La collezione numismatica del Santuario di Santa Maria dell'Oriente (L'Aquila)

The numismatic collection of the Museum of Santa Maria dellʼOriente a Tagliacozzo (Italy) is part of a larger collection comprising archeological discoveries of clay, glass, and metal articrafts. It is the result of the passionate research of Fr. Gabriele Giamberardini who had lived for many years in Egypt and was interested in Coptic Studies as well as in Near and Middle Eastern antiquities. The collection is notable for its variety in typology and chronology, as the numismatic section consists of 346 coins, 62 of which are illegible because of their poor state of preservation. The rest are from the Roman provinces and are inscribed with legends in Greek (178) and Latin (106) dated between the 3rd and 7th centuries A.D. Most numerous are the tetradrachmas of Probus (71), of Claudius (38), of Cornelius Salonina (21), and of Aurelius (21). Unique to this collection, which mainly consists of bronze coins, are two silver denari from the mid-1st century A.D.