From Solidus to Stavraton: Coinage and Money in the Byzantine World

Coinage and Money in the Byzantine World

April 26-28, 2024

This three-day international conference, to be held at Princeton University will be the first ever devoted solely to Byzantine numismatics, and it will reunite renowned scholars and specialists from Europe, Asia, Africa, and the U.S.

The acquisition of the collections of Peter Donald and Chris and Helen Theodotou, totaling over 17,000 coins, has placed Princeton University at the forefront of institutions supporting research in Byzantine numismatics. Both of these purchases were made with the help of generous support of the Friends of Princeton University Library and the Seeger Center for Hellenic Studies.

Among the activities that we have initiated to accompany these acquisitions are the cataloging of the coins onto the Princeton University Library catalogue; the development of a shared-open-data web platform for Byzantine coinage in collaboration with scholars at Dumbarton Oaks, Oxford University, and the American Numismatic Society; and the planning of this conference "From Solidus to Stavraton."

During the first two days, a total of 22 academics will present their updated research to colleagues, scholars, students, and members of the general public.

The last day will be dedicated to a workshop that will aim at bringing the scholars together and finalize the Linked-Open-Data database of Byzantine coinage. This platform, established with the Nomisma ontology, is an international collaborative project, created to provide stable digital representations of numismatic concepts according to the principles of Linked Open Data, while maintaining formalized RDF Ontologies. It will become a vital tool for consultation by scholars, numismatists and general public around the world. Furthermore, the tool will be open to institutions from different countries, enabling them to contribute their evidence to the database.

Published March 15, 2024.