Die bilinguen Münzen Traians. Eine Fallstudie zu numismatischen Erscheinungsformen des Bilingualismus im römischen Reich

Abstract

This article examines six groups of provincial coins from the Trajanic period, bearing Latin and Greek inscriptions. Drachmas that circulated in Crete and non-ferrous metal coins from Philippopolis Thraciae are intentionally styled in a bilingual form. Both parts of their legends convey messages of different kinds, whereas the imperial titulature appears in Latin in both cases. Bronze coins from Syria and from Neocaesarea Ponti combine Greek inscriptions with the Latin siglum SC and should therefore merely be classified as «pseudo bilingual» coins. Some rare bilingual didrachmas and drachmas, which were probably manufactured in Rome for Caesarea Cappadociae, and two bilingual bronze coins from a series circulating in Syria and Cyrenaika must be considered the results of erroneous striking.