The idea

Τhe idea: about the SilCoinCy Research Project

The research project “The Silver Coinage of the Kings of Cyprus: Numismatics and History in the Archaic and Classical Periods (6th to 4th centuries BC) (SilCoinCy)” started as an idea aiming to collect and study the silver coinage issued by Cypriote kings, following the completion of a similar research concentrated on the gold.

The project was organised in five work sections pertaining to the collection of numismatic material kept in museums and private collections all over the world, the development of a numismatic database that is enriched with the relevant numismatic material, the study of numismatic material and the dissemination of research results through scientific publications as well as the development of a website dedicated to the history, archaeology, and numismatics of ancient Cyprus.

The Kyprios Character website is still under development, but already comprises of the following sections:

•  Project: it includes relevant information about the research project, such as the description of the research project (SilCoinCy) and of the website that has been created to host it (Kyprios Character), as well as details about the research team and the external collaborators, the funding and the future perspectives, amongst others.

•  Coins: The numismatic database will initially include circa 800 silver coins from various public and private collections.

• Articles: the first scientific articles written especially for Kyprios Character by external scientific collaborators have been published on the website and pertain to the history, archaeology and numismatics of ancient Cyprus. These texts, available in Greek and in English, are accompanied by their references, illustrations, a bibliography and a digital location map. The scientific papers are organised into the nine following thematic sections: 

1. Numismatics
2. Archaeology
3. Epigraphy
4. Kingdoms- Kings
5. Cyprus and the Others
6. Cult and Religion
7. Economy and Trade
8. Collections of Cypriot Antiquities
9. Research Projects

The articles that are currently in translation or/and editing process and will be published soon can be found here. 

•  Bibliography: this section features the bibliography of ancient Cypriote numismatics compiled by Dr Anne Destrooper-Georgiades for the research project The Cyprus Numismatic Project and was completed in 2008 along with the development of a website for the University of Edinburgh. The original bibliography has been updated by Dr Destrooper-Georgiades up to 2014 and includes more than 600 bibliographic references. The search option, offers various search possibilites.

• Events: a calendar and map of scheduled events about ancient Cyprus, archaeology and/or numismatics for the following months. This section is continuously updated and contains the following categories of events:

1. Congresses / Symposia
2. Lectures
3. Exhibitions
4. Seminars / Workshops
5. Educational Programs

•  Links: suggested links of interest with a short description for each one. The links are organised in the following categories that also include research projects: 

1. The Scientific papers      
2. The Bibliography Database
3. Archaeology
4. Museums, Foundations, Research Institutes and Associations

•  Search: You can search in the scientific papers, the numismatic bibliography and - soon - the numismatic database of the website, by chosing one of the three following options:  

1. The Scientific papers      
2. The Bibliography Database
3. The Numismatic Database

•  Contact: You can contact us by filling the form in the following section

This research project has been realised with the contribution of a scientific and technical team that consists of the Research Associate, Dr Giorgos Bourogiannis (who replaced Dr Pagona Papadopoulou in September 2014), and three more researchers, Dimitris Gerothanasis, Vasia Psilakakou, Eleni Athanasiou. The following associates are also members of the research team: Christos Kopanos (website development and support), Christos Spiliopoulos (numismatic and bibliography databases), Chryssa Panagiotopoulou (editing of English texts) and Giannis Voulgarakis (coin images digital manipulation). Konstantinos Tremountanis (general technical support), Aggeliki Vossou (website support) and Anthi Gorou (test controls) have also provided their technical support. The Scientific Coordinator of the project is Dr Evangeline Markou, researcher at the Institute of Historical Research in the National Hellenic Research Foundation.