Author(s): Gabriel Mircea Talmaţchi / Language(s): Romanian
Issue: 1/2007
The metallic coin has appeared in the ancient world out of practical reasons, which regarded the simplification of the commercial transactions (means of exchange), the creation of a standard of value, of small dimensions, easily useable, the obtaining of a reserve of value (the hoarding), and the appearance of a means of payment. By means of the coin, one could pay or measure a merchandise from the point of view of the value, and it was accepted and guaranteed by a state or a city (through imposition), by the simple user or the merchant (through convention), as it was a direct expression of authority, an assertion of prestige, sometimes within the limits of the administrative, economic, political and military supervision, other times beyond these fluctuating boundaries. Also, its moulding or striking pertained to a financial sovereignty of the emitter, to his decisions, depending on the momentary or of the future interests, with direct consequences on a set of economic and commercial actions. It remained up to the authorities to decide the epigraphic and iconographic details, the constitutive metal, the inner value etc. Its use becomes common in the whole of the Greek world, engaging in its use local populations, interested in the economic and social aspect. It seems that, before the 5th century BC, in the western colonies the coin did not have a commercial role, but rather a role in the political functioning of the respective centre and in the regulation of the social tensions and, last but not least, an identity-symbol. The coins, especially the ones made of valuable metals, have supported the commercial activity, the political one and, last but not least, the cost of the hiring, on various occasions, of mercenary troops, and the latter formed an “institution” that was widely used by the Greek cities’ world.
From a chronological point of view, we notice a first stage of penetration of Olbia coins through aes grave items, at the end of the 5th century and the beginning of the 4th century BC, and then, in an overwhelming proportion, we can notice the predominance of the discoveries belonging to the Hellenistic Age, after the 4th century BC, in accordance with the existing monetary context, and another part of them penetrated during the 1st -2nd centuries AD. Also, an extremely relevant fact for the late penetration of these items is the fact that they are countermarked, probably in Olbia itself, with one or two countermarks (as a rule, with two), namely the pictogram Δ, and the kerykeion respectively. We have different kinds of evidence for the existence of relations between the west-Pontic colonies of Dobrudja and Olbia, for the archaic and classical periods, and less for the Hellenistic one. The only item from Tyras recorded in Dobrudja is a bronze piece, of the type Apollo head/horse protome, with passim localization. A cause for stopping the eventual presence of the respective monetary emissions could also be due to Histria, because of the value and part played by its silver pieces in the native or Greek colonial environment, also having a clear role of status symbol. On the other hand, Tyras could not have surpassed Histria, from an economic point of view. The only piece for Gorgippia from Dobrudja (passim, from Dobrudja’s seacoast) is of the Apollo/lightning, thyrsus and tripod type, issued in the years 100-75 BC.
We have five bronze discoveries from the Phanagoria, of the Pan’s head/bow and wheel type (dated to the end of the 4th – beginning of the 3rd century BC) and of the Apollo’s head/Thyrsus and tripod type (dated to the end of the 2nd century up to the middle of the 1st century BC). Here, as in other centres, we could identify, if we had to, two penetration stages, one from the 4th (its end) – 3rd centuries BC, a second one from the end of the 2nd century and especially during the first half of the 1st century BC.
Unfortunately, in Dobrudja, all the coins from Panticapeum are catalogued as Dobrudja passim or North of Dobrudja, although we believe that the majority, if not the total, originate from the coastal area, maybe even from Histria’s area. We know of nine items, cvasi-all made of bronze. We can identify two penetration stages in Dobrudja, one from the end of the 4th century and during the 3rd century BC, and another from the end of the 2nd century – first half of the 1st century BC. Finally, from northern Dobrudja, we add a silver piece of the Pan type, dated to the 4th century BC.
The commercial relations that Tauric Chersonese had with the west-Pontic colonies of Dobrudja, more specifically Tomis and Callatis, seem to have a culminating moment during the 3rd – 2nd centuries BC. As isolated discoveries, we mention the ones from Tomis (in a vast batch, discovered in 1969, composed of approximately 200 diverse coins, of which we do not know if they were part of a monetary hoard), Argamum (as a result of archaeological excavations, in a pit with Attic ceramic fragments with red figures, and the monetary piece is dated to the second half of the 4th century BC) and Albeşti, in the Greek-indigenous fortification, made of bronze, of the Artemis/bull type. Last, but not least, we mention a piece from the Roman imperial age, discovered in Izvoarele (Constanţa County).
In conclusion, our approach can be included in the general effort to capitalize, rhythmically and, when possible, totally, the numismatic material which, together with the archaeological and historical information, can contribute to the knowledge of the realities that were characteristic of the territory situated between the Danube and the Sea, during the period 5th century BC – 1st century AD and not only. As we were able to notice, with no doubt whatsoever, by comparing the neighbouring territories, the monetary circulation in Dobrudja has its characteristics, well-individualized ones, sometimes even in a surprising manner.
Lastly, the discovery of all these coins in the Danubian-Pontic territory proves the active participation of Dobrudja in the exchanges of material and spiritual goods that have taken place in the Black Sea`s basin, offering, with an acceptable probability index, some suggestions regarding the zones towards which these exchanges were headed and the political relations (their extent and their dynamics) or, sometimes, only geographical directions.
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