Coins, because of their abundance and their intimate connections to the ruling elite of the ancient Greco-Roman world, offer a unique insight not only into the historical events with which they are bound up but also into the social history of power and propaganda.

The Chazen's collection of 3,823 ancient coins offers a valuable teaching resource that perfectly complements the existing ancient collections. Of these, 2,899 are Roman bronze imperial coins from the fourth and fifth centuries AD, mostly from Eastern Roman Empire mints. They were found as a hoard and donated in the late 1970s by Paul and Jon Holtzman. The rest of the collection includes Greek, Roman, and Near Eastern coins from the sixth century BC through the fourth century AD, as well as some Western medieval and Byzantine examples.

A particularly fine set of Roman coins, silver denarii from 66 BC, represents on the reverse the nine Muses and Hercules as leader of the Muses with the laureate head of Apollo on the obverse.

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