Customer Reviews

Handbook of Ancient Greek and Roman Coins: An Official Whitman Guidebook

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When I first started the hobby of collecting ancient coins I asked several dealers if there was one book I could get that was both inexpensive and broad. Klawans "Handbook of Ancient Greek and Roman Coins" was the repeated answer.

The book is essentially divided into a part "A" and a part "B", 'A' being Greek and 'B' being Roman Imperial. Very little attention is given to Republican Rome and Byzantine Rome but that is forgivible considering all the other helps.

I got the book, read it cover to cover and still refer to it now even though I have added many ancient coin collecting books to my library since that are more specialized. Klawans' book has many helpful sections on various topics such as on how to read and break down those Roman titles and inscriptions. There is a chronological guide to the Roman emperors and their families, reverses of gods and 'personifications' and other mythological & religious data. The book is copiously illustrated throughout. There is an illustrated guide of coins by city. There are even an ancient rulers guide included ( but with some notable cultures missing ) in it.

If you are just getting started with collecting ancient Greek and/or Roman Imperial coins on a shoestring, this is your guide, but, one word of caution, if you are buying uncleaned bulk Roman coins and need an attribution guide this is not the book, this book deals with pre-Constantinian Roman coins. However if you are buying cheap greek bronzes and budget Roman denarii, antoninianii, sestertii, etc., THIS IS THE BOOK TO GET !

If you have just recently begun to collect Greek and/or Roman coins, you'll want to have this book.

For one thing, it's very cheap. More importantly, it's a great bargain. There is so much information crammed into this 280-page book.

For $12.00, this book will tell you about how ancient coins were minted, how to read Greek characters, how to translate basic Latin inscriptions, and how to tell the difference between an AS, Dupondius, and Sestertius. These are but a few examples of the helpful information contained in this book.

Profusely illustrated, this book gives an example of a coin from every major ruler (especially the Roman emperors).

Unfortunately, this book is not designed to help you attribute every ancient coin that you might run into. Again, usually only one example of each emperor is given. Also some of the more obscure rulers are not represented here.

Still, that shouldn't stop you from getting this book if you have any sort of interest in ancient Greek and Roman coins. You can't go wrong with the price. There is a wealth of information here. It will answer many of your questions.

For under $20.00, it's hard to imagine a better book on Greek and Roman coins. However, don't expect this book to be the one leg that you stand on as you enter the world of Roman or Greek coins. It's a good intro, and it has quite a few picts, but the broad nature of the book prevents it from covering in detail a period of history that you might be interested in (in just a few hundred pages).

I'm not trying to say this is a bad book. If you want a cheap, brief overview of BOTH Greek and Roman coins, you'll want this book. It's worth every penny that you'll pay for it. However, it will not pinch-hit for the more detailed (and more expensive) Greek or Roman reference books. Don't have unrealistic expectations when buying this.

This is the book to begin with if you think you may have an interest in ancient Western coins. This covers Greek coins from 680 B.C. to Roman Coins up to 476 A.D. The scope of this book is basically European coinage for roughly 1,000 years. What this book does NOT cover: Byzantine, Persian and Far East ancient coins.

About 60% of the book (the first half of the book) is devoted to Greek coins, and the other 40% to Roman (mostly imperial) coins. There are lots of black and white pictures of real coin examples in both sections of the book. I will be focusing mostly on the Roman section.

THE GREEK COIN SECTION:
This begins with a description of how ancient coins were made.

Greek 101 is not a prerequisite! The book teaches you how to read Greek characters on the coin inscriptions.

It also goes through a pictorial history of Greek coinage: The Period of Archaic Art (680-480 B.C.), The Period of Transitional Art (480-415 B.C.), The Period of Finest Art (415-336 B.C.), The Period of Later Fine Art (336-280 B.C.)The Period of the Decline of the Art (280-146 B.C.), The Period of Continued Decline in Art (146-27 B.C.), and finally The Imperial Period (27 B.C. - 268 A.D.). There are lots and lots of pictures.

THE ROMAN COIN SECTION:
This was what I primarily bought this book for. There is a brief history of early Roman coins (how they were cast instead of struck), but there isn't much in the way of text or pictorial examples in regard to Roman Republican Coinage...this is nearly all Imperial (From Caesar Augustus (29 B.C.) to Romulus Augustus (476 A.D.).

It goes through the denominations of Roman coins. It gives relative Roman values of: Aureus to Denarius to Sesterius to Dupondius to As to Quadrans. What it does NOT give much hint about ancient values is of later denominations like Antoninianus, Follis, Siliqua, and Solidus.

There is a big picture section on Reverse Types of Roman coins, going through all the gods and goddesses that appear on the backs.

There is an excellent section on how to read Obverse inscriptions. This is probably the most helpful section for the beginner. Included also is an extensive list of Emperor's names as they most commonly appear on the coins.

Finally, there is an Emperor-by-Emperor coin-by-coin history of Rome, with very brief comments about each ruler. Only one coin per ruler is listed, so don't expect to find a lot of examples of each Emperor.

CONCLUSION:
What this book will NOT do is give you the present-day values of coins, the relative rarity of a coin, and it speaks nothing about grading coins. If you have poor-quality late Roman coins that you are trying to attribute, this book will be of minimal help. The best book I have found on the Subject of Roman Coins is David Van Meter's Handbook of Roman Imperial Coins: A Complete Guide to the History, Types, Symbols and Artistry of Roman Imperial Coinage. It is much more in-depth, but of course, it is a lot more expensive as well.

This Handbook of Ancient Greek & Roman Coins serves as a fine introduction to these two subjects. Without breaking the bank, the huge amount of information contained in this 288-page Volume will give you a good idea if you want to pursue this subject further. For the range of coverage and the price, you can't go wrong.

I purchased this book in 1998, hoping that it would give me some insight into the ancient coins that I was to begin collecting. This book met and surpassed all of my expectations. The informative text and the clear photographs made for good reading and easy identification of most coins. I could not think of any book which would make a better reference for somebody who is just getting started in the field. It could even show some old hands a thing or two. If you know somebody who is interested in ancient coins or the history of the Roman Empire, or even the history of early coinage in general, this book would make an ideal gift. I give this book my highest recommendation.

This is a great book! If you are going to start collecting Greek and Roman coins, you should buy this book. It tells you all about how to read the coins and what type and variety of coins were made. No instruction on grading or coin values are given, but still a must book for the beginner.

Klawans has written what really is a tale of two books and *both* of them are great. An Outline of Greek Coins begins with the telling of how coins were made. Klawans includes more than Greek coins. Lydian and Judean coins are also mentioned. Can't find Persian coins? Have a look for Darius and Daric.

Reading and Dating Roman Imperial coins begins with coinage before the empire. Most helpful in this part of the book are the explanations for abbreviations found on Roman coins. Take as an example IMP CAES DOMIT AUG GERM COSXIII CENSPER PP. This means: Imperator, Caesar, his name Domitian, Augustus, Germanicus, the 13th year of his consulship, the chief magistrate of the Roman State or Censor Perpetus, and father of his country Pater Patriae.

Klawans is an indispensable handbook, and the first book I reach for when I want to know something about ancient coinage.

This well illustrated book is quick and easy to read and provides some basic information to for those intending to collect ancient Greek and Roman coins. It will help you recognize many common coins. It will allow you to interpret the inscriptions and in many cases the imagery on these coins. It is inexpensive.

Some things will not be found in it, however. Republican Roman coins (a fascinating area) are strangely not covered at all. There is no information regarding assessing the quality of coins, cleaning them, recognizing fakes, determining price or caring for your collection. For this type of information you should look at Wayne Sayles' more extensive series. For coin valuation David Sear is invaluable. This book is a cheap and simple way to form an impression about ancient Greek and Roman coin collecting. Eventually, recognizing that the price of almost any coin described in the book is far greater than that of the book itself, serious collectors will want to invest in more extensive reference sources. One must start somewhere however, and this is a good place to do so.

I was very pleased with this book. It is basically a beginners guide to Greek and Roman coin collecting. It tells the step by step history of coins, which is extremely useful to the beginner. I was able to identify many of my coins just by the history lesson of coin casting. It even helps you read the writing on the coins. Many, many photoes and drawings. I think a more seasoned coin collector may not find to useful, but for the beginner it is gold. You can get it for $10 or so used. Why wouldn't you buy it?

This book is very important to know all the ancient coins minted in order of time. A very numerous of pictures with a apeedy explanation for each coin and a very complete index are present. This Guidebook (288 pagg) to be obliged in all public and private library. The price is good for all numismatic collectors.