Money has always been regarded as having a profound impact on the societies which make use of it. This course is focussed on the emergence and spread of money in Ancient society, and its wide repertoires of use. This will be treated from the perspective of several ‘hot issues’ in current archaeological and historical research: monetization and its impact on economies and value systems; the structure of governmental finance in ancient Greece and the Roman Empire, banks and the role of credit, ritual use of money, money and propaganda and the impact of Roman money on societies in the north-western Empire. The selected themes are intended to give a as wide as possible scope on the vastness of numismatic research and archaeological and historical research involving coinage, and serve simultaneously as case studies for different methodological approaches used in this field. Special attention will be paid to the use of quantitative methods, anthropological theories of money and the use of various source materials: archaeological evidence (coins and other material culture) and ancient texts (literary texts and epigraphy). In the first sessions, a short history of Greek, Roman, and Celtic coinages will be given, in order to create the necessary framework for the participants. Also, a workshop identifying ancient coins is included to provide a useful ‘hands-on’ experience.