The American Numismatic Society (ANS) is pleased to announce the launch of a new online resource, Hellenistic Royal Coinages (HRC)(http://numismatics.org/hrc/). A National Endowment for the Humanities funded project based at the ANS in New YorkCity, HRC is a web-based resource for users to learn about, research, and conduct different types of statistical analyses on the coinages produced bythe different dynasties and rulers of the ancient Mediterranean and Near East during the Hellenistic period (ca. 323-31 BC). These include the coinsstruck by (and in the name of) Alexander the Great and those struck by his successors, such as the Seleucids in the Near East and the Ptolemies inEgypt.

The new HRC website serves as a Union Catalogue of existing online resources devoted to Hellenistic coinages and allows users to search across allthese sites simultaneously. These sites include: PELLA (http://numismatics.org/pella/), a resource thatcurrently focuses on the coinage in the name of Alexander the Great; Seleucid Coins Online (http://numismatics.org/sco/), a resource devoted to the coinage of the Seleucid dynasty; and Ptolemaic Coins Online(http://numismatics.org/pco/), a resource for the coinage of the Ptolemaic dynasty. In the future we hopeto add additional resources for the coinages of other Hellenistic dynasties and rulers including the Antigonid, Attalid, and Bactrian dynasties.

Currently over 31,200 individual coins from seventeen institutions are illustrated and described in the HRC catalogues. While the AmericanNumismatic Society's collection serves as the core of all these searchable catalogues, thousands of examples are illustrated by links to coins inother major collections including those in the Bibliothèque nationale de France, the British Museum, the Muenzkabinett der StaatlichenMuseen zu Berlin, and other public collections in the US and Europe.

ANS Executive Director Ute Wartenberg notes that "the HRC website promises to transform the way in which scholars, collectors, and others researchand learn about Hellenistic Coinages."

To read the complete press release, see:
Press Release | Hellenistic Royal Coinages (http://numismatics.org/hrc-pr/)