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Greek and Roman Coins of Tel Dor: A Study of Material Culture and Cultural Identity Rosa Maria Motta Norfolk, Virginia MA, Old Dominion University, 1990 BA, Old Dominion University, 1988 A Dissertation presented to the Graduate Faculty of the University of Virginia in Candidacy for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Classical Art and Archaeology University of Virginia November 2010 11 Abstract Greek and Roman Coins of Tel Dor: A Study of Material Culture and Cultural Identity by Rosa Maria Motta Doctor of Philosophy in Classical Art and Archaeology University of Virginia Professor Tyler Jo Smith, Chair The story of the city and the people of the ancient Phoenician harbor town of Dor can be assembled from a variety of primary sources - historical, archaeological and art historical. Each primary source offers its own perspective. When, however, we attempt to understand the city in the Graeco-Roman period - a time when the city was minting its own money, the numismatic sources become some of the most important ones. In my study I argue that by focusing on the iconography and epigraphy of the coins minted at Dora, we can in fact acquire valuable insights into the evolution and outlook of the city and the society within its boundaries. For that purpose, the study perceives each coin type, not simply as an artifact, but a semeion, i.e., a sign of the cultural self- understanding of the city and a primary vehicle through which Dora constructed its meaning. Considerations of cultural identities and cultural boundaries are a necessary starting point for the study of the continuous changes that transformed the Pho~nician city of Dor into the Hellenistic and Graeco-Roman Dora. Since identity could not have been a simple matter of choice between Phoenician, Greek, or Roman, the study explores 111 the culture of Dora as an aggregate of systems that developed from the contacts among the three populations. By analyzing the iconography and epigraphy on Dora's coins as records of the cultural and social trends that changed the city, we can therefore contribute to Dora's historical narrative. Just as well, the study of Dora's coin images is also relevant to the understanding of the role of visual media in the ancient world. lV TABLE OF CONTENT Abstract 1 Table of Content lV Acknowledgments V List ofAbbreviations Vlll List ofClassical References ix List ofFigures xm 1. Toward an Understanding of Dora's Context 1 2. Material Culture, Coins and Cultural Identity 32 3. The Mint of Dora 57 4. The Iconography of Dora's Coins 89 5. Epigraphic Analysis of Dora's Coins 142 6. Conclusions and Future Directions 162 Bibliography 170 Coin (;atalogue 213 Coin Plates 220 Figures 224 V ACKNOWLEDGMENTS My most heartfelt thanks and appreciations go first and foremost to Tyler Jo Smith for persevering with me throughout the time it took me to complete this research and write the dissertation. She has been not only an advisor, but also a source of inspiration, a mentor, and a friend. Her enthusiasm, her expertise, her suggestions and her encouragement enabled me to develop an understanding of my research from the preliminary to the concluding level. This research would have not been possible without Tyler Jo Smith, and I truly owe her my deepest gratitude. I am grateful as well to Jane Crawford, Anastasia Dakouri-Hild, John Dobbins, Lucie Stylianopoulos, and Tony Woodman. They all made it possible for me to complete my degree while traveling between the University of Virginia campus and my home in Norfolk. The members of my dissertation committee, Tyler Jo Smith, John Dobbins, Jane Crawford, and Bernie Frischer, have generously given their time and expertise to better my work. I thank them for their contribution and their good-natured support. I am also very grateful to Andrew Meadows at the American Numismatic Society. His advice, suggestions, and comments were truly appreciated and invaluable. I must also thank Chris Howgego who took the time to meet me at Oxford to discuss my research when it was still in its embryonic stage. I am grateful to the entire crew of the Tel Dor Excavation Project, and especially to the directors Ilan Sharon and Ayelet Gilboa who trusted me with boxes full of material and allowed me to have the Tel Dor coins at my disposal anytime during my stays in Israel. Especially thankful I am to Ayelet whose office at the University of Haifa was VI literally my office anytime during my time in Haifa. Thanks also to Liz Block-Smith, who introduced me to Tel Dor, and to Ephraim Stem who was director of the project for many years long before I came Tel Dor. My gratitude goes to the late Y. Meshorer, whose work paved my own. Haim Gitler and Gabriela Bijovsky at the Israel Antiquity Authority generously shared their research and insights that supported and expanded my own work. I am thankful to both of them, and to Robert Kool and Donald Ariel, who also provided me with space and insights. Thanks to Captain Arie Fichman, who kindly entrusted his private coin collection to my hand and my camera on several occasions. I also need to express my gratitude and deep appreciation to everybody at the Albright Institute, the director Sy Gitin, the office and housing staff, the librarians, and the fellow residents. I am also grateful to my faculty colleagues at Christopher Newport University for making it possible for me to do research while also teaching fulltime. Thanks to Prue Salasky, a dear friend, who took the time to read and edited my research in its final form. Grazie, Prue! My thanks must go also to the librarians at the University of Virginia, Christopher Newport University, and Old Dominion University for their research assistance and their patience. The University of Virginia friends and colleagues, M. De Simone, R. Gondek, I. Miliaresis, D. Rogers, and C. Sulosky, made my visits to campus quite enjoyable. Thanks for sharing lunches and laughter! Finally, my deepest appreciations go to the Karpel family whose friendship and hospitality in their home in Haifa were much appreciated during my many stays in Israel. The research for this dissertation would have not been possible without the generous travel grants from the University of Virginia's Lindner Center for Art History, Vll the Robert J. Huskey Travel Fellowship, and the Jewish Graduate Student Fellowship. The Carol and Eric Meyers Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship supported my final stages of the research at the William F. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research in Jerusalem. Finally, Mickey B1enenfeld, whose love for Israel and archaeology is truly unsurpassable, made some of my travel to Tel Dor possible. I am thankful and appreciative to all of them. My family has been a source of inspiration throughout these years, and I thank them with all my heart. I thank my husband, Jens Bischof, for the many trips to the library and for his assistance in helping me decipher the relevant German scholarship. Thanks also to my children Karl and Christina, and their spouses Teresa and Edward for their encouragement and emotional support during the home stretch, and for their highly valued technical support. I am also thankful for the smiles and hugs of little Gabriella and Anastasia who helped me keep perspective on what is important in life. Finally, I am thankful to my brothers and sisters and their families who, although separated by 6,000 miles, cheered for me from Sicily. Grazie di vero cuore ! This dissertation is dedicated to the memory of our parents Angelo Motta and Angela Consoli. Vlll LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS BMC British Museum Collection. The Department of Coins and Medals. British Museum, London. CIL Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum. Deutsche Akademie der Wissenschaften. Berlin: G. Reimerum, 1863-2006. FGrH D(e Fragmente der Griechischen Historiker by F. Jacoby. Berlin and Leiden 1923-1958. LIMC Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae. 8 Vols. Zurich: Artemis, 1997. RIC Roman Imperial Coinage, Vol 1-10. London: Spink and Son, 1923-1994. RPC Roman Provincial Coinage, Vol 1-7. London: British Museum Press; Paris: Bibliotheque Nationale de France, 1998-2006. N.B. Dora's coins have been numbered sequentially. Plate numbers are not used in the text when referring to the coins. lX LIST OF CLASSICAL REFERENCES Aeschylus. Oresteia: Agamemnon. Libation-Bearers. Eumenides. Alan H. Sommerstein. The Loeb Classical Library 146. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2009. Appian. The Foreign Wars. H. White. New York. The MacMillan Company, 1899. Cicero. In Catilinam 1-4; Pro Murena; Pro Sulla; Pro Fiacco. C. MacDonald. Loeb Classical Library 324. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1976. Cicero. Epistu/ae ad Quintum Fratrem et M Brutum. Cambridge Classical Texts and Commentaries 22. D.R. Shackleton-Bailey. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004. Dio Cassius. Roman History, Books 61-70. E. Cary. The Loeb Classical Library, 176. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1925. Dio Cassius. Roman History, Books 71-80. E. Cary and H. B. Foster. The Loeb Classical Library, 177. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press, 1927. Euripides. Cyclops. Alcestis. Medea. David Kovacs. The Loeb Classical Library 12. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1994. Eusebius. Onomasticon. A Triglott Edition with Notes and Commentary. Edited by R. S. Notly, and Z. Safrai, eds. 2004. Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers, 2004. Herodian. History ofthe Empire, Books 1-4. C.R. Whittaker. The Loeb Classical Library, 454. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1969. Herodotus. The Histories. Translated by A. De Selincourt. London: Penguin Classics, 1996. Herodotus. The Persian Wars, Books 1-2. A. D. Godley. Classical Library 117. The Loeb Classical Library 117. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1920.