These two publications deriving from a four-day conference held in Argos in May 2011 contain a rich record of insights and new material (for example, from excavations and museum collections) on the production, significance, use and circulation of coins in the Peloponnese. This review covers the first volume, devoted to the coinages of the four phases of antiquity: archaic and classical Greek, Hellenistic, Roman republican and Roman imperial. The volume honours two major contributors to the field: Tony Hackens, the pioneer numismatist/archaeologist, whose studies of monetary circulation in the Peloponnese and of the coinage of Argos are surveyed by F. de Callataÿ; and Mando Oikonomides, who contributed a foreword to the collection and an article on the circulation of Corinthian ‘pegasi’ before her death. She is also the subject of an appreciation (by E. Tsourti) of her international activities and reputation and of her long and fruitful leadership of the Athens Numismatic Museum.

The volume presents, in articles of high quality in Greek, French and English, a judicious combination of ‘state of play’ contributions and new discoveries that cover a wide range of topics and themes: individual mints (including one die-study), monetary systems and standards, coin production and denominations, hoards and circulation, iconography and the interpretation of coin types. Three general contributions set the scene for much of what follows: in her discussion of coinage in the archaic and classical periods A. Moustaka draws attention to the influence of the coinage of Aegina, a theme that is developed by other contributors; in his treatment of the period 336–146 bc P. Marchetti focuses on the metrological implications of the currency reform known from inscriptions at Delphi as the epikatallage, arguing that 146 is a solid terminus ante quem for all Achaean coinage; I. Touratsoglou discusses the production and circulation of coins in the Peloponnese post-146, comparing and contrasting the republican and imperial periods. Both Moustaka and Marchetti refer to the role of the Aeginetan standard in the coinage of the Peloponnese, and that theme is the subject of a contribution by V. Van Driessche that places it in the context of Greek monetary systems as a whole. Finally in this more general section, C. Flament points out that, whereas Greek numismatics is usually studied on the basis that each Greek city struck coins from its own mint, links between several ‘mints’ (e.g. style, control marks) suggest that some mints worked for several cities, giving rise to the idea of a ‘numismatique des [grands] ensembles’ (p. 95).

With the scene thus set and the chronological parameters presented, it is time to work through individual contributions that fill in many of the details. Some contributions overlap the chronological phases outlined above, but for the archaic and classical periods A. Andreou and P. Tselekas discuss the various ways in which coins are associated with the manifold activities related to temple cults, such as offerings, sacrifices, the organisation of games and festivals, and monetary transactions on site. D. Kousoulas outlines the three phases of coinage at Alea, a city on the frontier between Arcadia and the Argolid, between 380 and 146 bc. With regard to iconography, D. Tsangari presents the rich inventory of deities on coins that match the variety of local traditions in Arcadia. P. Galanis focuses on a single city, Orchomenos in Arcadia, where his investigations of the mainly bronze coinage dating both from the fourth century bc and Roman imperial times throw light on both the economy and the cults of the settlement. Several contributions focus on a specific deity. L. Laky's comparison of images of Zeus on coins of the poleis that controlled Olympia in the fourth and fifth centuries bc with similar images on other coins and on sculptures and reliefs throws light on the development of the visual representation of the god. M.D. Trifirò gives a diachronic view of the type of Apollo in the Greek and Roman periods. M. Gkikaki discusses various possibilities for the identification of a female head on coins of the Achaean League in the early fourth century, concluding that it might be a representation of Artemis Triklaria. With regard to coin circulation in the Peloponnese in the Classical period, H. Nicolet-Pierre examines hoards containing coins of Aegina after 400. Although there was certainly a slowing of production over time, it is striking to what extent Aeginetan coins continued to be circulated (and hoarded) from the fourth to the second century bc. E. Ralli re-examines two hoards, IGCH 115 and a hoard excavated at Patras in 1992, dating the former after 320 bc and the concealment of the latter in the period ad 14–37. M. Skordou illustrates the potential of the riches of museum collections by publishing from the Museum of Chania 34 coins of Peloponnesian mints that circulated in western Crete from the fourth to the first centuries bc. M. Stephanakis extends the Cretan enquiry with a discussion of the circulation of Peloponnesian coins on the island and their influence on local coin iconography in the early Hellenistic period. In a further contribution on the wider circulation of Peloponnesian coins, C. Gkatzolis publishes a small grave hoard from Pydna containing two bronzes of Philip II and three triobols of Argos, dating before 320 bc; he suggests a military explanation for the arrival of Argive coins at Pydna.

Discussions referring to the coinage of the Hellenistic period include a die-study by A. Meadows of the bronze coinage of Arsinoe-Methana in the Argolid, concluding that the coins of Arsinoe preceded those of Methana. A number of studies of hoards offer fresh vistas and interpretations. S. Makrypodi and M. Giannakouli date a hoard of tetradrachms found in Argos in 1981 to the period 290–280 bc, a period of upheaval in the city as Argos expelled its Macedonian garrison. Although the hoard from Ithomi published by E. Apostolou containing silver coins dating from the third century bc is so far exceptional for Messenia, its contents can be compared with those of other contemporary Peloponnesian hoards. In a similar way a small bronze hoard (five coins of Cassander, five of Antigonus Gonatas) from Trapeza, near Aigion (Achaea), published by A. Vordos and G. Gorini, can be compared with other small hoards, which in this case could be linked with military garrisons all over Greece. A study of the Ougri hoard (IGCH 121) by P. Tselekas is presented in the context of the circulation of gold and silver coins in the Peloponnese after 330 bc. From Gitana in Epirus come coins and seal impressions that begin to throw light on connections between the two areas (K. Preka-Alexandri and G. Stogias).

Moving on to the ‘Roman effect’ on coinage in Greece, C. Papageorgiadou and S. Zoubaki discuss the variable evidence for the impact of Rome on the economy and coinage of the Peloponnese. F. Wojan reviews the four denominations of the bronze coinage of Elis with particular reference to its heaviest. P. Assenmaker connects the coinage designated as ‘Lucullan’ in some literary and epigraphic sources to the context of Sulla's operations in Greece. Revisiting the question of the Messenian oktobolos eisphora Doyen argues that rather than representing an assimilation between the Roman denarius and the Attic drachma in the first century bc, the former replaced the latter. Two hoards are published from Kato Achaia (anc. Dyme) in the north-western Peloponnese. The first, by M. Lakaki, consists of 801 coins, of which 617 are Achaean drachmas and 181 are from several cities of the Peloponnese and central Greece; the suggested burial date is 167 bc. The second, by A. Nikolakopoulou, was excavated in 2002. Its varied contents include four coins of Dyme, a first from the point of view of excavation coins, and the suggested burial date of 49–44 bc may be linked in some way with the civil war between Pompey and Caesar and the establishment at Dyme of a Roman colony.

Finally, several contributions help to clarify aspects of coinage in the Peloponnese in the Roman imperial period. The Julio-Claudian period is represented by S. Giannopoulos, who describes the nature and effect of the coins issued by Eurykles of Sparta between 31 and 7 bc. From that point there is quite a long gap until later periods of the empire. The coins of two cities receive a more individual treatment. Those of Arcadian Orchomenos, issued at two distinctly separate moments in the fourth century bc and the second century ad, and their setting in the local economy and cults, are discussed by P. Galanis; the rare coins of Pylos, dating in the late second and early third centuries ad, are studied by T. Kourembanas. Two hoards come from the late imperial period: S. Rozaki, A. Maltezou, A. Themos and E. Zabbou present cleaned coins out of a total of 2,338, dating from Hadrian to Gallienus and found in a funerary context at ancient Akreiai (west coast of the Malean peninsula); M. Tsouli and A. Papagiannis present a hoard excavated in 2009 at ancient and modern Oitylon in Laconia. The hoard contained 457 bronze coins, the latest dated to ad 363. This is the first known hoard from Laconia that can be dated to the fourth century ad. In a contribution to the iconography of Peloponnesian coins in the imperial period, C. Tsangkalia considers the type of Hermes with a ram that appears on bronze coins of Corinth and Patras.

In all, then, a feast of new discoveries, new ideas and new approaches, brought together in texts that are admirably printed. The volume exemplifies the current range, depth and vitality of numismatic studies in Greece. Just one criticism concerns some of the plates. While the details on silver coins are generally clearly visible, some of those on bronze coins are not. Something to be borne in mind in the next eagerly awaited volumes in this series.