Michael P. Theophilos - Numismatics and Greek Lexicography

Numismatics and Greek Lexicography

Numismatics and Greek Lexicography

Michael P. Theophilos

This volume began as a tangential footnote in a draft of my doctoral dissertation at Oxford University in 2004. That footnote has cascaded into what is now a monograph-length investigation on one aspect of the relationship between numismatics and New Testament Studies. There have been many dialogue partners in helping formulate an argument that attempts to do justice to the marrying of two fields of research which have had difficulty being integrated in the past.

I wish to acknowledge Professor Christopher Howgego, keeper of the Heberden coin room at the Ashmolean Museum, for his forbearance in the several years of numismatic instruction at Oxford University while I was a doctoral student in 20042007. His patient and careful guidance, together with the most exhaustive reading lists in the field, provided a staggering breadth of exposure. During my extracurricular pursuits during my doctoral studies in Oxford, one of my enduring memories of participating in Michael Kims lectures on Greek numismatics (Ashmolean Museum, Faculty of Classics, Oxford University) was his weekly challenge for the class to request a viewing of a coin that he could not produce from the vast Ashmolean collection. What made this challenge even more exhilarating was the setting: twelve eager disciples sitting on the numbing concrete floor of the numismatic vault, before the recent renovations of the Ashmolean Museum. Needless to say, his challenge was never overcome.

I owe a steadily increasing debt to John Lee (Macquarie University, Sydney), who has generously given of time and effort to help refine my own thoughts on the way new primary sources should be integrated as the discipline of Greek lexicography evolves. His vast experience within the discipline of Greek lexicography has influenced my own approach to the discipline more than I can express. I also wish to express immense gratitude to Anne Thomson for her erudite and insightful comments throughout. I was humbled and honoured when I was invited to be the 2015 Senior Research Fellow at the Australian Centre for Ancient Numismatic Study (Sydney, Australia). The director (Associate Professor Ken Sheedy), staff and board provided the most invigorating and robust numismatic discussion I have experienced, and this volume is better for it. On multiple occasions, Colin Pitchfork (Noble Numismatics, Sydney) was willing to obtain obscure bibliographic items that were unavailable in any public or university libraries. My debt of gratitude is great.

tantus labor non sit cassus