The ancient region of Thrace, covering an area now occupied by Bulgaria, Greece, and European Turkey, is a part of the world with a richly varied landscape, an eventful history, and a multitude of different coinages. The inspiration for the exhibition is the recent work on the Thracian coins in the holdings of the Berlin Münzkabinett, which has made possible the publication of the entire Thracian collection via the web portal www.corpus-nummorum.eu, developed in collaboration with the Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften (The Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities). Both the exhibition and the web portal present Thracian coins dating from the Archaic period to the Roman era, issued by Greek colonial towns, Thracian dynasties, local hereditary rulers, and Roman provincial governors.

The images on Thracian coins give insights not only into the self-perception of the different population groups who shared this region, but also into the image they wished to project elsewhere by means of their coins. The images increase our historical knowledge of the region, but not only that: some also illustrate topographical features or inform us about the appearance of Thracian towns. Also important are representations of Greek and Roman deities, some of them adapted to meet local needs. Coins thus offer a readily analysable medium for studying processes of change in societies and economies, and in the methods used to administer them.