Lecture: Coin as a source: Religions in the Indo-Iranian Borderlands, 1st cent. BC – 2nd cent. AD – Dr Fabrizio Sinisi (ÖAW), 28 November 2024, 6 pm
Dr Fabrizio Sinisi from the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW) will give the last evening lecture in the 2024 series of lectures of the Austrian Numismatic Society in cooperation with the Coin Cabinet of the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna.
Coinage represents the most important primary source for the history of the borderlands between the Iranian and the Indian world in antiquity.
With the demise of Greek power in the region between the 2nd and the 1st century BC, the local coin tradition of Greek derivation was inherited by different groups of Iranian culture, namely Saka and Kushans, which exploited in full its potential even as a medium for official communication.
Starting from the transition between the Greek kingdoms of Bactria and India and the post-Greek period, the lecture will focus on the depictions of deities in the Saka and Kushan coinages to highlight the crucial contribution of numismatic evidence to the reconstruction of the local religious history between the first century BC and the second century AD.
Date: Thursday, 10 October 2024, 6 pm
Venue: Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna, Lecture room (2nd floor), Maria-Theresien-Platz, A-1010 Vienna
The lecture can be attended free of charge with an invitation sent separately to the members of the Society. The lecture will be held in english.
Image: Kushan, Huvishka, Roman Imperial Period, Dinar, Pakistan, ca. 151-290 AD.
