introduce a seminar on Image and Authority organised by Dario Calomino.
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Mithra, Mihr, and Miiro are names denoting a solar divinity who appears concurrently in the iconography of the Mediterranean and Iranian worlds. This talk will present work in progress from the Empires of Faith project of the British... more
Mithra, Mihr, and Miiro are names denoting a solar divinity who appears concurrently in the iconography of the Mediterranean and Iranian worlds. This talk will present work in progress from the Empires of Faith project of the British Museum on the iconography of the god from Roman Britain to Gandhara in northern Pakistan. It will explore in various ways how comparative study of different iconographies can complement each other and give context to images only partially understood in their own settings.
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The Citi Money Gallery at the British Museum has just introduced a panel talking about 'crypto-currencies'. This talk is open to any member of the public and is part of the museums regular 'in-gallery' talks by curators. It will explain... more
The Citi Money Gallery at the British Museum has just introduced a panel talking about 'crypto-currencies'. This talk is open to any member of the public and is part of the museums regular 'in-gallery' talks by curators. It will explain what a crypto-currency is, how you make it, why its valuable, and tackle a range of problems; how does a museum display the immaterial? Are these currencies at all or just commodities? What does the history of money have to tell us about the future of bitcoin and its siblings?
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The ONS will be holding a seminar about XRF and coins. I won't be talking specifically about the XRF technique but about how to interpret the data once you've got it. Unfortunately test data is as slippery and difficult to handle as any... more
The ONS will be holding a seminar about XRF and coins. I won't be talking specifically about the XRF technique but about how to interpret the data once you've got it. Unfortunately test data is as slippery and difficult to handle as any other sort of historical source material. And this is awkward as most scientists are poorly trained to understand the complexities of interpreting sources and most historians are frankly a bit rubbish with numbers.
I will explore some of the limitations of the techniques, some of the problems in drawing conclusions, and some of the general issues to be aware of. Finally I will probably talk about a controversial example of interpreting data - the scientific data used incorrectly to support the authenticity of the modern forgery of a gold medallion of Alexander.
I will explore some of the limitations of the techniques, some of the problems in drawing conclusions, and some of the general issues to be aware of. Finally I will probably talk about a controversial example of interpreting data - the scientific data used incorrectly to support the authenticity of the modern forgery of a gold medallion of Alexander.
Research Interests:
"I will be speaking at a seminar in New York on 8 March organised by Aleksandr Naymark on Central Asian and Middle Eastern Numismatics (there is a link below). I have spoken generally, and very quickly, at the last International... more
"I will be speaking at a seminar in New York on 8 March organised by Aleksandr Naymark on Central Asian and Middle Eastern Numismatics (there is a link below). I have spoken generally, and very quickly, at the last International Numismatic Congress, and I prepared a very rough set of notes on archaeological sites and finds (there is a link for that below as well).
There are about 130 hoards of Kushan coins known, and most of them are not well published. What I will try to do in this talk, again quickly as it is only thirty minutes, will be to show that there are clear patterns and those patterns can tell us very interesting things about Kushan history. In the process I hope to highlight how important the detailed publication of hoards is, and where the gaps in our knowledge are - the points where just two or three well-published hoards could transform our understanding.
I'm hoping to put a pre-presentation paper here before I go to the talk which will cover important material."
There are about 130 hoards of Kushan coins known, and most of them are not well published. What I will try to do in this talk, again quickly as it is only thirty minutes, will be to show that there are clear patterns and those patterns can tell us very interesting things about Kushan history. In the process I hope to highlight how important the detailed publication of hoards is, and where the gaps in our knowledge are - the points where just two or three well-published hoards could transform our understanding.
I'm hoping to put a pre-presentation paper here before I go to the talk which will cover important material."
Research Interests:
The Oriental Numismatic Society will be holding a talk at the British Museum on Saturday 9 November. Several talks have already been promised and I am planning to speak about the problem of identifying prototypes for coin desings, which... more
The Oriental Numismatic Society will be holding a talk at the British Museum on Saturday 9 November. Several talks have already been promised and I am planning to speak about the problem of identifying prototypes for coin desings, which is a theoretical problem I'll be trying to engage with in the next couple of years and something I've touched on previously at a talk for the Indian Art Circle.
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This was a one hour introduction to the history of the Gandhara region and the way in which coins are used to reconstruct it for students on the Postgraduate Diploma in Ancient Art.
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The excavations of Bodh Gaya by Alexander Cunningham discovered several coins, many of which formed the back bone of the chronology he suggested for the site - including the most famous (an impression of a coin of Huvishka found in the... more
The excavations of Bodh Gaya by Alexander Cunningham discovered several coins, many of which formed the back bone of the chronology he suggested for the site - including the most famous (an impression of a coin of Huvishka found in the centre of the temple).
Less well known are a group of Nepalese coins found in constructions on the site which Cunningham identified as being issued by a Raja Prasupati in the fourth century. This talk looked at more recent work by Nicholas Rhodes and Elizabeth Errington which identified six of the coins in the British Museum collection and shows they were in fact made in the late seventh century.
It was given to set the scene at a study day organised by Michael Willis of the British Museum's Asia Department on recent work on Bodh Gaya.
Less well known are a group of Nepalese coins found in constructions on the site which Cunningham identified as being issued by a Raja Prasupati in the fourth century. This talk looked at more recent work by Nicholas Rhodes and Elizabeth Errington which identified six of the coins in the British Museum collection and shows they were in fact made in the late seventh century.
It was given to set the scene at a study day organised by Michael Willis of the British Museum's Asia Department on recent work on Bodh Gaya.
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This talk covered the limited evidence for coinage in the Multan region (lower Punjab/Upper Sind) of Pakistan up to and including the Arab conquest of the region.
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This is a brief history (and quite brief, the presentation was only twenty minutes) of the Kushan coin collection at the British Museum. I have given this talk elsewhere and this is part I, covering the nineteenth century. The talk... more
This is a brief history (and quite brief, the presentation was only twenty minutes) of the Kushan coin collection at the British Museum. I have given this talk elsewhere and this is part I, covering the nineteenth century.
The talk was broadcast for a period after it was given by the Money and Medals network.
The talk was broadcast for a period after it was given by the Money and Medals network.
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The first presentation in Oxford of this collaborative work was on 16 October 2014. This follow up event at the British Museum in London will involve all five members of the team giving lengthier presentations on particular images of... more
The first presentation in Oxford of this collaborative work was on 16 October 2014. This follow up event at the British Museum in London will involve all five members of the team giving lengthier presentations on particular images of Mithra from Roman Britain through Iran to Afghanistan and India.
Research Interests:
These are reviews of the volumes in the Murty Classical Library series (and occassionally the Clay Sanskrit library). When a new review is added a version of the file is uploaded with a copy of that new review on the first page.
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Klaus Vondrovec, Coinage of the Iranian Huns and their Successos from Bactria to Gandhara (4th to 8th century CE), Studies in the Aman ur Raman Collection Vol.4, Vienna, 2014 Matthias Pfesterer (with type drawings by Therese Eipeldauer),... more
Klaus Vondrovec, Coinage of the Iranian Huns and their Successos from Bactria to Gandhara (4th to 8th century CE), Studies in the Aman ur Raman Collection Vol.4, Vienna, 2014
Matthias Pfesterer (with type drawings by Therese Eipeldauer), Hunnen in Indien: Die Munzen der Kidarien und Alchan aus dem Bernischen Hisorischen Museum und der Sammlung Jean-Piere Righetti, Vienna, 2014
Matthias Pfesterer (with type drawings by Therese Eipeldauer), Hunnen in Indien: Die Munzen der Kidarien und Alchan aus dem Bernischen Hisorischen Museum und der Sammlung Jean-Piere Righetti, Vienna, 2014
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Slightly embarrassing, I had totally forgotten I wrote this.
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Curator Rebecca Darley, Co-Curator Daniel Reynolds, Assistant Curators Ali Miynat & Maria Vrij 8 November 2013 to 30 November 2014 The attached is the Money and Medals Newsletter in which the review of this show at the Barber Institute... more
Curator Rebecca Darley, Co-Curator Daniel Reynolds, Assistant Curators Ali Miynat & Maria Vrij
8 November 2013 to 30 November 2014
The attached is the Money and Medals Newsletter in which the review of this show at the Barber Institute in Birmingham appeared. The editor cut the names of the curators when he printed (I am sure he made some other changes as well, but I noticed that one) so I've placed them at the top of this note.
8 November 2013 to 30 November 2014
The attached is the Money and Medals Newsletter in which the review of this show at the Barber Institute in Birmingham appeared. The editor cut the names of the curators when he printed (I am sure he made some other changes as well, but I noticed that one) so I've placed them at the top of this note.
Research Interests:
The book is a collection of papers directed by Holt and Bopearachchi. I was asked to review this by the chronicle as it touched on my own areas of interest. It is not a publication I would recommend buying unless you have a strong... more
The book is a collection of papers directed by Holt and Bopearachchi. I was asked to review this by the chronicle as it touched on my own areas of interest. It is not a publication I would recommend buying unless you have a strong interest in the historiography of Alexander or Kushan metallurgy. I suggested in the article that the evidence the medallion of the title was genuine was slim, and that what was presented fitted better an explanation of modern forgery. Almost every classical numismatist I have spoken to since seems to be convince the object is a forgery. Unfortunately this just highlights the dangers with unprovenanced groups of objects in which it is so easy for forgers to salt their own productions.
Unfortunately the diagrams do not seem to have come out well in this pdf so I will try at some point to upload some jpegs of the original charts.
Unfortunately the diagrams do not seem to have come out well in this pdf so I will try at some point to upload some jpegs of the original charts.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
The Money and Medals Network is a 'subject specialist network' in the UK. This means it helps co-ordinate different numismatic activities to encourage knowledge exchange and other activities. I have absolutely zero to do with that. What I... more
The Money and Medals Network is a 'subject specialist network' in the UK. This means it helps co-ordinate different numismatic activities to encourage knowledge exchange and other activities. I have absolutely zero to do with that. What I am involved in is their video/audio program. Each month they release an audio talk, podcast, or video. That video will stay live for six months during which you can hear about numismatic research. This is a great way of sharing stuff which might not be published for quite a while and which was probably heard by a pretty small audience. I edit talks and co-ordinate other people's editing and recording for this activity.
The Oriental Numismatic Society exists to encourage communication between the diverse range of scholars interested in the numismatics of Asia. It publishes a society journal which is edited by Stan Goron which accepts contributions on any... more
The Oriental Numismatic Society exists to encourage communication between the diverse range of scholars interested in the numismatics of Asia. It publishes a society journal which is edited by Stan Goron which accepts contributions on any aspect of oriental numismatics.
Research Interests:
Playing with Money ran from April to September 2019 and focused on the relationship between play and economics, in the history of modern board games, educational toys, gambling, role-playing and video games. This document collects the... more
Playing with Money ran from April to September 2019 and focused on the relationship between play and economics, in the history of modern board games, educational toys, gambling, role-playing and video games.
This document collects the final drafts for the text of all labels and panels in the exhibition.
This document collects the final drafts for the text of all labels and panels in the exhibition.
Research Interests:
These are some loosely organised thoughts on the redevelopment of Gallery 68 which I was quite heavily involved in. They focuse on the half dozen panels I either designed or advised on and try outline what I thought I was doing and with... more
These are some loosely organised thoughts on the redevelopment of Gallery 68 which I was quite heavily involved in. They focuse on the half dozen panels I either designed or advised on and try outline what I thought I was doing and with hindsight and gallery evaluations since what worked and what did not.
Research Interests:
Version 1 of a data sheet prepared for a presentation (Bracey, R. 2022 'The Great Quantification' Historical Perspective 36, https://youtu.be/2poeqY138H0)
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An index and other notes I prepared for my own purposes using copies of the second and third editions of Thomas Kuhn's The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (these two editions match in text and pagination).
Research Interests:
This is a list of the numbers of Robert Gobl, Joe Cribb, and Nasim Khan, which have entries in Klaus Vondrovec's Coinage of the Iranian Huns and their Successors which I prepared for my own use and found very useful for finding material... more
This is a list of the numbers of Robert Gobl, Joe Cribb, and Nasim Khan, which have entries in Klaus Vondrovec's Coinage of the Iranian Huns and their Successors which I prepared for my own use and found very useful for finding material when needed.
Research Interests:
A very interesting talk that was given last year at the Oriental Numismatic Society on the early coinage of India.
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This paper responds to a recent controversey around Academia.edu plans to extend recommendation options to all users and the justifications for their metrics, Author Rank and Paper Rank. It is opened as a session to encourage some serious... more
This paper responds to a recent controversey around Academia.edu plans to extend recommendation options to all users and the justifications for their metrics, Author Rank and Paper Rank. It is opened as a session to encourage some serious engagement with three problems:
i) What evidence exists for the effectiveness of metrics
ii) How effective is this metric
iii) How should the community engage with these issues
It does not solve any of those, but it attempts to pursue them more deeply (though is still very shallow) than a comment might.
i) What evidence exists for the effectiveness of metrics
ii) How effective is this metric
iii) How should the community engage with these issues
It does not solve any of those, but it attempts to pursue them more deeply (though is still very shallow) than a comment might.
Research Interests:
With a history of use extending back to Vedic texts of the second millennium BC, derivations of the name Mithra appear in the Roman Empire, across Sasanian Persia, and in the Kushan Empire of southern Afghanistan and northern India during... more
With a history of use extending back to Vedic texts of the second millennium BC, derivations of the name Mithra appear in the Roman Empire, across Sasanian Persia, and in the Kushan Empire of southern Afghanistan and northern India during the first millennium AD. Even today, this name has a place in Yazidi and Zoroastrian religion. But what connection have Mihr in Persia, Miiro in Kushan Bactria, and Mithras in the Roman Empire to one another?
Over the course of the volume, specialists in the material culture of these diverse regions explore appearances of the name Mithra from six distinct locations in antiquity. In a subversion of the usual historical process, the authors begin not from an assessment of texts, but by placing images of Mithra at the heart of their analysis. Careful consideration of each example's own context, situating it in the broader scheme of religious traditions and on-going cultural interactions, is key to this discussion. Such an approach opens up a host of potential comparisons and interpretations that are often side-lined in historical accounts.
What Images of Mithra offers is a fresh approach to the ways in which gods were labelled and depicted in the ancient world. Through an emphasis on material culture, a more nuanced understanding of the processes of religious formation is proposed in what is but the first part of the Visual Conversations series.
Cover
Images of Mithra
Philippa Adrych, Robert Bracey, Dominic Dalglish, Stefanie Lenk, and Rachel Wood
General Editor Jas Elsner
Visual Conversations In Art And Archaeology
Table of Contents
Introduction
1: Reconstructions: Mithras in Rome
2: Patrons and Viewers: Dura-Europos
3: Settings: Bourg-Saint-Andéol
4: Identifications: Mihr in Sasanian Iran
5: Interpretations: Miiro in Kushan Bactria
6: Syncretisms: Apollo-Mithras in Commagene
Conclusions
Epilogue - Quetzalcoatl and Mithra
Over the course of the volume, specialists in the material culture of these diverse regions explore appearances of the name Mithra from six distinct locations in antiquity. In a subversion of the usual historical process, the authors begin not from an assessment of texts, but by placing images of Mithra at the heart of their analysis. Careful consideration of each example's own context, situating it in the broader scheme of religious traditions and on-going cultural interactions, is key to this discussion. Such an approach opens up a host of potential comparisons and interpretations that are often side-lined in historical accounts.
What Images of Mithra offers is a fresh approach to the ways in which gods were labelled and depicted in the ancient world. Through an emphasis on material culture, a more nuanced understanding of the processes of religious formation is proposed in what is but the first part of the Visual Conversations series.
Cover
Images of Mithra
Philippa Adrych, Robert Bracey, Dominic Dalglish, Stefanie Lenk, and Rachel Wood
General Editor Jas Elsner
Visual Conversations In Art And Archaeology
Table of Contents
Introduction
1: Reconstructions: Mithras in Rome
2: Patrons and Viewers: Dura-Europos
3: Settings: Bourg-Saint-Andéol
4: Identifications: Mihr in Sasanian Iran
5: Interpretations: Miiro in Kushan Bactria
6: Syncretisms: Apollo-Mithras in Commagene
Conclusions
Epilogue - Quetzalcoatl and Mithra
Research Interests:
Chinese Civilization on the Silk Road (International Workshop, Peking University, 9-10 Nov 2019)
“丝绸之路上的中华文明” 国际学术工作坊日程 （北京大学，2019年1月9-10日)
“丝绸之路上的中华文明” 国际学术工作坊日程 （北京大学，2019年1月9-10日)