Armenia and Armenians in Roman Numismatics

Abstract

Ancient Armenian sources are very scarce and do not permit a thorough understanding of Ancient Armenia. For this reason, all available sources relevant to Armenia need to be consid­ered and studied. This is notably the case for Roman Coinage, where issues related to Armenia were struck over the course of 200 years. This paper examines how Roman coinage is able to in­fluence our understanding of Roman, Armenian and Parthian relationships. The study begins with the analysis of the monetary iconography of Armenia and Armenians on Roman coinage through their attributes and postures. Following the first part, the study questions the Roman coinage as a source of ideological representations of the events. Indeed, the issues do not reflect the intricate relationships of the Romans, Armenians and Parthians, but rather highlight Roman victories and the image of the Emperor. Despite this Roman prism, the last part of the article shows that it is possible to use the coinage as a source for Roman, Armenian and Parthian reationship studies.

Keywords

• ancient armenia
• roman numismatics
• monetary images
• armenian attributes
• roman ideology