This a searchable inventory of epigraphic testimony for monetary use and activity in the Anatolian peninsula and its offshore islands from the 7th to 1st centuries BCE, spanning the origins of coinage to the onset of the Roman imperial period. It is based on a compilation of the 11,000 inscriptions from this region and period, as gathered from the major established series – the Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum, Inscriptiones Graecae XII.1-4, Inschriften griechischer Städte Kleinasiens, Tituli Asiae Minoris, and the Monumenta Asiae Minoris Antiqua, as well as the notices in the Bulletin Épigraphique, and other individual site-corpora not covered by these series. This covers the corpus of documents in Greek, and some of the relevant documents in indigenous languages. The contents of these texts have been analysed and, where relevant, annotated and organised into search-categories, so that it is possible to quickly assemble epigraphic references, including line-numbers, on particular themes relating to monetary history: for instance, the appearance of particular currencies and denominations (e.g. drachmas, obols, Kyzikene staters), types of monetary transactions (e.g. loans, sale, regulations on taxation), or the different contexts and institutions in which monetary payment is attested (e.g. military activity, sacrificial acts, the gymnasium). Further explanation of the search filters is provided below. The inscriptions have been classified by date, genre, and place, which means that these search results can be refined chronologically, geographically, or both. The point of this inventory, it should be stressed, is to offer a portal for accessing the published epigraphic corpus, by making readily available lists of relevant references based on search queries: the texts that are referred to are based on the latest or best accepted editions, but have not been re-edited or republished in this interface. The aim here is to suggest one way forward for exploiting epigraphic evidence en masse towards answering questions of monetary and economic history in the ancient Mediterranean world, in the first instance, but hopefully also offers an approach that might be applied to other themes as well. Places and regions conform to the definitions found on nomisma.org, while links to relevant online editions of texts (in particular the database of Greek inscriptions operated by the Packhum Humanities Institute and Trismegistos) are provided where possible.
The work of compiling this inventory was carried out within the remit of a single research project. This means that there will inevitably be errors, omissions, or misinterpretations. Moreover, the richness of the epigraphic remains in Anatolia, of its nature, lies beyond the competence of any single individual or team. We would thus welcome any suggestions for improvement, whether these relate to corrections, enhancing the search functions, or adding new material to the dataset.
A glossary of the terms used in the search filters can be found here
The search filters are mostly self-explanatory, except for the four which concern monetary transactions more specifically:
The basic principle of these four filters can be understood in grammatical terms, with a search being a clause consisting of ‘AUTHORITY’ as the ‘subject’, ‘ACTIVITY’ as the ‘verb’, ‘PURPOSE/FOCUS’ as the ‘object’, and ‘CONTEXT/FIELD OF ACTION’ as the adverb. Thus, for instance, to collect instances of individuals spending money in relation to building activity in the gymnasium, one would search for INDIVIDUAL under 1), SPENDING under 2), CONSTRUCTION under 3), and GYMNASIUM under 4). Alternatively, for instances of cities discussing their fiscal obligations to kings, one might search CITY, REGULATION, TAXATION, IMPERIAL, across the four filters, or CIVIC under 4), if looking for taxation within a civic context alone.
One can also conduct simple searches under single filters for more general inquiries, e.g. RELIGIOUS or MILITARY under 4) for instances of spending relating to sacred or military matters, or CONSTRUCTION or OIL under 3), for spending relating to monumental building or olive oil. Some categories can be found across different filters, so there is no need for one to know precisely what one is looking for, if in doubt. Thus, ‘LOAN’ is found under both 2) and 3), if one simply wanted to obtain a list of attestations of loans; likewise, ‘SALE’ is found under 2) and 4). The four filters therefore allow for searches of both low-level and high-level complexity.