Graham E Barker

Graham E Barker serves as an Honorary Research Fellow in the Department of Classics and Ancient History at the University of Warwick's Faculty of Arts, specializing in Roman imperial history, archaeology, and numismatics with emphasis on third-century AD coinage and the Ludi Saeculares.

His academic credentials include a BA in Law from Durham University (1980) and an MA in Classics and Ancient History from Warwick University (2016), where his thesis formed the basis for his first monograph.

Research centers on imperial iconography as political legitimation tools, analyzing how coinage propagated Golden Age mythology and Saecular Games symbolism. His interdisciplinary approach integrates archaeological evidence from excavations at Silchester, Woodchester, and Water Newton with textual analysis of Virgilian eclogues and Mithraic cult practices, revealing nuanced connections between monetary propaganda and religious ritual in turbulent imperial periods.

Publications demonstrate consistent thematic focus on numismatic evidence for reconstructing Roman ideological frameworks, with recent works examining Carausius' coinage and Mithraic iconography. This trajectory highlights coinage as a critical lens for understanding political messaging across the Empire.

Key honors include:

• Fellowship in the Society of Antiquaries
• Gilljam Prize from the Royal Numismatic Society (2023)

Professional activities encompass conference presentations at venues like Britannia Numismaria (2024), though no formal student supervision or grant administration details are documented.

Fieldwork participation at major Roman sites complements his numismatic scholarship, grounding theoretical analysis in material evidence from active archaeological contexts.