Harold Mattingly

Harold Mattingly ( born December 24, 1884 in Sudbury, † January 26, 1964 in Chesham ) was a British numismatist. He is considered one of the outstanding representatives of his profession in the 20th century, especially in relation to the Roman coinage.

Harold Mattingly studied from 1903 to 1907 at Gonville and Caius College, University of Cambridge. He graduated with a Master degree and went in 1907 as a fellow of the Craven University scholarship to the University of Berlin and then to the University of Freiburg, where he studied with Eduard Meyer and Ernst Fabricius until 1909. 1909/10 he was a Fellow of his college in Cambridge. Although he was awarded the Thirlwall Prize, Mattingly saw in Cambridge no future for themselves. In 1910 he became Assistant Keeper in the Department of Printed Books at the British Museum. In 1912 he moved to the Department of Coins and Medals, where he was to remain until his retirement from active service in 1948 and its purpose was. He first worked on the Roman coins of the museum. In 1923, the first volume was published, to 1962 came another five volumes added that arose among Mattinglys line. In addition, he was deeply involved in the systematic assessment of Roman coins in the multi-volume anthology The Roman Imperial Coinage. Edited with Edward A. Sydenham or VH Carol Sutherland and he published six volumes of the three other he gave out. This work was interrupted only from 1914 to 1918 from the First World War, where he worked in the Postal Censorship Bureau. In 1954/55 Mattingly was a visiting professor at the University of Otago.

Mattingly has received many awards for his work and given high and honorable offices. From 1942 to 1948 he was President of the Royal Numismatic Society, in which he was a member since 1912, and was from 1936 to 1952 also the Numismatic Cronicle out. To him, the two most important international numismatic awards were granted, Archer M. Huntington Medal in 1938, 1941, the Medal of the Royal Numismatic Society. In 1946 he became a Fellow of the British Academy, 1960 Commander of the Order of the British Empire. From the New Zealand University of Otago Mattingly was awarded an honorary doctorate. As a translator, he translated the works of Agricola and Germania of Tacitus into English. He also dealt with the Roman history, which he published mainly in the early period of his career.

His son is the historian Harold B. Mattingly.

Writings

• Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum. 6 volumes, British Museum, London from 1923 to 1962.
• Edward A. Sydenham: The Roman Imperial Coinage. 10 volumes, Spink, London 1923-1994.
• Roman Coins from the Earliest Times to the Fall of the Western Empire. Methuen & Co., London 1928. Second edition 1960.
• The Date of the Roman Denarius and Other Landmarks in Early Roman Coinage. H. Milford, London, 1933.
• Some New Studies of the Roman Republican Coinage. Proceedings of the British Academy, London, 1953.