B.A. (Bristol), Ph.D (London)

Personal Profile:

I graduated from the University of Bristol in 1983, and subsequently went on to study for a Ph.D at the Institute of Archaeology, University College London, in the field of Roman numismatics. My first book, Roman Provincial Coins, was published in 1988 (and is now being reprinted); in the same year I joined the staff of the Department of Coins and Medals at the Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge. After a stint as a Leverhulme Research Fellow I moved to Beirut, Lebanon, to take up a position as Associate Professor in the Department of History and Archaeology at the American University of Beirut. I was closely involved in the international rescue excavations of the Beirut Central District. In 2002 I became a full Professor, and joined Warwick in 2007, after a term as a Getty Villa Visiting Scholar in Los Angeles, California.

Teaching:

Undergraduate:

• Principles and Methods of Classical Archaeology
• Hellenistic World
• Roman Near East
• Roman Culture and Society

Postgraduate: 

• Taught MA in Ancient Visual and Material Culture (Numismatics)
• Danish PhD School in Archaeology, PhD course in Syria

Prof. Butcher is keen to supervise postgraduate students interested in undertaking research in the fields of Greek and Roman numismatics and on topics connected with the Hellenistic and Roman Near East.

Research:

Prof. Butcher’s research interests include Greek and Roman coinage, particularly the civic and provincial coinages of the Roman empire; and the Hellenistic and Roman Near East, particularly coastal Syria and Lebanon. He is currently working on a three-year AHRC-funded project in collaboration with Dr. Matthew Ponting of the University of Liverpool, investigating the metallurgy of Roman imperial and provincial silver coinages from Nero to Commodus, and will shortly begin work on the Cambridge Handbook to Roman Coinage. He is also interested in the application of social theories in archaeology, particularly with regard to material culture and the ancient economy. He has worked on several excavation projects in the Mediterranean and published the coin finds from several major ancient sites, including Nicopolis ad Istrum in Bulgaria and Beirut in Lebanon. 

Recent Publications:

• Coinage in Roman Syria. Northern Syria, 64 BC – AD 253, London, Royal Numismatic Society Special Publication 34, 2004
• Roman Syria and the Near East, London, British Museum Press, and Los Angeles, Getty Museum Press, 2003
• Small Change in Ancient Beirut. The Coin Finds from BEY 006 and BEY 045: Persian, Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine Periods. Archaeology of the Beirut Souks, AUB and ACRE Excavations in Beirut, 1994-1996, 1 Berytus XLV-XLVI (2001-2002), Beirut, American University of Beirut, 2003
• 'The Euphrates Frontier and the Civic Era of Zeugma', in O. Tekin (ed.), Ancient History, Numismatics and Epigraphy in the Mediterranean World. Studies in Memory of Clemens E. Bosch and Sabahat Atlan and in honour of Nezahat Baydur, Istanbul, 2009, 81-83
• 'The Silver Coinage of Roman Syria under the Julio-Claudian Emperors' (with M. J. Ponting), Levant 41.1 (2009), 59-78
• 'The denarii of Otho: a stylistic and compositional study' (with M. J. Ponting and J. Muona), Rivista Italiana di Numismatica 110 (2009), 297-316
• 'Phasing of coin finds: The example of ancient Beirut', in M. Asolati, G. Gorini (eds), I ritrovamenti monetali e i processi inflativi nel mondo antico e medievale. Atti del IV Congresso Internazionale di Numismatica e di Storia Monetaria, Padova, 12-13 ottobre 2007 (Padova 2008), 63-67
• 'Jerusalem: the coins', (with R. Reece, H. Brown, M. Metcalf) in K. Prag (ed.), Excavations by K. M. Kenyon in Jerusalem 1961-1967, Volume V: Discoveries in Hellenistic to Ottoman Jerusalem, Oxford (2008) 411-31
• 'A Palmyrene curiosity', Berytus 50 (2007), 83-84
• 'Two Syrian deities', Syria 84 (2007) 281-90
• ‘Information, Legitimation, or Self-Legitimation? Popular and Elite Designs on the Coin Types of Syria’, in C. Howgego, V. Heuchert, A. Burnett (eds), Coinage and Identity in the Roman Provinces, Oxford University Press, 2005, 143-156
• ‘The Roman Denarius under the Julio-Claudian Emperors: Mints, Metallurgy and Technology’ (with M. J. Ponting), Oxford Journal of Archaeology 24(2) (2005), 163-197
• ‘Die sharing in Asia Minor: A Phantom Link’, Schweizer Muenzblatter 219 (2005), 67-68
• ‘The Egyptian Billon Tetradrachm under the Julio-Claudian Emperors—Fiduciary or Intrinsic?’ (with M. J. Ponting), Schweizerische Numismatische Rundschau 84 (2005), 93-124
• ‘Numismatics (Minting and Monetary Systems/Coinage) in the Levant’, in S. Richard (ed.), Near Eastern Archaeology: A Reader, Winona Lake, Eisenbraums, 2003, pp. 210-217
• ‘Circulation of Bronze Coinage in the Orontes Valley in the Late Hellenistic and Early Roman Periods’, in C. Augé, F. Duyrat (edd.), Les monnayages syriens – Quel apport pour l’histoire du Proche-Orient hellénistique et romain?, Actes de la table ronde de Damas, 10-12 novembre 1999, Beirut, 2002, 145-152

Forthcoming Publications: 

• ‘Coins and Hoards’ in W. Aylward (ed.), Zeugma 2000: Rescue Excavations, Los Altos: Packard Humanities Institute
• ‘Syria and the East’, in W. Metcalf (ed.), Oxford Handbook to Greek and Roman Coins, Oxford: University Press
• Griechische Münzen in Winterthur, Band III: Pamphylien – Mauretanien (with M. Spoerri Butcher, H. Gilter et al.), Winterthur, 2008