AGONISTIC DEPICTIONS AND SPORTS CULTURE ON COINS FROM THE CITIES OF PISIDIA DURING THE ROMAN IMPERIAL PERIOD

Abstract

This study examines agonistic representations on coins minted in the cities of Pisidia during the Roman Imperial period and evaluates their significance within the broader framework of sports history. The findings demonstrate that these numismatic materials function not merely as economic instruments but as dense communicative artifacts encoding the institutional, ideological, and socio-political dimensions of ancient athletic culture. From a sports historical perspective, coins provide rare and direct material evidence for understanding how athletic practices were organized, legitimized, and symbolically reproduced across both local and imperial contexts.

Consistent with existing scholarship, agonistic practices in antiquity extended far beyond physical competition, operating as structuring principles of social life. The Pisidian evidence reinforces this interpretation by illustrating the continuity and transformation of agonistic ideology within the Roman imperial framework. In this context, athletic festivals and their representations on coinage emerge as mechanisms through which cities articulated identity, negotiated status, and positioned themselves within imperial hierarchies.

A key contribution of the study lies in identifying visual narratives of justice and institutional regulation. Coin depictions of lot-drawing scenes reflect procedural fairness and transparency, suggesting that such imagery actively constructed public legitimacy rather than merely reflecting practice. The recurrent presence of Themis further embeds athletic competition within a cosmological and theological order, highlighting the integration of divine justice into sporting procedures.

Additionally, representations of wrestling scenes reveal the performative and embodied dimensions of ancient sport, while combined prize symbols wreaths, palm branches, amphorae, and money bags indicate a hybrid system integrating symbolic honor and material rewards. The appearance of the term IEROS underscores the hierarchical and institutionalized nature of festivals. Overall, the study demonstrates the value of numismatic evidence as a primary source, proposing a methodological model for reconstructing the cultural, ideological, and socio-economic foundations of ancient sport.