THE COMPOSITION OF IRON AGE STRUCK 'BRONZE'COINAGE IN EASTERN ENGLAND

EDXRF was used to analyse the composition of 88 Iron Age copper and copper alloy coins excavated from the site of a pre-Roman shrine and Roman temple at Harlow, Essex. Most of the coins are local to the Essex-Hertfordshire region, with a few of Kentish origin. The earliest struck base metal issues were struck from almost pure copper, but from the late first century BC, their composition shows more variety. Particularly interesting are a group of types belonging to the Romanizing phase of Tasciovanus'coinage, which were struck in brass and possibly represent a distinct denomination. Roman coinage and other metalwork imports from the Roman world presumably provided the initial impetus, and the ultimate source of the brass. However, this experiment was relatively short lived. Cunobelinus, who ruled eastern England during the earlier first century AD, mainly employed bronze to strike his abundant base metal coinage. The products of his Colchester mint reveal a consistently different composition from those struck at his unlocated second mint in the Hertfordshire area, although the precise alloy does vary, sometimes within the same type. This suggests that unlike gold and silver issues, the source and purity of the metal used for minting base metal coinage was not always critical.     

THE HISTORY AND THEORY OF EMPIRES

Contemporary histories and theories of empire generally remain within boundaries inspired by varieties of liberalism, and by Marxian theory and its hybrids, in which changing modes of production determine the forms of power, including empire. Liberal theorists and historians of empire generally trace a complex process in which expanding imperial power systems led ultimately to nation‐states, democracy, and market economies. For Marxists and postmodern theorists, the formal aspects of empire remain unimportant compared to the broader workings of modes of production and particularly, the global power of capitalism. Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri use the word “empire” to describe the workings of contemporary capitalism and its myriad forms of power. Whether they rely upon the formal definitions of empire or the Marxian‐postmodern one, theories of empire often descend from modern utopian visions: perhaps the Kantian variety emphasizing a peaceful union of states and collective learning, or the Marxian one, although now taking into account changes in the mode of production and victims unattended to by Marx and Engels. New technologies and communications networks impress all contemporary theorists. Some proclaim the end of modern power systems and empire; others find empire in a new, postmodern form. Nonetheless, there are stubborn continuities with the modern in the very persistence of modern utopias, the dominance of nation‐states, the pursuit of democracy, and the durability of capitalism. Theorists of power and empire have to explain these and other continuities, alongside the disappearance of the more than 400‐year‐old balance‐of‐power system in which imperial powers in the European core finally delivered vast power to the United States and the Soviet Union, and created new technologies that strengthen human connection as well as threaten vast destruction. The question of the power of the United States and its imperial status commands the center of attention.     

Hubris and melancholy in multinational states

ABSTRACT. The article sets out to explore the rather different roles that hubris and melancholy can play in the relations between majority and minority nationalities within multinational states. In the case of majority‐type nationalities, there is a sense of being a Staatsvolk, a feeling reinforced by linguistic, cultural, geographical, and political characteristics associated with the larger nation‐state. There may also be a sense of pride caught up with the larger identity between the nation‐state and the empire with which it is associated. For their part, minority‐type nationalities have been more prone to express their national sentiment in melancholic terms. Hence a tendency to dwell on lost battles of the past, on suppressed rebellions, on recurrent threats of assimilation and linguistic extinction. There may be elements both of hubris and of melancholy to national sentiment in multinational states, and the dialectic between the two colours their overall political development.