The dynamics of coin images in celtic medal art: typology and iconography

The article is devoted to the study of the typology, iconography and transformation of images on Celtic coins of the III–I centuries BC. The subject of the study is Celtic medal art. The research involves the latest historical, numismatic, archaeological, cultural, art history, collection studies by both foreign and domestic experts, coin collections of European and Russian museums. The article examines the dominant coin types of 2 main belts – "silver" in the southern and "gold" in the northern regions of Europe, among which imitations of the following ancient Greek and Roman models are studied: tetradrachms and staters of Philip II and Alexander III of Macedon, drachmas of Thasos and Massalia, Roman republican denarii, as well as Celtic bowl-shaped staters. The work uses complex methods of modern art studies, including historical, iconographic, typological, figurative-stylistic, comparative, the method of socio-cultural anthropology and the author's analytical methods. The novelty of the work lies in the fact that for the first time in Russian art studies, the phenomenon of Celtic medal art is considered in detail. The findings confirm that under the influence of ancient Greek and Roman designs and as a result of their reinterpretation, the images on Celtic coins are gradually transformed within the framework of the Waldalgesheim, plastic and sword styles of Celtic art. The paper analyzes 4 stages of "barbarization" of the main coin types from copying, splitting the image into elements, combining them into new compositions to completely deviating from the original sample and switching to their own medal art at the final stage when creating bowl-shaped coins, reflecting the vivid and expressive artistic language of Celtic culture. The study expands the understanding of Celtic medal art, reveals patterns of its dynamics and provides a practical basis for art historians.