The editors of Gephyra announced that their journal will begin publishing the “Bulletin numismatique de l’Asie Mineure”. The first Bulletin will appear in May 2022 and will cover the year 2021. The idea for the Bulletin came from Johannes Nollé, who asked Oğuz Tekin, a meritorious scholar and the Turkish doyen of numismatics, and the archaeologist Koray Konuk, to take over the roles of equal co-editors who accepted the invitation.
The title of the Bulletin has been chosen to honor Jeanne and Louis Robert, whose longstanding efforts we owe the famous as well as masterly “Bulletin épigraphique”. Apart from the Roberts’ accomplishments in epigraphy, Louis Robert’s merits for the numismatics of Asia Minor can scarcely be overestimated.
The “Bulletin numismatique” will be structured very similarly to the Roberts’ “Bulletin épigraphique”. Although our Bulletin’s title is French, it will be published in the lingua franca of our time, in English. Just like the Roberts’ “Bulletin épigraphique”, the “Bulletin numismatique” will be published every year. It will deal with the coinage of Asia Minor from its onset in the 7th c. BC to the Antique World’s end (the end of Herakleios’s reign in AD 641). After a shorter topical part turning towards thematic or chronologic issues like agonistic images on Asia Minor coins, electron coins, the coinage of Hellenistic king, hoards etc., the Bulletin’s second part will present the year’s new advances in numismatics region by region. Both new coin types and research papers or books published during the course of the year will be listed, their contents shortly summarized and sometimes also assessed.
By publishing the Bulletin multiple targets will be tracked. First of all to help scholars – who are interested in the history of Asia Minor but who are not numismatists – to keep the overview of numismatic research work’s progress. This is the only way to ensure that numismatics finds that place in Classics which it deserves. Secondly, to direct attention to the many useful papers on Asia Minor coins published by Turkish numismatists; they are to a great extent unknown to the community of classical scholars as well as of numismatists. Finally, to intensify the studies on Asia Minor coins and to build up an interactive forum of exchange. The journal gladly accepts articles on coins of Asia Minor, but also on scientific issues concerning Greek and Roman coins from other parts of the Greek-speaking world.
For the last decades numismatic literature has increased so much that nobody is able to do the projected work of publishing such a bulletin on its own. Even the Roberts more and more suffered from the increase in epigraphic literature. Therefore, Johannes Nollé and Oğuz Tekin have asked severals numismatists distinguished by their work on Asia Minor coins to join in the project. A list with their names and their fields of work is given below. Nonetheless, all colleagues are asked to support the work of the Bulletin by sending their publications to the individual members of the team or at least to inform them about their new publications. You will earn the benefits of this support by being mentioned in this new tool of numismatic research.
General editors:
- Johannes Nollé, Koray Konuk, Oğuz Tekin
Topic Issues:
- Electron coins: Wolfgang Fischer-Bossert
- Achaemenid coins: Wilhelm Müseler
- Coins of the Hellenistic Kings: Dinçer Savaş Lenger
- Coins minted on behalf of Roman government (cistophors, tetradrachms): Florian Hayman
- Late Antique Coins: Hacer Sancaktar
- Religion and myth: Jan Bremmer & Johannes Nollé
- Games on Asia Minor coins: Aliye Erol Özdizbay
- River gods: Reinhard Falter & Johannes Nollé
- Anatolian languages on Asia Minor coins: Dieter Schürr
- Hoards: Zeynep Çizmeli
- Coins and Economy: Stephen Mitchell
- Weights: Oğuz Tekin
Regions:
- Thrace (only European part of Turkey): Ulrike Peter
- Bithynia, Paphlagonia, Pontos: Saskia Kerschbaum
- Troas: Sencan Özbilge Altınoluk
- Mysia: Bernhard Weisser
- Aiolis: Aliye Erol Özdizbay
- Ionia: Johannes Nollé
- Lydia: Dane Kuhrt & Johannes Nollé
- Phrygia: Katharina Martin
- Caria: Fabrice Delrieux
- Pisidia: Hüseyin Köker
- Lycia (minting of the dynasts): Wilhelm Müseler
- Lycia (Hellenistic & Gordianian coins) & Pamphylia: Tolga Tek
- Galatia & Cappadocia & Lycaonia & Euphrates region: Johannes Nollé
- Cilicia: Johannes Nollé & Hacer Sancaktar
More information about the „Bulletin numismatique de l’Asie Mineure“ can be found online.
As a part of the bulletin Gephyra Wilhelm Müseler published 2016 the current standard reference on Lycian coinage.
Further details on the editor Johannes Nollé can be found in his Who is Who-Entry. The editor Oğuz Tekin has been awarded 2019 with the Archer M. Huntington Award.
Longing for a travel to Turkey? We recommend to (re-)read Ursula Kampmann’s numismatic diary of her travel to Turkey’s west coast in 2013.
