Η εργασία «Χρυσά βυζαντινά και ρωμαϊκά νομίσματα που βρέθηκαν στην Σουηδία και την Δανία» / «Late Roman and Byzantine solidi found in Sweden and Denmark» της Joan M. Fagerlie εκυκλοφόρησε στην σειρά «Numismatic Notes and Monographs», από τις εκδόσεις American Numismatic Society Ν.
Υόρκης, το 1967.
Αυτά τα νομίσματα που βρέθηκαν
σε Σουηδία και Δανία καλύπτουν τον μισό αιώνα, από τον θάνατο του Θεοδόσιου Α΄
(395 μΧ), έως το τελευταίο μέρος της βασιλείας του Ιουστινιανού Α΄ (περίπου 550
μΧ). Αυτό αντιστοιχεί περίπου στην περίοδο που είναι γνωστή ως η «Εποχή της
μετανάστευσης», αποτέλεσμα της πολιτικής κατά των Ελλήνων των ανωτέρω.6
ΠΗΓΗ: American Numismatic Society Digital Library. ΑΡΧΕΙΟΝ ΠΟΛΙΤΙΣΜΟΥ, 10.7.2021.
The solidi found in Sweden and Denmark cover the century and a half from
the death of Theodosius I in 395 down to the latter part of the reign of
Justinian I (ca. 550). This roughly corresponds with the period known as the
Migration Age. 6 The movement of peoples began before this and continued after
Justinian, but the brunt of the invasions, resulting in the loss of the West,
was felt in the fifth century.
At the beginning of the fifth century, the throne was occupied by
Arcadius and Honorius, the two sons of Theodosius I. Just before his death in
395, Theodosius expressed his desire that the two brothers share the throne and
Arcadius, already acting as regent in Constantinople, assumed control of the
East and Honorius became emperor of the West.
Almost immediately the Germanic threat, which was to plague both East
and West for most of the following century, made itself felt. This threat came
from within and from without. Pressing on the frontiers were the masses of
barbarian tribes who wanted living space within the empire; within were the
Germanic soldiers who had taken service in the imperial armies and who had, in
some instances, achieved positions of prominence. They provided energy and
leadership but their loyalty when tested was as often as not to their own
people who were now the enemies of Rome.
In 395 the Visigoths, who had been settled in Lower Moesia by Theodosius
I, revolted and under the leadership of Alaric began a devastating march
through Macedonia and Thrace. Virtually unopposed, they ravaged Greece before
turning westward. In the early years of the fifth century Alaric and his forces
carried out two invasions of Italy which resulted in the sack of Rome in 410.
Under Athaulf, successor to Alaric, they entered Gaul in 412. Elsewhere other
tribes were crossing the frontiers. In 406, the Vandals, Suevi and Alani
crossed the Rhine and began marching through Gaul and Spain. The Burgundians,
too, had established a kingdom around Worms by 414. Sporadic and ineffectual
attempts to regain the western provinces were made by the Romans, but
eventually the Vandals were firmly settled in Africa, the Visigoths and Suevi
in Spain, the Burgundians in the Rhone valley and the Franks in Gaul. For all
practical purposes the western provinces were lost and Italy itself under
attack. In the years between the death of Theodosius I in 395 and the conquest
of Odovacar in 476, Italy suffered invasions and attacks by Visigoths, Vandals,
Ostrogoths and Huns. In none of these did the invaders attempt to establish
control over Italy but they plundered the cities, ravaged the countryside, and
were able to force payments and concessions of other territories from the
Romans. In 476, however, the barbarians were given land grants in Italy after
Odovacar had deposed Romulus Augustus, the last Roman emperor of the West.
In the East, the initial threat of Germanic pressure had been
temporarily averted by 400. The next great danger came from the Huns who forced
Theodosius II to begin tribute payments in 424. This tribe of Asiatic nomads
occasionally fought for the empire but only when it served their purpose and
they remained a threat to both East and West until 454. In 451, the Huns and
their allies were defeated in the battle of Maurica in Gaul. With the death of
Attila shortly thereafter the subject tribes began revolting and the Hunnic
empire collapsed.
Chief among the tribes subject to the Huns were the Ostrogoths who
obtained their independence in 454 and were then settled as foederati in
Pannonia with a promise of annual payments from Marcian. Discontented with
conditions there, they harried the nearby provinces until 488 when Zeno
persuaded Theodoric, king of the Ostrogoths, to lead his forces westward and
replace Odovacar as his viceroy in Italy. This was accomplished by 493 and
Italy remained in the hands of the Ostrogoths until the reconquest by
Belisarius and Narsesin the reign of Justinian I.
The East survived this movement of peoples but it was a costly survival
for the state. It suffered not only the loss of the West, in- cluding Italy,
but also a financial depletion as thousands of pounds of gold poured out of the
imperial treasury to pacify the barbarians. In 424 Theodosius II began paying
350 pounds of gold annually to Rugila, king of the Huns. When Attila and Bleda
succeeded Rugila about 433, the payment was doubled to 700 pounds, but even
this sum did not safeguard the imperial provinces against attack. After an
encounter with the imperial armies who were decisively defeated in 443, Attila
secured an immediate payment of 6000 pounds of gold plus an annual payment of
2100 pounds. The payments came from Theodosius II and also from Valentinian III
in the West.
The tribute to the Huns continued through the reign of Theodosius, but
his successor Marcian refused to meet the demands. The collapse of the Hunnic
empire in 454, however, resulted in the independence of the Ostrogoths who were
able to exact annual payments of 100 pounds of gold from Marcian. Leo was more
reluctant to make these payments and as a result the Ostrogoths revolted in
461, forcing Leo to continue the annual stipend and to make up the payments in
arrears.
These Ostrogoths—ruled by the three brothers, Walamir, Theodemir and
Widemir—represented one branch of the tribe; a second branch had taken service
in the imperial armies after 454. This latter group, under the command of
Strabo, revolted after the death of Aspar, a Roman general of Germanic origin,
and forced from Leo an annual stipend of 2000 pounds of gold in addition to
territorial concessions and the titles, Master of Soldiers and King of the
Ostrogoths, for Strabo. In the struggle for the throne between Basiliscus and
Zeno which followed the death of Leo, Strabo supported Basiliscus and
Theodoric, Zeno. When Zeno was restored to power, the alliances fluctuated; the
title of Master of Soldiers was passed from one Goth to the other and each in
turn was recognized as King of the Ostrogoths. The death of Strabo in 481 left
Theodoric’s Goths as the sole threat to the empire until 488 when Zeno induced
them to attack Odovacar and establish themselves in Italy. Although other
barbaric tribes soon took their place, they were less formidable and were dealt
with in the traditional manner by playing one tribe against another and by
payments.
The payments exacted by the barbarians were presumably made in solidi,
the coinage represented in the Scandinavian hoards and the basic coinage of the
fifth and sixth centuries. 7 Coins were struck in three metals during this
period but the bronze was debased and the silver so negligible that the burden
of the economy rested upon the gold. Its basic unit was the solidus of 1/72nd
of a pound, weighing 4.54 grams and introduced by Constantine I who lowered the
weight of the aureus which had been minted at 60 to the pound since the reform
of Diocletian. In addition to the solidus, a semis or half-solidus of 2.27
grams and a 1 1/2 scripulum piece of 1.70 grams were introduced. The latter was
not easily exchanged for the solidus, however, and was replaced in 383 under
Theodosius I by the triens, a third of the solidus, weighing 1.51 grams. Thus,
at the beginning of the fifth century the gold currency consisted of the solidus,
the semis and the triens. The solidus was by far the most common coin while the
triens and in particular the semis were quite rare.
In addition to the official currency issued by the emperors in the fifth
and sixth centuries there were barbaric coinages, also represented in the
Scandinavian finds, which replaced the imperial coinage in the West. 8 Even
before the fall of Italy in 476 the various Germanic tribes began to experiment
with coinage. The first attempts took place in the western provinces as they
slipped from imperial hands and were undoubtedly inspired by the need to fill
the gap left by the closing of the imperial mints. These earliest coinages were
imitations with no indication of the new issuing authority. Their legends were
often unintelligible and the details of the type so misrendered as to be
meaningless. Later, some silver and bronze issues were struck with the name and
portrait of the Germanic chief and it is only these issues that can be
identified with certainty. For the rest, and this is particularly true of the
gold, there are numerous problems involved. It is often difficult to determine
whether they are official or barbaric issues and if the latter, to what
particular tribe they should be assigned. Issues have been attributed to the
Suevi, Vandals, Visigoths, Ostrogoths, Burgundians and Franks, but not always
on firm grounds. The criteria for their identification are style, provenance
and the monograms which appear on the later issues. Style alone is often an
elusive factor and must be checked against other evidence. For example, the
huge class of “Vandalic” bronze is now considered to be imperial
coinage since its wide distribution outside of Vandalic territory is convincing
proof that it was not Vandalic in origin. 9
Although meaningless legends and types are an indication of barbaric
manufacture, it is also true that the Italian mints of the fifth century,
notably Milan, issued coinage that is characterized by a very crude style and
occasional legend irregularities. Furthermore, not all imitative coinages are
of crude workmanship. The Ostrogothic issues, identified by the monogram of
Theodoric, are often extremely fine specimens.
Many of these imitations are to be found in the catalogue. Some, like
the Ostrogothic issues, are identifiable series; others are published varieties
but their specific attribution is still uncertain. There are also solidi which
are obviously barbaric but which bear no comparison to published specimens.
With three exceptions these varieties have been found exclusively in
Scandinavia.
ΣΗΜΕΙΩΣΕΙΣ:
6 General works for the period: J. B. Bury, History of the Later Roman
Empire from the Death of Theodosius I. to the Death of Justinian (2 vols.,
London, 1931); Cambridge Medieval History, vol. I (Cambridge, Eng., New York,
1924); Alfons Dopsch, The Economic and Social Foundations of European
Civilization (London, 1937); Ernest Stein, op. cit.
7 Introductory material and catalogues: R. A. G. Carson, P. V. Hill and J.
P. C. Kent, Late Roman Bronze Coinage, a.d. 324–498 (London, 1960); Henry
Cohen, Description historique des monnaies frappées sous l’empire romain (8
vols., 2nd ed., Paris, London, 1880–92); J. W. E. Pearce, The Roman Coinage
from. a.d. 364 to 423 (London, 1933); RIC IX Valentinian I—Theodosius I (London,
1951); R. Ratto, Monnaies byzantines (Lugano, 1930); J. Sabatier, Description
générale des monnaies byzantines (Paris, London, 1862); Jean Tolstoi, Monnaies
byzantines (St. Petersburg, 1912–14); O. Ulrich-Bansa, Moneta. Mediolanensis
(Venice, 1949); Warwick Wroth, Catalogue of the Imperial Byzantine Coins in the
British Museum (London, 1908).
8 See Julius Friedländer, Die Münzen der Ostgothen (Berlin, 1844); Die
Münzen der Vandalen (Leipzig, 1849); C. F. Keary, “The Coinages of Western
Europe: From the Fall of the Western Empire till the Accession of
Charlemagne,” NC 1878, 49–72, 132–65, 216–58; Warwick Wroth, Catalogue of
the Coins of the Vandals, Ostrogoths and Lombards and of the Empires of
Thessalonica, Nicaea and Trebizond in the British Museum (London, 1911); F. F.
Kraus, Die Münzen Odovacars und des Ostgotenreiches in Italien (Halle, 1928);
P. Le Gentilhomme, “Le monnayage et la circulation monétaire dans les
royaumes barbares en occident (Ve-VIIIe siècle),” RN 1943, 45–112; Wilhelm
Reinhart, “Die Münzen des tolosanischen Reiches der Westgoten,” DJN
I, 1938, 107–35; “Die Münzen des westgotischen Reiches von Toledo,” D
JN III, 1940, 69–101; “Die Münzen des Swebenreiches,” Mitteilungen
der bayerischen numismati-schen Gesellschaft LV, 1937, 151–98.
9 Margaret Thompson, The Athenian Agora II: Coins from the Roman through
the Venetian Period (Princeton, 1954), 3, 101 f.
PART I: CATALOGUE AND COMMENTARY
ARRANGEMENT OF THE CATALOGUE
A total of 883 late Roman and Byzantine solidi are known to have been
found in Sweden and Denmark. 1 Of these 726 are currently identifiable in
Scandinavian collections and complete descriptions of 33 others can be found in
the records, making a total of 759 coins which are incorporated in the
catalogue. The remaining 124 coins were either dispersed or deposited in the
collections at an early date without identifying labels regarding the find
place. 2 Thus the material for this study consists of the 883 coins recorded as
finds in the archives and literature, but the catalogue is restricted to the
759 coins for which complete descriptions are available while the study of the
dies and the condition of the coins are further limited to those 726 coins
which are still accessible.
The catalogue of 759 coins is arranged by emperors: first, western
rulers from Honorius to Romulus Augustus, followed by eastern rulers from
Arcadius to Justinian I. Under each emperor the coins are arranged by mint;
eastern mints precede western mints. No at- tempt has been made to arrange the
coins of a given emperor in their chronological order as issued. Imitations
which can be assigned to a definite reign are placed after the regular issues;
those which cannot be attributed to a particular emperor are listed at the end
of the catalogue.
Much new material is provided by the Scandinavian finds. For the
imperial coinage, many gaps in the officinae record have been closed and a
number of hitherto unknown issues have been recovered. The barbaric imitations
are of special interest in that they include many new or unpublished specimens.
The problem of the imitations is a disturbing one since little progress
has been made in identifying and attributing these series but the additional
comparative material presented here should be useful in the definitive study of
these imitative coinages. In the catalogue that follows only those coins that
are obviously barbaric, those with Germanic monograms or other distinguishing
features which are without question products of non-imperial mints, have been
included under the “imitations” heading. Among the official issues
there may be other less easily detected imitations but because of the
uncertainty involved it seemed prudent to refrain from making any barbaric
attributions which cannot be firmly supported. All doubtful cases are discussed
in the commentary.
The arrangement is not consistent throughout, but a strict consistency
is impossible when a variety of official and non-official issues are involved.
Nevertheless, the general pattern has been modified as little as possible.
Keys to the types and legends are given at the beginning of each
emperor’s coinage. For each coin, obverse and reverse types and legends,
weight, die position, 3 condition, find-list number and catalogue references
can be obtained.
