Imagines Maiestatis: Barbarian Coins, Elite identities and the Birth of Europe

罗马与居住在帝国北部的野蛮人之间的互动，塑造了罗马帝国在西方灭亡后欧洲社会的面貌。这两个世界之间的接触是新精英阶层形成的一个重要贡献因素，他们随后在旧帝国的领土上定居，形成了中世纪欧洲的王国。为了充分理解这一转变，我们需要了解新精英是如何以及为什么形成的，这可以通过他们所使用的符号和这些符号所代表的对象来最好地实现。因此，IMAGMA将研究这一基本的、具有决定性的转变的一个具体的、模范的方面。它将访问一组以前被忽视的材料：发展中的精英们在罗马边境以北的巴巴里肯地区生产的罗马硬币的仿制品，他们用来展示自己的地位。这些都是这次文化会议无与伦比的缩影，是罗马人和土著人的独特结合。此外，与几乎任何其他类别的物质文化相比，硬币提供了特别丰富的潜力，反映了从官方生产到私人使用的更广泛的功能和意图。IMAGMA分析这种具象艺术是表达罗马和野蛮人之间接触产生的新社会身份的媒介。它认为专有技术、思想和技术的转移、肖像的作用、精英的自我代表和钱币是权力的象征。科学的金属和材料分析将发挥重要作用。因此，IMAGMA将有助于理解欧洲是如何在古代世界崩溃后形成的，并将其置于长期的历史视角中。它将作为一项跨学科研究计划，由(艺术和经济)历史学家、考古学家、钱币学家和材料科学家参与，借鉴历史人类学领域有关硬币起源和作用的新理论方法。IMAGMA将为一个在该领域拥有长期成功研究历史的德国-波兰联合团队提供创新的、有意义的丰富。

Interaction between Rome and the barbarians who lived to the north of the Empire was to shape the face of European society after the fall of the Roman Empire in the West. The contacts between the two worlds were a significant contributory factor in the formation of the new elites who were subsequently to settle in the territory of the old Empire and form the kingdoms of medieval Europe. In order to appreciate fully this transformation, we need to understand how and why the new elites were formed, and this can best be achieved through the symbols that they employed and the objects on which these were represented.IMAGMA will therefore investigate a specific, exemplary aspect of this fundamental, defining transition. It will access a previously neglected group of material: imitations of Roman coins produced by the developing elites right across the Barbaricum north of the Roman frontier, and used by them to demonstrate their status. These provide an unparalleled microcosm of this cultural meeting, a unique synthesis of Roman and indigenous. Furthermore, coins offer particularly rich potential, reflecting a wider range of functions and intentions, from official production to private usage, than almost any other class of material culture.IMAGMA analyses this representational art as a medium of expression of new social identities that resulted from the contacts between Rome and the barbarians. It considers transfer of know-how, ideas and technology, the role of iconography, self-representation of elites and coins as symbol of power. A major role will be played by scientific metal and material analysis. IMAGMA will thus provide a significant contribution to understanding how Europe came into being after the collapse of the world of Antiquity, placing it in a long-term historical perspective. It will be conducted as an interdisciplinary research programme involving the participation of (art and economic) historians, archaeologists, numismatists and material scientists drawing on new theoretical approaches on the origins and function of coinage from the field of historical anthropology. IMAGMA will provide innovative, meaningful enrichment to a joint German-Polish team that has a long-standing history of successful research in the field.