What is the time period that defines a coin as Ancient?

ahopewell55

Is an Ancient coin only one that was minted in BC? Is a coin from the Middle Ages or a Byzantine coin considered an Ancient? So what is the time period necessary for a coin to be considered an Ancient? Thanks for your input.

ajaan

Any coin that Wybrit spent in his youth?

Since the Middle Ages began in the 5th c. I would consider anything made before that to be an Ancient coin.

I'm sure there are other opinions on this.

7Jaguars

I still think of Byzantine as ancient, but maybe before 1000 AD?

BillyKingsley

I define ancient as the fall of Rome, even though early Byzantine coins and other "barbarian" issues are still in pretty much the same style from what I have seen, I make the break on history, not coin designs.

bronzemat

I consider ancients to be up to about 1000 A.D. I consider Byzantine ancients.

Some people categorize them differently.

STLNATS

<< <i>I define ancient as the fall of Rome, even though early Byzantine coins and other "barbarian" issues are still in pretty much the same style from what I have seen, I make the break on history, not coin designs. >>



No absolute line. This was discussed at length in a post not that long ago, but I agree that this is the conventional break point for Europe/the west, ca 476 AD. Another useful break point is the reign of Anastasius who reformed the coinage in 498 and which Sear says: "marked an almost complete break with the traditions of the Roman coinage." And which started what is generally considered the Byzantine series.

Of course none of this applies to Asian or Indian coins.

STLNATS

Meant to add, I think that the period from the late 5th century to the 7/800s is generally considered to be the dark ages but again for Europe only. Its all kinda arbitrary (and the folks at the time didn't suddenly think - well yesterday was the end of the ancient world so guess we're in the dark ages ...) so you can pick whatever break point that makes sense to you.

Weiss

I think of everything pre Byzantine as ancient. Then Middle Ages overlapping the later Byzantine period to the start of what I'd consider the start of the modern era, maybe 1300s. Modern era thereafter.

Sapyx

As others have said, the definition of "ancient" is flexible. The classical definition, dating right back to the historians of the early Renaissance, is the fall of the last Western Roman Emperor in AD 476. And, as others have said, the division of history into "Ancient", "Mediaeval" and "Modern" is an entirely Western concept. While Europe was in the Dark Ages, China was thriving under the Tang Dynasty, the Byzantine Empire reached its apogee and the Gupta Empire controlled India. And of course the Islamic Caliphate was about to burst onto the scene.

However, my non-Modern coins get filed into two different albums, "ancients" and "mediaevals". So I need to make a decision and personally, I prefer nice round numbers. My ancient-mediaeval boundary is AD 500, near enough to the Anastasius coinage reform to make no difference; it means all my "Roman" coins are in the Ancients album, while all my "Byzantine" coins are in my Mediaevals album.

The Mediaeval-Modern boundary is equally fuzzy. There are a number of pivotal dates in history one could use: the fall of Constantinople in 1461; the voyage of Columbus in 1492; the beginning of the Reformation in 1517. Even the Krause coin catalogues can be used by collectors: "pre-Krause" is "mediaeval". Personally, I follow Grierson in setting the end of the Mediaeval period at the nice round number of AD 1450. Anything newer than 1450 is therefore "modern".

coachbedford

A coin of England struck in 980 A.D. is medieval. A Byzantine coin struck in 980 A.D is ancient.

Tibor

For coins minted in the Western part of the Roman Empire the
"Ancient Coinage" ends with Romulus Augustus in the year 476 AD.

Byzantine coinage minted in Constantinople and some outlying mints
starts with Theodosius I in the year 380 AD.

The Dark Ages start around 476 AD in most of Western and Northern
Europe.

Coinage outside the control of the Constantinople emperors is considered
Middle Ages after 700 AD.

The Middle Ages start around 700 AD and end with the start of the
Renaissance around the mid 1300's depending upon your location.

7Jaguars

So Justinian is a "Middle Ages" emperor? No, IMO don't think so. Dates are fine until one looks at it - I think the boundary is a bit fuzzy and not so definite.

TheRaven

I have always seen byzantine coins till 1453 are ancient coins.

I don't think there is really a clear simple answer to this question.

Go with a nice coin is a nice coin.

Tibor

Justinian I ruled from 527-565, definitely not in the Middle Ages
which started around 700 AD. Justinian II ruled from 685-695 and
then again from 705-711. While the dates indicate the Middle Ages
his reign took place in Constantinople, the capital of the Eastern
Roman Empire better known as the Byzantine Empire. JMHO.

Aethelred

I know this will vary amongst various people and no opinion of the matter is necessarily right or wrong but for me:

The ancient world lasted from the rise of the first cities c. 4000 BC until the Deposition of Romulus Augustulus on 04 Sept. 476

The Middle Ages lasted from 04 Sept. 476 until the death of Richard III on 22 August 1485

The Modern Era began on 22 August 1485