From dark designs mourning the dead, to figures celebrating military accomplishments and well-known buildings, Roman coins held by the Otago Museumall bear a message, a University of Otago expert says.

University of Otago classics lecturer Dr Gwynaeth McIntyre is working on the digitisation of the museum's collection of coins, which ties into her ownresearch as well as benefiting the museum.

By the end of 2019, she hopes to create a website accessible to the public, featuring both the digital photographs of the coins and information aboutthem.

Sometimes the message the emperor of the time wished to convey on the coin was a "different kind of narrative'' to the one found in literary orhistorical sources.

Promotion of family members and celebrating military victories were also depicted on the coins.

"We get lots of gods showing up, too,'' she said.

"You basically want to show that you love the gods, or that the gods are on your side.''

Dr McIntyre's area of expertise is the short but colourful dynasty of Julio-Claudian emperors from Augustus - Julius Caesar's great-nephew, whobecame emperor in 27BC- to the final ruler of the family, Nero, whose reign came to a grisly end in AD 68.

However the university's collection - second only in Australasia to the collection of Macquarie University, in Sydney - stretches beyond that time, fromthe third century BC to the fifth century AD, Dr McIntyre said.

There are in the region of 1200 bronze and silver coins, bearing a variety of designs.

There was only one gold coin in the whole collection, which was kept separate, Dr McIntyre said. It was rare, but she could not estimate its value.

To read the complete article, see:
Museum's Roman coin collection being digitised(https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/museums-roman-coin-collection-being-digitised)