On the Chronology of Roman Coins in Barbaricum. Denarii Finds from the Site of Schineni (Bacău County), V. Cojocaru, A.-I. Pázsint (eds.), Migration and Identity in Eurasia: From Ancient Times to the Middle Ages, Mega, Cluj-Napoca, 2021, 139-165 (original) (raw)
Related papers
Notae Numismaticae/Zapiski Numizmatyczne, 2023
Large sets of deposited Roman Imperial denarii from the 1st and 2nd centuries AD are not common finds in Slovakia. Two accumulations of coins of 28 and 67 pieces of heavily worn denarii discovered on the Ostrá hora Hill in the cadastral area of the villages of Horovce and Kvašov, and an unrelated find of a gilded silver buckle from stage D2 of the Migration Period suggest that the site may have had a cult significance for the Late Suebian population in the Central Považie region. The bulk finds of denarii, one with coinage ranging from Trajan to Commodus and the other with coinage ranging from Hadrian to Septimius Severus, have their analogies within the Barbaricum on the territory of Central and Eastern Europe. The representation of the barbarian imitation of the Roman denarius is also a testimony to the interregional contacts between the barbarian peoples in the Later Roman Period and at the beginning of the Migration Period. Although the find is now physically missing, it provides a great deal of new information about the significance of imperial denarii in Late Antiquity on the territory of Central European Barbaricum.
Limes XXV, Volume 2, Strategy and Structures along the Roman Frontier, edited by H. Van Enckevort, M. Driessen, E. Graafstal, Th. Hazenberg, T. Ivleva, C. Van Driel-Murray, Sidestone Press, Leiden, 2024, p. 99-105
The 25 th Limes Congress was held in the Lindenberg Cultuurhuis in Nijmegen from 21 to 27 August 2022. Two days were used for excursions to important sites along the Lower German Limes (see volume 1). During the remaining five days 37 sessions took place with 246 papers presented on a wide range of topics related to the frontiers of the Roman Empire. In addition, 27 posters, in which limes scholars presented their research, were displayed for the participants to view. We are publishing 184 articles based on the papers and posters presented at the Congress in four separate, themed volumes. The papers in this volume are divided into five themes. The first theme explores Roman imperial imperialism, the early frontier formation and the creation and reshuffling of tribal (id)entities. The second theme focuses on Roman military activities during the Republic. Fortresses and other installations of the Roman legions are the subject of the third theme. The fourth theme focuses on collapse of Roman frontiers, and the afterlife of frontier fortifications. The papers collected under the final theme presents an odyssey along different parts of the Limes.
2015
From the territory of Central Europe that lies north of the Sudetes and the Carpathi-ans, occupied during the Roman Period by the Przeworsk and the Wielbark cultures, we currently have a record of only a very small number of Roman Imperial denarii issued before AD 64. The interpretation of these fi nds is hindered by the small size of this database and the lack of archaeological context. There are three possibilities; one of them is that these coins, or at least some of them, entered the region as a complement of a 'Republican' wave of infl ux, which contained a signifi cant amount of Roman Republican denarii. The second possibility is that the Early Imperial denarii passed into the Central European Barbaricum during the second century as a small admixture to a great wave of denarii struck after AD 64. The third option is that we ought to view the infl ux of the Early Imperial coins as an independent and a minor occurrence not related directly either to the 'Republican' or the 'second-century' wave. The view held by the author of this article is that the infl ux of the bulk of pre-AD 64 Imperial denarii is best explained by the fi rst hypothesis.
published in 'Wiadomosci Numizmatyczne', LVIII, 2014, p. 73-93
From the territory of present day Poland, occupied during the Roman Period by the Przeworsk Culture and the Wielbark Culture, we currently have a record on ten hoards of Roman Imperial silver coinage, 1st to 3rd century (denarii, and a single denarii-and-antoniniani hoard), which also contain one, at most, two Republican or Augustan issues. A comparison of the structure of these hoards with the hoards known from other regions of Barbaricum and the territory of the Roman Empire supports the argument that these early denarii entered the region to the north of the Carpathian range with the later coins during the Imperial period, the second to the mid-third century. Perhaps, some pre-Neronian denarii, known from single and cumulative finds recorded in the Przeworsk and Wielbark culture territory were introduced to the same area during that age.
We present in this paper three batches of Roman coins belonging to Roman Republican and Imperial hoards, from the collections of Museum of Vrancea in Focșani and Town Museum in Adjud. The coins were discovered in the following locations: I. Adjud (Vrancea County) (3 AR dated from C. Maianus to C. Mamilius Limetanus); II. Repedea (Străoane commune, Vrancea county) (4 AR, dated from M. Papirius Carbo to Ulpia Severina); III. Olăreni (Slobozia Bradului commune, Vrancea county) (6 AR, dated from Marcus Antonius to Marcus Aurelius and 1 AE -Constantinopolis type). In regards to the last two hoards we have serious doubts that the most recent coins actually belong to the initial findings. Rezumat. Prezentăm în studiul de față trei loturi de monede romane republicane și imperiale aflate în colecțiile Muzeului Vrancei din Focșani și Muzeului Orășenesc din Adjud. Monedele au fost descoperite în următoarele puncte: I. Adjud (jud. Vrancea) (3 AR datați de la C. Maianus la C. Mamilius Limetanus); II. Repedea (com. Străoane, jud. Vrancea) (4 AR datați de la M. Papirius Carbo la Ulpia Severina); III. Olăreni (com. Slobozia Bradului, jud. Vrancea) (6 AR datați de la Marcus Antonius la Marcus Aurelius și 1 AE -tip Constantinopol). În ceea ce privește ultimele două loturi, avem serioase îndoieli că monedele cele mai recente aparțin descoperirilor inițiale.
Notae Numismaticae - Zapiski Numizmatyczne, 2017
In the year 2015 or a little earlier, a hoard of 18 Roman coins was discovered at an unspecified location near the town of Inowrocław, in the region of Kuyavia (central Poland). The hoard consists of 16 Roman denarii representing official issues from Trajan to Septimius Severus. Thus, in terms of chronological range, this hoard is typical for the territory of present-day Poland and the whole area of the Barbaricum. What makes the new hoard from the vicinity of Inowrocław particularly interesting is the presence of two imitative denarii modelled on coins of Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius. With regard to stray coin finds, imitations of Imperial-era denarii are, relatively speaking, rarely found in the territory of present-day southern and central Poland, and they are only occasionally found as part of hoards. It is possible to provide direct parallel examples from Ukrainian finds for both of these imitative coins. The denarius imitative of the coins in of Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius (a hybrid) was struck with the use of the same obverse die as a two denarii from Ukraine. The reverses of the coins from Ukrainian finds were struck with different dies but with images rendered in a style very similar to that of the coin from the vicinity of Inowrocław. Likewise, the obverse of the denarius imitative of Marcus Aurelius’ coin(s) was minted with the same die as two imitative denarii found in Ukraine. As in the case above, the reverses of these three coins were struck with different dies. In addition, if we consider the material published in recent years, the imitative denarii from the newly unearthed hoard from Kuyavia are the most recent imitations found in central and southern Poland for which it is possible to indicate some direct or very close parallels from among Ukrainian finds. This would indicate that Roman denarii and their imitations, most likely of Ukrainian provenance, were widely distributed across the territory of the Barbaricum, at least within the extent of the Przeworsk and Chernyakhiv cultures, in the later stages of the Roman period. The fact that imitative coins originally deriving from one source have been found over such a large territory could indicate that these coins circulated in much the same way that money does. This question calls for a more in-depth analysis in the future by taking into account a wider range of coin find material from the territories of present-day Poland and Ukraine, as well as from other areas of the Barbaricum.
The Monetary Reforms of the Romans and the Finds of Roman Denarii in Eastern and Northern Europe
Current Swedish Archaeology, 1993
Monetary measures undertaken inside the Roman Empire might be responsible for the composition of finds of Roman coins made ontside the Empire. A possible link between the composition of the denari«» finds in Barbarian Europe, on the one hand, and the monetary reforms of Nero (54-68) and Septimius Severus (193-2 I l), on the other hand, has long been recogniaed. There is however a third Roman monetary reform which has put its imprint on the denorios finds in Central, Eastern and Northern Europe, the one of' Domitian (8 l-96).
1. About the legionary fort at Sarmizegetusa in AD 102-105 (Cassius Dio 68.9.7). Cassius Dio (68.9.7) writes that after the end of the first Dacian war of Trajan, in 102 AD, the emperor left a legion in Dacia at Sarmizegetusa and auxiliary troops in other locations. Over time, the fragmentary accounts of Cassius Dio have been interpreted in two main ways. On one hand, the presence of a legionary fort was presumed in Hațeg Country, on the territory of future Colonia Ulpia Traiana Dacica Sarmizegetusa. On the other hand, this fort (stratopedon) was presumed to have functioned in the Orăștie Mountains, in or next to the Dacian fortress at Grădiștea de Munte, the residence of King Decebalus. The debate has recently been reopened by F. Matei-Popescu and O. Țentea. They place this Roman fort in the Orăștie Mountains, in the close vicinity of the former residence of King Decebalus. Their arguments are based mostly on the recently acquired LiDAR images of the area in question. On these images appears an almost rectangular earthen structure which preceded the stone enclosure and was also ascribed to a Roman fort built after the conquest of Dacia. F. Matei-Popescu and O. Țentea consider that, if the stone enclosure belongs to the period after the second Dacian war of Trajan, the enclosure having an earthen wall must be older, belonging to the period between the two Dacian wars, that is, between AD 102 and 105, this being the fort mentioned in the fragmentary accounts of Cassius Dio. Analysing the available information, the author concluding that the earthen fort from Grădiștea de Munte was more likely built in the context of the second Dacian war, in 105/106 AD. The stratopedon mentioned by Cassius Dio was more likely located on the future place of Colonia Ulpia Traiana Dacica Sarmizegetusa. Finally, the name of the royal residence of Decebalus, it is less likely to be Sarmizegetusa. This was more likely the indigenous toponym of the place where Colonia Ulpia Traiana Dacica was later established. The possible identification with Ranisstorum, the place where Tiberius Claudius Maximus brought the severed head and right hand of King Decebalus to Trajan to be shown to the army, can be perhaps taken into the consideration as a working hypothesis. 2. The destiny of the “Dacian gold”. About a Koson-type coin reused in the 16th century in a Christian (Renaissance) context. The “Dacian gold” fired the imagination of many people each time a hoard emerged in the mountains hosting the ruins of the royal residence of King Decebalus. One of the largest hoards was discovered in 1543 (containing coins of Lysimachus and perhaps Koson-types). Before this great hoard, a document from 1494 mentions the discovery in 1491 of a hoard consisting of “small and big” gold coins by some gold panners in the vicinity of Sebeș. There was already a number of Koson-type coins “in circulation” among the Renaissance collectors of antiquities at the end of the 15th century or the beginning of the 16th century. In 1520 Erasmus of Rotterdam describes and tries to identify a Koson-type coin, an issue which have also caused difficulties to other scholars. In this context, the author is analysing a liturgical chalice of the first half of the 16th century, which was once in Alba Iulia and is now preserved in the collections of the Catholic Cathedral of Nitra, Slovakia. The chalice is decorated with ancient gold coins. Among them is a Koson-type coin. Both the manufacturing and the biography of the chalice are relevant from the perspective of the destiny of “Dacian gold” during the late Renaissance. The vessel was first mentioned in an inventory from 1531 of the treasury of the Catholic Cathedral at Alba Iulia. The chalice was donated by a certain Udalricus of Buda, who was the prebendary of a cathedral chapel between 1504 and 1523. At a later date, the chalice was owned by Paul Bornemisza, who was Bishop of Alba Iulia in 1553-1556. He had to leave Transylvania, becoming Bishop of Nitra in 1557. On this occasion he brought over the chalice decorated with ancient gold coins. Udalricus of Buda was a member of the Renaissance humanist circle from Alba Iulia, which included a number of scholars, publishers of ancient texts, epigraphists and antiquities collectors. It might be presumed that the Koson-type coin which Erasmus of Rotterdam attempted to analyse was received through the connections with the humanist scholars from Alba Iulia. This coin, as well as the one inserted into the chalice of Udalricus, could have belonged to a hoard which was perhaps discovered a few decades before the one from 1543. Perhaps the coins in question were found in 1491 by the gold panners from Sebeș. It is however certain that the interest of the Transylvanian and European humanist scholars in this kind of “exotic” discoveries arose during this period, alongside the interest in other types of antiquities of the pre-Roman and Roman Dacia. The chalice from Nitra includes probably the oldest discovery of a Koson-type coin for which we have so far the physical evidence.