Friday Focus - Hunter's coins and the End of the West Roman Empire
Discover the story of the collapse of the West Roman Empire, told through coins held in The Hunterian collections.
Date: Friday 24 April 2026
Time: 13:00 - 13:30
Venue: Online
Category: Hunterian
Speaker: Dr Adrastos Omissi
William Hunter’s numismatic collection was one of the most complete and detailed collections of ancient coinage anywhere in the world at the time of its creation, and it remains so today.
In this talk, Dr Adrastos Omissi explores how the coins in the Hunter Cabinet can be used to tell the story of the collapse of the West Roman Empire. Drawing on coins from the third, fourth and fifth centuries AD, and in conjunction with The Hunterian collection's online exhibition ‘The End of the West Roman Empire in Twelve Coins’, this talk offers an insight into how coins can be used to tell stories about the regimes that minted them and the events that shaped them.
Image: Solidus of Constantine I, Roman Imperial, 330 - 337. GLAHM:33695
Accessing the Talk Online
This talk will take place over Zoom. You will need a registered Zoom account to join this talk.
About Friday Focus
Friday Focus is an online talks series hosted by The Hunterian, University of Glasgow. Each session features a different speaker, sharing a deeper insight into our exhibitions and collections, research and work going on behind the scenes at The Hunterian.
The talks take place at 1pm over Zoom, and are 25 minutes long with time for questions afterwards. Recordings of the sessions will be made available on our YouTube channel.