The thirty pieces of silver : coin relics in medieval and modern Europe / Lucia Travaini.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Travaini, Lucia, author.

Contributor:

Class of 1939 Fund.

Series:

Religion and money in the Middle Ages

Standardized Title:

Trenta denari di Giuda. English

Language:

English

Italian

Subjects (All):

Coins--Religious aspects--Christianity.

Coins.

Coins in the Bible.

Silver coins--Europe--History.

Silver coins.

Relics.

History.

Europe.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

xxi, 286 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm.

Other Title:

Coin relics in medieval and modern Europe

Place of Publication:

Abingdon, Oxfordshire ; New York, NY : Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2022.

Language Note:

Translated from the Italian.

Summary:

" 'The Thirty Pieces of Silver: Coin relics in medieval and modern Europe' discusses many interconnected topics relating to the most perfidious monetary transaction in history: the betrayal of Jesus by Judas for thirty pieces of silver. According to medieval legend, these coins had existed since the time of Abraham's father and had been used in many transactions recorded in the Bible. This book documents fifty specimens of coins which were venerated as holy relics in medieval and modern churches and monasteries of Europe, from Valencia to Uppsala. Most of these relics are ancient Greek silver coins in origin mounted in precious reliquaries or used for the distribution of their wax imprints believed to have healing powers. Drawing from a wide range of historical sources, from hagiography to numismatics, this book will appeal to students and academics researching Late Antique, Medieval, and Early Modern History, Theology, as well as all those interested in the function of relics throughout Christendom. The Thirty Pieces of Silver is a study that invites meditation on the highly symbolic and powerful role of money through coins which were the price, value, and measure of Christ and which, despite being the most abject objects, managed to become relics"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

From the ritual uses of coins to their creation as relics

The coins of Saint Helena: objects of devotion before the invention of the Thirty Pieces of Silver

Judas, the Priests and the Thirty Pieces of Silver

The legend of the Thirty Pieces of Silver: from hagiographic tale to coin relics

The Thirty Pieces of Silver depicted as instruments of the Passion

The Thirty Pieces of Silver as relics: from the first specimens to their proliferation

The Thirty Pieces of Silver as Jewish shekels

Through the eyes of the Antiquarian and those of the Devout: Identification and debate since the Sixteenth Century

Ancient and modern legends, coin relics and the nature of money.

Notes:

"Published in Italian by Viella 2020."

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Class of 1939 Fund.

Other Format:

Online version: Travaini, Lucia. Thirty pieces of silver

ISBN:

9780367688028

0367688026

9780367688042

0367688042

OCLC:

1261049943

Publisher Number:

99990132196