Coin of Thyateira under Caracalla c. 198s - 208s

Editor: So this is a Coin of Thyateira under Caracalla, from the Harvard Art Museums. It's interesting to see such a commonplace object preserved. What can we learn from its materiality and production? Curator: This coin, like all currency, represents a confluence of material resources, labor, and power. Consider the mining and smelting of the metal, the skilled craftsmanship required to imprint the dies, and the social systems that imbued this object with value. Editor: It’s interesting to think of a coin as the product of so much labor. Curator: Exactly. And think about its use: facilitating trade, paying soldiers, funding public works. The coin embodies the economic and political structures of the Roman Empire. How does thinking about its materiality change your understanding of its value? Editor: It makes it feel much heavier, more consequential. Not just money, but a symbol of complex systems. Curator: Precisely. It encourages us to consider the relationship between material things and the social forces that shape them.