Linked Open Data and Hellenistic Numismatics

The American Numismatic Society (ANS), founded in 1858, is a leading research institute for the discipline, with a large collection objects, an archive pertaining to the Society that also contains primary research materials from prominent scholars, and the world’s largest specialist library for numismatics. The collection of coins, medals, and other related monetary instruments is among the largest in the world, and nearly 600,000 records are available online through its Open Access web portal, MANTIS (http://numismatics.org/search). The Society’s collection spans all periods and cultures, but its holdings are particularly strong in the area of Greek numismatics, for which there are nearly 100,000 objects – half of which (as of the publication of this article) – have been photographed and made available in the public domain.

Among these Greek coins, nearly 11,000 depict Alexander the Great, produced either under his authority during his lifetime or as posthumous issues for which Alexander is the stated authority. This paper will focus on these coins and their integration into the broader scholarly ecosystem for Hellenistic numismatics (including archival and library materials) through the implementation of technical Linked Open Data (LOD)  methodologies.