Practice question · Sort into groups
Sort each element of a coin: reliable evidence or state advertising?
Groups: Reliable evidence · State advertising
- Measured silver fineness
- A legend proclaiming the harmony of the soldiers
- An image presenting the emperor as a god’s favourite
- The mint mark and findspot
- Degree of wear on the surfaces
- A reverse celebrating an unshakeable victory
Hints
- The physical properties cannot lie; the message almost always does.
- Reliability runs opposite to what durability suggests.
Show the answer
Reliable evidence: Measured silver fineness, The mint mark and findspot, Degree of wear on the surfaces
State advertising: A legend proclaiming the harmony of the soldiers, A reverse celebrating an unshakeable victory, An image presenting the emperor as a god’s favourite
Why
The metal cannot lie and the message rarely does anything else. Reliability is exactly inverted from what durability suggests, read the physical, distrust the verbal.
Practise Numismatics and Epigraphy
The app has 5 more questions on this lesson, and keeps your place in the course. History I is free to start.
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