Dario Calomino
I am currently the PI of the ERC CoG Project RESP (The Roman Emperor Seen From the Provinces), GA 101002763 (2021-2026). I studied Classics and Classical Archaeology at the University of Padua. I have a BA/MA in Roman Archaeology (2002), a post-graduate diploma of Specialization in Archaeology (2005) and a PhD in Ancient History (2009, Verona University). Before joining Verona University, I worked in the UK from 2012 to 2021. I was at the British Museum Department of Coins and Medals as a Newton International Fellow (2012-2013) and as a Leverhulme Trust Project Curator (2014-2017). I then joined Warwick University, Department of Classics and Ancient History, to work on the Leverhulme research project The Materiality of Graeco-Roman Festivals from 22017 to 2020. In Italy I worked as a researcher for Civic and State Museums (Verona, Venice, Piacenza, Rovereto and Brescia) to study and catalogue their collections of Greek and Roman coins from 2003 to 2011, and since 2010 I have been in charge of publishing the collections of Roman Provincial coins of the National Museum in Rome. I was also teaching assistant in Numismatics from 2004 and 2011 at the Universities of Verona and Padua. In the UK I taught classes and seminars at King's College Department of Archaeology, at the UCL Department of History (2013-2014) and at Warwick University, Department of Classics and Ancient History (2017-2020). My field experience includes excavating at Nora and St. Antioco in Sardegna, at Montegrotto Terme in Veneto and at Grumentum in Basilicata, where I was a Member of the Scientific Committee of the Archaeological Mission in the Roman Forum in 2006-2011. I was a member of the council of the Royal Numismatic Society from 2013 to 2016 and of the council of the Roman Society from 2017 to 2020.
Address: Verona University
Department of Cultures and Civilisations
Viale dell'Università, Polo Zanotto 2.10
37121 Verona (ITALY)
Address: Verona University
Department of Cultures and Civilisations
Viale dell'Università, Polo Zanotto 2.10
37121 Verona (ITALY)
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A total amount of 90 coins has been found, mainly consisting of late Roman bronze specimens which served as local small change currency; Gothic and Byzantine coins in silver and gold are also well attested, offering a very representative view of integration of old 4th-5th centuries issues in the trimetallic 6th century monetary system, as well of their re-use within the Lom- bard society.
Cette étude propose un réexamen de l’ensemble des sources (littéraires, épi- graphiques et numismatiques) disponibles à propos de Diva Caecilia Paulina, femme de l’empereur Maximin le Thrace. En raison de l’extrême rareté des sources la concernant et compte tenu du fait que les auteurs anciens l’évoquent quasi-exclusivement en tant de « Diva », les chercheurs ont généralement considéré que Paulina était déjà décédée au moment où Maximin prit le pouvoir. Toutefois, cette idée se fonde essentiellement sur l’étude des sources de nature impériale. Or, l’analyse de rares inscriptions et monnaies issues des provinces laisse penser qu’en Orient, Paulina a pu être honorée de son vivant en tant qu’Augusta, et permet de remettre en question les opinions traditionnelles quant au milieu culturel et social duquel elle est issue.
6th century AD (also including one medieval coin). The importance of Loppio - S. Andrea as a study case lies in the high reliability of most of the stratigraphic contexts, in the large percentage of legible coins (85%) and in the possibility of processing the data in relation with the peculiar typology and function of the site. There also is a very diverse range of coin finds; though the great majority are bronzes or debased radiates, there is a remarkable group of six silver pieces and an exceptional single gold specimen. The proportion of high value denomination issues is higher than average; this strengthens the argument that the site played a strategic military role (and possibly commercial as well) on the road between the Garda district and the Adige Valley.
Only a small percentage of the finds (c. 9%) dates back to the phases in which the site was inhabited (not earlier than the second half of the 5th century AD); this suggests that late Roman coins (making up over 73% of the total) still played an important role in early Medieval times. Because the site yielded no evidence of a Roman occupation, it seems more plausible to account them as part of the small change in use during the 6th century rather than merely as residual material. This also seems to be confirmed by the fact that most of these finds belong to the same stratigraphic contexts such as Ostrogothic coins.
A significant number of the small Roman bronzes (9 or 10) were intentionally pierced. The practice of using pierced coins (both in bronze and in precious metal) for producing ornamentation is widely attested within grave goods in Lombard cemeteries. All the specimens found at Loppio come from the latest structures of the castrum, which can be dated to the 7th century AD, confirming that they were in use during the Lombard phase of the site. What is very unusual about this sample is that the objects to which these pierced coins were supposed to belong do not come from graves but from habitation contexts. Such evidence suggests that, regardless of their final function for ritual or ornamental-symbolic purposes (necklace-bracelet pendants, amulets, talismans), these coins were used in everyday life, thus they could have also retained their basic function as a medium of exchange.
The most remarkable single find from the castrum of Loppio is a gold tremissis struck by the mint of Rome in the name of Justinian I. This piece reveals a copper core beneath the gold surface, it being one of the very few plated gold specimens known at present. The rarity of these counterfeits seems to indicate that they were made on a small scale. For this reason, it is very difficult to determine in which circumstances the coin was produced. The prototype appears to be Byzantine. It could either be an ‘emergency’ issue by the Imperial mint to face an extraordinary demand for coinage during the Gothic War, or (although less likely) an ‘unofficial’ counterfeit.