Presenting power to the people: a quantitative analysis of the late Roman base-metal coinage and its political messages (284-450)

Spencer-Brown, Marcus Andrew ORCID: 0009-0002-3056-5638 (2025). Presenting power to the people: a quantitative analysis of the late Roman base-metal coinage and its political messages (284-450). University of Birmingham. Ph.D.

	SpencerBrown2025PhD.pdf Text - Accepted Version Available under License All rights reserved. Download (2MB)
	SpencerBrown2025PhDVol2.pdf Text - Accepted Version Available under License All rights reserved. Download (30MB)

Abstract

Over the past two and a half decades, studies of Roman imperial coin iconography have increasingly used quantitative analysis to distinguish patterns and contextualise the political messages of individual coins. Several statistically supported studies have surveyed the iconography of coins issued between 69-284 and identified their core ideological trends. This thesis advances the chronological scope of the discipline, undertaking a quantitative study of the Late Roman imperial coinage and its political messages between 284-450. The analysis specifically deals with the base-metal coins, the most pervasive form of communication between imperial regimes and the wider, non-elite citizenry of the Late Roman Empire. Focus on this unique medium enables consideration of at least one side of the dialogue between the state and the typically silent wider Roman populace.
The thesis consists of two main products. First, it creates a new quantitative methodology that can adequately examine Late Roman base-metal coinage and its multi-faceted political messages. This includes defining how to collate a representative database of Late Roman coinage that can be subject to quantitative analysis. The result, a database of 63,557 site-finds from forty-four sites across the empire, has allowed for the investigation of pan-imperial and regional patterns in coin propaganda. Furthermore, the issue of translating the qualitative political messages of coins into quantitative and comparable data is considered at length. A new framework for categorising coins is delineated to overcome this challenge, which better captures the various complexities of numismatic propaganda, including the espousal of multiple messages on a single coin and their varying degrees of presence.
Second, a detailed chronological review of the most common base-metal coins is provided. It identifies those political messages the Roman state most frequently sought to publicise, and how they shaped non-elite citizens’ experience of imperial power. The principal findings are that Late Roman base-metal coins predominantly bore messages promoting the emperors’ martial valour and victoriousness. Consequently, this thesis posits that the popular experience of imperial power in the Late Roman period was of a coercive, violent and autocratic emperor, who promised little beyond safety for the subservient. Furthermore, it is argued that the exact political function of the base-metal coinage was changed during the Late Roman period. From the 340s, the state ceased utilising base-metal propaganda to foster public support and instead used the same medium to exclude the wider populace from participating in intra-imperial politics. The state’s rejection of popular authority is demonstrated to have accurately reflected the power dynamics between the Late Roman emperors and their non-elite subjects.
In sum, this thesis defines a new method of quantifying the political messages of Roman imperial coinage and presents the results of its application to Late Roman base-metal coinage.

Type of Work:

Thesis (Doctorates > Ph.D.)

Award Type:

Doctorates > Ph.D.

Supervisor(s):