EXHIBIT: IDENTITY IN ANCIENT GREEK COINS

Coins convey powerful messages through their symbolic imagery. These tiny objects reveal how the ancient Greeks conceived of themselves and their relationships to their communities, histories, and beliefs, both religious and political. They bear information about geographies, power and propaganda, artistic techniques and more. The coins in this installation illustrate these many dimensions of ancient Greek culture, giving researchers and visitors a tangible connection to the past.

This exhibit was created in association with a class on Ancient Greek Numismatics taught in Fall 2025 by Elspeth Dusinberre. Participants were Ellen Alles, Julia Bowers, James Chanfrau, Caleb Curtis, Joseph Dias, Chancellor Fortenberry, Celia Frankenheimer, Jordan Garcia, Lindsay Howard, Ryan Johnson, Isabella Praslin, Grace Saunders, Camerynn Teuta, Emma Trotter, and Hejing Zhang, as well as Classics Department friends Mary McClanahan and John Nebel, and CUAM Director Hope Saska. Special thanks go to research assistant Phoebe Mock for creating the online component of the exhibit. Without the generosity and expert participation of John Nebel, neither class nor exhibit would have been possible.

Expressions of Identity in Ancient Greek Coins
The exhibition Expressions of Identity in Ancient Greek Coins is currently on view at the University of Colorado Art Museum in Boulder, Colorado. This exhibition explores the powerful messages that coins convey through symbolic representations. The visual imagery of these tiny objects demonstrates how the ancient Greeks conceived of themselves and their relationships to their communities, histories, and beliefs, both religious and political. They bear information about geographies, power and propaganda, artistic techniques, local economic resources, and more. The coins on display in the exhibition comprise a selection of the CU Art Museum's ancient Greek and Roman coins (see also CUAM Ancient & Classical Collection), and those generously on loan to the Museum by John Nebel (see also ancientmoney.org).

Explore the coins on display in the exhibition

Explore 150+ selected coins of John Nebel's collection

Explore the coins in the CU Art Museum's collection

The coins depicted and described on these pages were incorporated into the syllabus for the Fall 2025 Numismatics Seminar. Some of these coins are currently on view in the exhibit Expressions of Identity in Ancient Greek Coins. CU Boulder faculty and students are welcome to work with the CU Art Museum's coins in the Ancient & Classical Collection in the Collection Study Center by appointment. Coins from Nebel's collection that are not on view in the exhibition are not available for research appointments.

Website Overview
This website is a supplementary resource to the physical installation of the exhibition at the CU Art Museum. It includes more information about ancient Greek and Roman coinage around the Mediterranean world, as well as digital resources, teaching tools, and 150+ coins of John Nebel's collection that were selected for the participants of the Fall 2025 Numismatics Seminar to study as part of Professor Elspeth Dusinberre's object-based pedagogy. The website features high resolution photographs of Nebel's coins, which are open access and free to the public.

John adds:

 

To read the complete article, see:
Expressions of Identity in Ancient Greek Coins (https://www.colorado.edu/cuartmuseum/exhibitions/currently-view/expressions-identity-ancient-greek-coins)

	NBS (coinbooks.org) Web