This document discusses the benefits of applying Linked Data principles to numismatic data in order to better connect information about ancient coins that is currently scattered across siloed databases. It proposes the creation of the Nomisma.org platform to serve as a central mint for assigning URIs to numismatic concepts and entities. This will allow information about coins, mints, people, places, and other related concepts to be expressed using RDF and linked together through shared URIs. Querying the data using SPARQL will enable new ways of discovering relationships and connections within the numismatic domain.

1. Numismatics: a case study in Linked Data
Andrew Meadows
Ethan Gruber

2. What’s so great about coins?

3. Known point of origin (Places)

4. Known issuer (People; roles)

5. Known point of discovery
(Places; contexts)

6. Decorated (Iconography; religion)

7. Inscribed (Titulature;Text)
ΤΥΡΟΥΙΕΡΑΣΚΑΙΑΣΥΛΟΥ
SPQR ImperatoriCaesari Quod
ViaeMunitaeSunt Ex Ea Pecunia
Quae IussuSenatus Ad
AerariumDelataEst

8. Quantifiable (Statistics)
Civic coin production, 450-400 BC
Athens
Sicyon Ephesus . Sparta

9. Quantifiable (Statistics)
Monetary Unification, W. Asia Minor, 450-400 BC
c. 550-480 BC c. 480-400 BC c. 400-320 BC
Monetary unification in W.
Asia Minor, 550-320 BC

10. Good News: it survives in huge quantities
Collection Approx No.
New York 200, 000
London 200, 000
Berlin 200, 000
Paris 200, 000
Vienna 100, 000
PAS 300, 000
Total 1 Million +

11. Bad News: it survives in huge quantities
• Over 20 collections of 20,000+ ancient coins
• At least 5 different national
Fundmünzenschemes
• All catalogue in their own systems, with their
own standards, in their own languages
• All are at different stages in their digital
journeys

12. It gets worse…
• Many of the standard catalogues and corpora
are more than 50 years old
• None of them exist digitally
• There is no international co-ordinating body
for their creation

13. The Answer: Linked Data
1. Use URIs as names for things
2. Use HTTP URIs so that people can look up those
names.
3. When someone looks up a URI, provide useful
information, using the standards (RDF*, SPARQL)
4. Include links to other URIs. so that they can
discover more things.

14. (1) and (2) Easy: HTTP URIs for things

15. Difficult: RDF
Nobody has created a vocabulary for coins:
E.g. How do we give URIs to concepts such as?
• ‘Minted in’
• ‘Has a die-axis of’
• ‘was struck under the authority of’
• ‘the mint of Antioch’
• ‘Vespasian striking as Caesar’

16. An attempt at an answer
Nomisma.org is a collaborative effort to provide stable digital
representations of numismatic concepts and entities.
A mint for numismatic URIs
nomisma.org/id/mint
nomisma.org/id/denarius
nomisma.org/id/aspendus
Nomisma.org/id/

17. 3. When someone looks up a URI, provide useful information

18. 3. When someone looks up a URI, provide useful information

19. 4. Include links to other URIs. so that they can discover more things

20. Hoards Finds
Corpora/
Mint studies
Collections
Specimen
Specimen
Specimen
SpecimenSpecimen
Reference
Reference ReferenceReferenceReference

21. Identifiers already exist: Example 1. Coin Hoards

22. Identifiers already exist: Example 2. Types
(Roman Imperial Coinage – RIC)
( )

23. RIC Hadrian 920

24. RIC Hadrian 920

25. RIC I (second edition) Augustus 4b →
http://numismatics.org/ocre/id/ric.1(2).aug.4b
ObjectType: nm:coin
Manufacture: nm:struck
Denomination: nm:denarius
Material: nm:ar
Authority: nm:augustus
Etc.
Online Coins of the Roman Empire (OCRE)
http://numismatics.org/ocre

26. Using SPARQL to Do Stuff
NomismaSPARQL endpoint: http://nomisma.org/sparql
(not yet open for business!)

27. <rdf:RDFxmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#"
xmlns:dcterms="http://purl.org/dc/terms/"
xmlns:skos="http://www.w3.org/2004/02/skos/core#"
xmlns:nm="http://nomisma.org/id/">
<nm:coinrdf:about="http://www.smb.museum/ikmk/object.php?id=18207926">
<nm:type_series_itemrdf:resource="http://numismatics.org/ocre/id/ric.1(2).aug.1a"/
>
<dcterms:titlexml:lang="de">Augustus, ca. 25-23 v. Chr.</dcterms:title>
<dcterms:identifier>18207926</dcterms:identifier>
<dcterms:publisher>MK Berlin</dcterms:publisher>
<nm:numismatic_termrdf:resource="http://nomisma.org/id/coin"/>
<nm:collection>MK Berlin</nm:collection>
<nm:axisrdf:datatype="xs:integer">6</nm:axis>
<nm:diameterrdf:datatype="xs:decimal">13</nm:diameter>
<nm:weightrdf:datatype="xs:decimal">1.32</nm:weight>
<nm:reverseReferencerdf:resource="http://www.smb.museum/mk_edit/images/8099/r
s_opt.jpg"/>
<nm:obverseReferencerdf:resource="http://www.smb.museum/mk_edit/images/8099/
vs_opt.jpg"/>
</nm:coin>
</rdf:RDF>
Ingesting RDF (coin)

28. <rdf:RDFxmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#"
xmlns:dcterms="http://purl.org/dc/terms/"
xmlns:skos="http://www.w3.org/2004/02/skos/core#"
xmlns:nm="http://nomisma.org/id/">
<nm:hoardrdf:about="http://admin.numismatics.org/chrr/id/ZAR">
<dcterms:titlexml:lang="en">Zara (Italy; ZAR)</dcterms:title>
<dcterms:publisher>American Numismatic Society</dcterms:publisher>
<nm:findspotrdf:resource="http://www.geonames.org/6486176/"/>
<nm:closing_daterdf:datatype="xs:gYear">-0017</nm:closing_date>
<nm:type_series_itemrdf:resource="http://numismatics.org/ocre/id/ric.1(2).aug.4b"/
>
</nm:hoard>
</rdf:RDF>
Ingesting RDF (hoard)

29. Aim: Associate other objects (coins, hoards) with coin types
Nomisma
RDF triplestore (Fuseki)
OCRE
APIs
Berlin
ANS
UVA
CHRR
Data
Nomisma