Over the last few years, most of the major coin cabinets have begun to create online databases, where anyone with access to the internet can find well over 250,000 Greek coins from public museum collections. Moreover, these databases are – at least so far – all open access and free of charge. It is therefore curious that the series of the Sylloge Nummorum Graecorum (SNG), which began in Britain in 1931 with the publication of the Spencer-Churchill collection, is still in existence today and indeed flourishing, at least to judge from the number of recent volumes. So far over 120 volumes from many museum collections have appeared. This volume is the sixth volume of the SNG Ashmolean and contains 2026 coins of Asia Minor, including Caria (747), Lydia (163), Phrygia (155), Lycia (240), Pamphylia (177), Pisidia (143), Cilicia (317), Galatia (3), the Cappadocian Kings (71), Armenia (1) and the Kings of Commagene (2); in the uncertain category of unidentified coins are 7 pieces.

The Greek coin collection of the Heberden Coin Room has been under the care of three eminent curators, of which the first was J.G. Milne (1867–1951), who is perhaps best remembered for his History of Egypt under Roman Rule. Just like his successor E.S.G. Robinson, he left his remarkable collection of Greek coins to the Heberden Coin Room while working there as a curator for many years. C. Kraay, who curated the collection until his premature death in 1982, also left his mark on the collection by buying many important coins, and in particular entire hoards of coins, which have contributed considerably to the understanding of Greek numismatics. The volume under review benefits immeasurably from the knowledge of these three scholars, who were able to assemble some rare coins, primarily of interest to academics and students of the field and which thus fit the context of a university collection. These coins are not flashy coins for exhibitions but often silver fractions and rare bronze issues. Many of these coins were originally published by one of the three curators, often in other contexts such as hoard publications.

This collection of coins has now been expertly catalogued by two leading specialists in Greek numismatics. A. is well known for his research on the coinage of Caria and in particular Rhodes, and the information accumulated in this catalogue is formidable. Thus this sylloge provides a superb introduction to the current state of research of the coinage of Rhodes, of which the Ashmolean Museum has some 223 specimens. Without having to read through A.'s many articles on the subject, numismatists and economic historians can easily survey the Rhodian and pseudo-Rhodian issues, one of the most important but also problematical coinages of the ancient world. In this volume, A. presents an excellent overview, with germane references for all coins. The treatment of Rhodes in this volume clearly demonstrates the usefulness of such a catalogue as opposed to a simple online database where individual coins form the basis of the entries. Chronologically arranged, the sylloge illustrates the development from the three city coinages of Lindos, Ialysos and Kamiros of the sixth and fifth centuries b.c. to that of the unified coinage of Rhodes after the synoecism in 408. Famous for its head of Helios and a rose, this type – with variations – remained in existence into the first century b.c.

Looking over the coins of Caria and Lycia, which comprise almost exactly half of all coins in this sylloge, further illustrates the strength of the research that went into cataloguing this volume. The bibliography on most coins indicates the current state of numismatic scholarship, and for Caria, coins are superbly described following very recent articles on early Caria by K. Konuk, A. Meadows' die-study of Alabanda, and again A.'s articles on various Hellenistic mints. For Lycian coins, on which much less work has been done recently, the cataloguing of some coins is on less firm ground. For example, coin number 1152, given to an uncertain mint of Lycia, c. 500–440 b.c., has an obverse design of a gorgoneion, with three clubs (?) and on the reverse a ‘human-headed bird with four wings flying r., head raised’. It is likely that the human-headed bird is a harpy, and indeed this very type was attributed by Prokesch-Osten in 1854 (‘Inedita meiner Sammlung autonomer griechischer Münzen’, Denkschr. d. kaiserl. Akademie d. Wissenschaften 5, 1854, p. 50), to Harpagion in Mysia. Whether the older attribution is correct is hard to tell, but it seems better, perhaps, to consider this coin as one of the many incerti of early Greek coinage. Looking at the section of Lycian dynasts, one misses in this sylloge the earliest coin from the Ashmolean Museum's holding. The coin in question is part of the sixth-century b.c. Adana hoard, which was acquired and published by S. Robinson in Revue Numismatique 1973, p. 235 no. 7. It is likely that the curator in charge overlooked this coin, when selecting the coins for the authors of the sylloge, as it is probably kept within the hoards away from the other Lycian coins. Furthermore, coin no. 2021 is unidentified in the section of the incerti, when it has been correctly attributed by A. Destrooper to a Cypriote mint (‘Le disque ailé inclus dans un motif géométrique sur une série de monnaies Chypriotes?’, Centre d'Etudes Chypriotes 20 [1993–2], 19–24).

Copy-editing of the book could have been a bit tighter, as occasionally font sizes are incorrect, and in the bibliography, four articles by J.G. Milne are listed as the work of A. Meadows. If there is one serious criticism to be voiced, it should concern the poor quality of the plates. As the same scanning method was used for SNG Ashmolean vol. 5 Part IX (Bosporus–Aeolis), which produced a much more satisfactory result, it seems that the printers are to blame for the overall grayish appearance, which lacks contrast.

These are minor complaints within such a vast catalogue, and anyone who has ever done similar work will appreciate that there is indeed little wrong with this latest issue of the Ashmolean sylloge. The two authors are to be congratulated for their excellent work and encouraged to tackle the remainder of the collection of Greek coins of the Heberden Coin Room at the Ashmolean Museum.