The Roman Republic to 49 BCE: Using Coins as Sources by Prof. Liv Mariah Yarrow, Chair of Classics at Brooklyn College, has been awarded the 2022 Lhotka Memorial Prize by the Royal Numismatic Society (RNS). The Lhotka Memorial Prize was endowed in 1962 by the late RNS Honorary Fellow, Professor J.F. Lhotka (University of Oklahoma), in memory of his father, Dr. J.F. Lhotka. It is awarded to the author of the book or article in English considered most helpful to the elementary student of numismatics and published in the previous two calendar years.
“My book was over a decade in the writing because I and the series editor, Andrew Meadows, were committed to releasing a final version that was both rigorous and accurate, but also deeply engaging and accessible,” Yarrow stated in an email to the ANS once the Prize was announced. “Much material was left on the cutting room floor, enough to keep me busy for many years to come. This award helps demonstrate that a shorter, more readable approach was the right one. I hope it is genuinely useful to a new generation of numismatists and historians. The writing process taught me a great deal and continues to inspire my future work.”
The accessible, authoritative guide and sourcebook introduces the student of ancient history to the various ways in which coins can be used to understand the history of the Roman Republic, with fresh insights on early Roman relations and imperialism, urban politics, constitutional history, the rise of powerful generals, and much more. The jargon-free text is accompanied by over 200 illustrations mostly from the ANS’s collection, key coins every student of the period should know. Throughout, Yarrow demystifies the more technical aspects of the field of numismatics and concludes with a how-to guide for further research for non-specialists.
Yarrow’s book is part of the Guides to the Coinage of the Ancient World series co-published by Cambridge University Press and the American Numismatic Society with the purpose of integrating numismatic evidence—especially high-definition photos—into course materials communicating the history and archaeology of the ancient Mediterranean world. Other published volumes in the series include The Athenian Empire (by Lisa Kallet and John H. Kroll) and From Caesar to Augustus: 49 BC–AD 14 (by Clare Rowan).
