1Louis Robert (b. 15 February 1904; d. 31 May 1985) dominated the twentieth century as the foremost Greek epigraphist of his time. He was not yet 30 when he was elected to the École pratique des Hautes Études (1932), and just 35 when he became the youngest professor at the Collège de France (1939). In 1998, his widow Jeanne Robert (1910-2002), an epigraphist herself, gave to the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres their archives under the name ‘Fonds Louis Robert’1. The scientific responsibility went to Glen Bowersock of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, a responsibility he shares with François Chamoux and Jean Leclant, both members of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres2. Due to the diligent care of Jean Leclant, the Secrétaire Perpétuel of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, these archives are kept at the Institut de France, 23 quai Conti, Paris (6^e), in a room especially renovated for them.

2The Fonds Louis Robert is mainly concerned with epigraphy. A team of six scholars has been assembled to prepare an inventory of this huge material including c. 3,000 squeezes3. It comes as no surprise that about one third of these squeezes comes from Karia, an area cherished by the Roberts. Out of the six epigraphists engaged in the publication of this material, two, which is one third again, specialize in ancient Karia: Alain Bresson and Jan-Mathieu Carbon. A third, Jean-Louis Ferrary, is in charge of the commemorations of the delegations to the oracle at Klaros.

3There are several reasons that explain the attachment of the Roberts to Karia. First alone, in the thirties, then joined by his wife Jeanne from 1946 to 1964, Louis Robert used to stay and travel in Turkey almost every year. They visited nearly all areas of Asia Minor but Karia was their favourite. They first carried out an archaeological survey at Sinuri, south of Milas, while in north-western Karia their first excavation site was Amyzon (1949-1950), before they moved on to Klaros (1950-1961). They developed a particular attachment to Mylasa, which they considered second to none in their appreciation of Turkish cities and sites. It may be worth remembering that the Greek coinage of Mylasa was studied by Aşkıdil Akarca at the instigation, in 1942, of Louis Robert, resulting in a publication in French, translated by Jeanne Robert, in the series ‘Bibliothèque archéologique et historique’ of the Institut français d’archéologie d’Istanbul, then directed by Louis Robert (1956-1964)4. The Roberts were so devoted to Karia that Henri Seyrig (1895-1973) invented a nickname for Louis Robert which the latter found amusing enough to use it proudly in turn in his correspondence with his friend Seyrig5. Louis Robert’s nickname was: ‘Le dentiste Anatole’ – a clear Anatolian pun to ‘ la Carie’ (Karia), which in French means tooth decay6.

4A rich bibliography emerged from these numerous travels across ancient Karia. As usual with Louis Robert, most of it is to be found in countless articles or notes fortunately republished with indices: see the thirteen volumes of Hellenica (1940-1965) and the seven volumes of Opera minora selecta (1969-1990). Two books were entirely devoted to Karia: Jeanne and Louis Robert, La Carie, II. Le Plateau de Tabai et ses environs (Paris, 1954) and Fouilles d’Amyzon en Carie, I. Exploration, histoire, monnaies et inscriptions (Paris, 1983), while Karia is the main topic of a third: Louis Robert, Documents de l’Asie mineure méridionale. Inscriptions, monnaies et géographie (Genève and Paris 1966).

5The numismatic content of the Fonds Louis Robert, although not as rich as the epigraphic material, deserves particular attention. The Karian proportion is here even more prominent, and it is a happy coincidence that one of us, Fabrice Delrieux, specializes in ancient Karia as is made clear by the title of his unpublished PhD thesis: Les monnaies des cités cariennes du bassin du Kybersos. Questions d’histoire numismatique, économique et sociale (v^e-i^er siècles a.C.), Bordeaux, 19987, and his recent book: Les monnaies des cités grecques de la basse vallée de l’Harpasos en Carie (ii^e s. a. C.-iii^e s. p.C.), Bordeaux, 2008.

Louis Robert the numismatist

6Louis Robert would have disliked such a title, since he constantly argued in favour of historians not specializing in remote disciplines, but taking advantage of all categories of material, ancient and modern8. Still, the impact of his ideas has left deep traces in the realm of ancient numismatics9. What follows is a brief summary of the main areas.

7He made an effort early on to take into account the local provenances of bronze coins. This has proved to be a definitive argument against dozens of misattributions. Appointed in 1932 at the École pratique des Hautes Études to a chair entitled ‘Géographie historique du monde hellénique’, he constantly combined the evidence of coins, preferably bronze coins as they were found locally, with other sources, written or unwritten10. With the same purpose in mind, i.e. to localize mints more precisely, he also stressed the evidence of die-identities between cities11. As an epigraphist, he devoted much energy to restoring incorrectly-read legends. He loved to improve dates of coins using the full resources of onomastics, starting with patronimy and papponimy. Many monetary issues were given new dates by him, sometimes more than fifty or even a hundred years removed from those commonly accepted. With personal names or, more generally, control marks, he was always prudent not to speak about ‘magistrates’ or ‘liturgist’. Insisting on the fact that striking coins was, in most places, a discontinuous process, he preferred to speak of ‘ ad hoc officials’(a message which has still been imperfectly heard by many numismatists). He introduced12 or commented on13 the only two known inscriptions honouring men who exercised monetary responsibilities, Menas of Sestos in the Hellenistic period (just before 120 BC) and Moschion of Magnesia on Maeander under the Empire. He dealt with many important inscriptions or full dossiers concerning Greek civic finances (Athens and Delos)14 and trained the leading scholars in the field (Philippe Gauthier and Léopold Migeotte).

8Deeply concerned with topography, he reacted against alphabetical lists of cities found in numismatic catalogues, with no attention to the real proximity between cities or the idea that Phrygia and Lydia, for example, were different ‘Landschaften’15. His calls were not all adopted (for example, to get away from an alphabetical order for cities of the same province) even if they were perfectly understood16.

9Louis Robert made a constant use of monetary iconography for putting in perspective rituals and cults, among other manifestations of public life. Again, his unrivalled diachronic command of both Greek and Roman history allowed him to find explanations for many scenes previously misunderstood.

The numismatic material in the Fonds Louis Robert

10We may divide the numismatic content of the Fonds Louis Robert into three categories of documents: 1) correspondence received by him, 2) notes taken by Louis Robert and 3) coins and casts. The personal notes of Louis Robert and his correspondence have been classified by Mme Béatrice Meyer, to whom we wish to express our deep gratitude.

• The correspondence received by Louis Robert, consisting of thousands of letters from all around the academic world, reflects not only a number of scientific debates but throws much light on the hopes and weariness that lay behind the printed work. For the numismatist, of prime interest is the group of about 150 letters from Henri Seyrig. Seyrig and Robert were close friends, and the familiar tone of their correspondence is full of frank statements about people and institutions. They inform us as well about the material environment which surrounded their intellectual enterprises. As an example of this, we may quote the following sentence of Seyrig, then living in Lebanon, who complains about the difficulty of doing research without being interrupted all the time: ‘I decided not to go back to Europe this summer… and to retire to a Lebanese village to work alone with my library and my cook’ (letter dated May 13^th, 1956)17. Some files, such as that of Georges Le Rider, have been returned to their authors. These letters attest also to the many contacts of Louis Robert with numismatic curators, for instance with Margaret Thompson of the American Numismatic Society, an institution he liked to consider as a model.
• The personal notes of Louis Robert have been grouped by Mme Béatrice Meyer into 29 files. The first three files (nos. 1-3), entitled ‘Monnaies grecques et géographie historique’, contain a sketch of what appears to be an unpublished book. Brief though the information may be, we can see here how Louis Robert would have treated a much-loved topic18. Some files contain material for unpublished articles, e.g. for ‘Les pommes sur les monnaies de Delphes’ (no. 13) or ‘Monnaies de Sardes et de Daldès, et le plan du ‘vin cuit’’(no. 17). Others relate to published contributions.
• The coins and casts are kept in two identical wooden coin cabinets. The first was built by the Roberts and stood in the office of Louis Robert, in front of his desk. It holds 30 trays of 72 pigeonholes, so has a maximum capacity of 2,160 compartments. This wooden cabinet was more than full when moved to the Institut de France since there were 584 coins and 1,912 pairs of casts. It was thus decided by the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, and more precisely by Jean Leclant, the Secrétaire Perpétuel, to order a second, of the same size and capacity, to receive the content of 57 boxes, 6 bags and 1 envelope which stood on the upper shelf of a bookcase. The 57 boxes were mainly filled with casts. A significant part of these came from Paris and was made through the services of Georges Le Rider. As generally happens with cast collections, and despite their large numbers, these 746 pairs of casts do not seem to provide any new varieties. Bags were filled with coins, a total of 555 (20 silver and 535 bronze). It is likely that these bags were cut, sewn and inscribed by Jeanne Robert in the 1940s and the task of opening them more than half a century after they had been closed was not done without some emotion. Inside most of these six bags, with labels like ‘Pisidie et Carie 1947’ or ‘Pisidie et Carie 1948’, were smaller bags with precise provenances referring sometimes to modern villages or towns, sometimes to ancient names like Aphrodisias or Hydissos. One bag (no. 64) was entirely devoted to what is presented as a hoard of 134 tiny bronze fractions found in Horzum, the modern village overlying the ancient Kibyra Maior in Phrygia (figs 7-10).

11With a grand total of 1,139 coins, the numismatic belongings of the Roberts are not meagre. It is true that the general quality of the pieces is often no better than ‘very fine’: a serious euphemism which, for a professional dealer, means that types are recognizable. The value of this ensemble is certainly not its most important aspect, although it contains some remarkable pieces, for example a set of large Roman bronzes from Stratonikeia or a couple of beautiful silver coins including one countermarked tetrobol of Histiaia. There are even some modern forgeries, some of them given by the famous Istanbul coin collector Hans (Silvius) von Aulock.

12The best aspect of the collection are the provenances carefully recorded by Jeanne and Louis Robert. Not all are useful. ‘Stambul’ (for Istanbul), ‘Pera’ or ‘Smyrne’ refer to bazaars which drain coins from distant places. Nonetheless, about half of the coins – that is, hundreds – were acquired in remote places and duly noted as such. Louis Robert often took the time to give a precise identification. In addition, it may be the case that some coins now without labels have in fact been published somewhere with a provenance given. Especially noticeable was Robert’s accuracy in reading and properly restoring names of monetary officials (as already noted, he was careful not to speak of magistrates and denounced the misuses of that word) referring both to the BMC series and to Rudolf Münsterberg’s work19.

13Dates of provenances are often reported (for 498 out of 1,139 coins = 43.7%)20. This concerns mainly the linen bags now in the wooden coin cabinet B but also coins displayed by Louis Robert in the original coin cabinet. Consequently, we are able to construct a graph which shows when the Roberts acquired their coins.

14The most prolific years came after World War II. We know that in the years 1946-48 alone, at least 412 coins were brought to France (possibly as much as twice this number if we are right to extrapolate for undated coins). Yet, the Roberts were clearly not obsessed with coins and we may wonder why so few pieces were acquired after 194821. The last coins to enter their Parisian apartment were acquired in 1963 and come from Istanbul, Assos and Troy. The Appendix I gives the 918 known provenances (out of a total of 1,139 coins = 80.6%).

15This is an ample and well documented collection which certainly deserves publication. We shall leave aside the so-called ‘Horzum-hoard’. Even if – as seems to be the case – not all of its 134 small bronze fractions belonged originally to the same deposit, this is clearly a hoard (or part of it). A vast majority of these coins were struck at Kibyra, which is the ancient name for modern Horzum. Very few hoards of Greek small bronzes have been published so far and this seems a good opportunity to take a step in that direction. For several reasons, it would make good sense to study and publish the remaining material (1,005 coins, out of which 44 are in silver) as a special volume of the Sylloge Nummorum Graecorum22. With c. 1,000 coins, the size of the Roberts’collection fits well with the usual standard of the SNG. As will become clear in a moment, this is a highly specialized collection (an explicit goal of that enterprise) of which 90% are devoted to Asia Minor and nearly 40% to Karia. But the real originality of the Louis Robert collection is that it provides precise provenances for bronzes, that is for coins that we may suppose to have circulated not far from their issuing mint. On the other hand, we must admit that the quality of the coins is below the average level of the past SNG collections. We may recall that the Sylloge Nummorum Graecorum is an international academic enterprise, born in Britain in the 1930s due largely to the efforts of E. S. G. Robinson, and quickly placed under the patronage of the Union Académique Internationale and the International Numismatic Commission. Inside the INC, the sub-committee Sylloge Nummorum Graecorum is at present directed by Harald Nilsson. So far, more than 180 volumes have been published in 17 different countries23, including France24.

Karian numismatics in the Fonds Louis Robert

16We may estimate the number of Karian coins in the Fonds Louis Robert at c. 466 which is c. 40% of the total. This figure is achieved by adding the result obtained for the wooden coin cabinets A (c. 198 coins) and B (c. 268).

17We may subtract from this total the 134 coins of the Horzum hoard. If so, the Karian coins amount now to 466 pieces out of 1,005 (46.4%). With c. 466 coins, the Karian collection formed by the Roberts compares well in size with other public or private collections (not taking into account the islands and the Hekatomnids).

18Only the rich cabinet of Copenhagen exceeds this. The famous and now dispersed collection formed by Hans von Aulock (1906-1980) is about the same size25. Even the Finnish Keckman collection, entirely devoted to Karia, lags behind (again, in terms of number, not of market value).

19Many provenances were recorded for Karian coins. Although some names written by Louis Robert are difficult to locate, most of them could be placed on a map. On the map below, each name of a village or town (systematically given with the modern Turkish name) is followed by the number of coins and, where possible, the year of acquisition.

20A close attention to dates indicates the areas covered by the Roberts in their travels (information that could be easily verified against reports in the annuals of the Collège de France). Several different journeys are attested for the years 1946-1948. The upper valley of the Maeander was visited in 1946. In 1947, the journey was a bit more to the east (the Harpasos valley) and south (the Tabai plateau). No fewer than 383 coins have been identified with a Karian provenance (out of 918 = 41.7%). The two best documented places are Selimiye, which corresponds to the ancient site of Euromos, and Karacahisar, which is the ancient site of Hydissos26. Both are located in western Karia, not far from Milas (Mylasa) which comes in third position (fig. 5).

Map of karia with provenances as on Robert’s labels

21Outside Karia, Istanbul (‘Stambul’) comes first with 245 reported coins (not taking Pera into account). Then come Balıkeşir (52 – Mysia) and Izmir (38 – Ionia). Out of the c. 466 Karian coins of the Fonds Louis Robert, 188 have been included in a provisional catalogue (under construction). Although the study is not yet completed, it may be interesting to give an idea of the results obtained so far. Not all the cities have been treated in the same way: coins of some have been extensively looked for, which was not the case for some others (fig. 6).

22First come the cities of Tabai (32), Aphrodisias (30) and Stratonikeia (27); then Hydissos (19), Mylasa (18), Kidrama (15), Apollonia Salbake (10) and Euromos (10). Roman coins are slightly preponderant in comparison with Greek coins. Not surprisingly, best represented coinages are those for which Louis Robert did a catalogue (as for Tabai and Stratonikeia, see La Carie) or planned (as with Euromos and Hydissos) to give one.

Appendix i: coin Provenances (1,139 coins)