Resource Portfolio
Clare Weightman
Teaching through Objects: Coins in the
Classics Classroom
The richly varied material culture of the Classical world presents an opportunity for teachers
to broaden their students’ engagement with Greco-Roman civilisation. There are, however,
a number of potential challenges to teachers integrating artefacts in their classroom
teaching. These may include: the pressures of time, in an era when Classical subjects are
often given short shrift within time-tables; and the fact that many Classics teachers from a
Linguistic or Literary background may not be confident about using objects in their teaching.
As a result, Classical subjects, particularly Latin and Greek, tend to be very heavily textfocused, even when the topic is focused on the wider culture.
Despite these challenges, there are advantages to using artefacts in the classroom. As Woff
(2003, p. 172) argues, “The study of visual and material sources offered additional and
alternative gateways into the ancient world for those students who found it difficult to
access that world solely through the written word.” Learning from objects helps students to
develop skills, such as deduction and evaluation; extends their knowledge of the social,
historical and economic contexts in which objects were created; and develops concepts,
such as those of taste or aesthetic quality, and heritage and preservation of material culture
(Durbin et al, 1990, p.5-6). It is the tangible nature of objects that can be successfully
exploited: “Handling objects is a form of active learning that engages children in a way that
other methods often fail to do. Objects provide a concrete experience that aids or illuminates
abstract thought.” (Durbin, 1990, p. 4) Moreover, as Durbin et al (1990, p. 5) argue, teaching
through objects can be applied to the whole ability range in a mixed class; students with
SEN or lower levels of attainment in writing or speaking often relate well to objects.
Since the term ‘material objects’ is a vast field, this resource evaluation will focus on Roman
coins used in Classical Civilisation lessons. Coins are potentially very useful as they are
instantly familiar to modern children, unlike, for example, a wax tablet and stylus, or an oil
lamp. Additionally, coins are easily acquired. Quality reproductions of specific Roman coin
issues are cheaply and readily available from most museum shops in the UK, or online. The
use of replicas does not necessarily detract from the value of the exercise, as long as it is
made clear that they are reproductions, as they can be handled robustly and fearlessly in
the classroom. However, genuine Roman coins can also be easily acquired from antique
shops and numismatic fairs, and are often relatively cheap themselves. These have the
added aura for students of being ‘The Real Thing’; they bring the ancient world closer. For
those teachers who do not have their own coin resources, coin handling sessions are
regularly offered by Museum Education Departments. Lastly, the vast numbers of
thoroughly studied Roman coins in existence means that high-quality images are easily
Resource Portfolio
Clare Weightman
accessible and can be profitably used in PowerPoint presentations or on worksheets –
though ideally, this would be after students had encountered ‘the Real Thing’.
Although coins are easily relatable objects, they still need to be carefully introduced. As
Durbin et al (1990, p. 18) point out, the skills of decoding an object through observation,
deduction, language and recording are not innate, but they can be taught. Students may
already recognise that coins can be used for a commemorative purpose, since the London
2012 Olympics and the Queen’s Jubilee were marked by widely circulated special coin
issues. This knowledge about contemporary coins can be used to scaffold students’ learning,
prior to discussing ancient coinage. Usefully, British One Pound coins carry Latin inscriptions
and an abbreviated Latin motto. Even for students with no Latin, the realisation that this is a
familiar practice might make encountering the inscriptions on Roman coins less daunting. A
question on why the Queen appears on the coinage, rather than, say, the Prime Minister,
could lead into a discussion of the symbolic nature of monarchy, which would prepare the
ground for a consideration of representation of the Emperor. They would thus hopefully be
used to the notion that coins frequently carry repeated images and abbreviated slogans
which can be decoded and readily understood, before they encounter an actual ancient
coin, or representation thereof.
At KS5, there is considerable scope to use coinage to support sophisticated activities. The
AQA Classical Civilisation Unit 3 Option D: Augustus and the Foundation of the Principate
contains no reference to coins amongst the prescribed material. The Unit does, however,
include discussion of the Ara Pacis Augustae, the Forum of Augustus, and the Prima Porta
Augustus statue. As exemplars of what may be termed ‘High Art’, it can be easy to fall into
the trap of viewing them as representative of a static Augustan Iconography. The use of coin
sources, especially thematic or chronological series of coin issues, allows the teacher to
emphasise the process whereby the first Princeps fashioned and re-fashioned an evolving
public persona over several decades (Zanker, 1988, p. 53-6). They can be therefore be used
to supplement and support the teaching of the prescribed materials. Moreover, an
examination of Augustan coinage taken together with the ‘High Art’ of the Augustan cultural
programme, allows for a nuanced discussion of the subject of ‘Propaganda’. Most students
who have taken History are familiar with the modern notion of propaganda, especially as
employed by 20th-Century Fascist regimes. This tends to create the impression that all
propaganda is necessarily a blunt instrument, à la the Nuremburg rallies or Soviet posters. In
discussing Augustus’ self-imaging as a form of ‘propaganda’, students need to be alerted to
its multivalent sophistication; that is, how images combine allusions and references to
create layered effects. By considering the ‘propaganda in your pocket’, in the form of a
familiar everyday artefact, students will be able to understand the range and reach of the
Augustan image program, which extended far beyond the limited environs of the Roman
metropolis, or private Imperial villas such as Prima Porta. In effect, coinage was the world’s
first communication mass medium.
Resource Portfolio
Clare Weightman
Bibliography
Durbin, G. et al (1990) Learning from Objects English Heritage.
Woff, R. (2003) “Classics and museums” In: Morwood, J. (ed.) The Teaching of Classics
Cambridge University Press: Cambridge.
Zanker, P. (1988) trans. by Shapiro, A. The Power of Images in the Age of Augustus
University of Michigan Press: Ann Arbor.