Jerusalem-Aelia Capitolina and Caesarea: production, circulation and military iconography on coinage between Ist and IIIrd centuries CE

Abstract

This project, part of a main undergraduate research, proposes a comparative study of the production, circulation and military iconography on coinage from Jerusalem-Aelia Capitolina and Caesarea (also known as Caesarea Palestinae) - loci of Roman military camps - under Roman domination between the Ist and IIIrd centuries CE, to be undertaken in the Department of Archaeology and Ancient Near Eastern Cultures at Tel Aviv University with support of the Israel Museum (IM) and the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA). The objective is to discover, through the survey of these coins and their recurring iconographic patterns, the diverse social, political and cultural relations between the local population and the Roman army established in each city. This will enable us to gain access to the libraries and museums in Tel Aviv, Caesarea and Jerusalem, permitting us to build an up-to-date bibliography and data sets, thus enhancing our research. Effectively, this evidence will be used to build a database containing the obtained results from the analysis of coins appropriate to our thematic focus. The results of the research will be introduced in the Barolo database. (AU)