In the first centuries after Christ, the Indian subcontinent entered the orbit of the Roman state’s trade interests. The subject of the exchange was a number of goods, including Roman coins. Their influx is documented by numerous finds as well as by ancient authors. One of the territories where we register quite a large number of Roman coin finds is the area of early historical Andhra. The specimens discovered here are found in various contexts, indicating their various applications. The hoards of silver and gold coins allow the observation of successive waves of the influx of Roman money, which is also confirmed by the finds of other categories – stray and settlement. The internal differentiation of the latter also allowed to define their mutual relations and tendencies in circulation. Observations of numismatic material and analysis of sources indicate that Roman coins could have had the function of a medium of exchange or payment in Andhra or, more broadly, India, but also played a bullion and prestigious role. The time of the influx of Roman money indicates that it was associated primarily with the period of the Satavahana Empire in Andhra. The essentially small number of registered Roman coins in relation to the territory and its role in trade indicates that the coins were only one, perhaps not a key element of Indo-Roman trade.

ABSTRACT:

The article is an attempt at an analysis of the information contained in Ludwig von Baczko’s article, titled Von einigen in Preussen gefundenen römischen Münzen. The text was published in 1780, in the periodical “Das preussische Tempe” in Königsberg. The information from the publication was used only by Sture Bolin in his catalogue of the finds of Roman coins (Bolin 1926). The “Das preussische Tempe” was practically lost and its only copy remained in the National Library in Moscow.

SUMMARY:

In the article Von einigen in Preussen gefundenen römischen Münzen authored by Ludwig Franz Adolf Josef von Baczko, published in the “Das preussische Tempe” in 1780 some information on the finds of antique coins was published. The author mentioned two Roman coins of Augustus and Tiberius for Livia found in the Elbląg area. The information does not allow any conclusion on whether the find was authentic and the Elbląg area was indeed the place of the discovery of two “bronze” Roman coins, one of which had the image of Justitia or Pietas on its obverse. The subsequent finds, mentioned by von Baczko, came from the areas of Klaipėda (German: Memel), Zheleznodorozhny (German: Gerdaunen), Kaliningrad Oblast (Russia), Krylowo (German: Nordenburg), Kaliningrad Oblast (Russia) and Tilsit, today Sovetsk, Kaliningrad Oblast (Russia). He identified Philip the Arab as the issuer. Von Baczko provided some more questionable information concerning 83 silver coins which “had been brought from those areas to Königsberg by a Polish Jew in 1774”. The Polish Jew suggested that the coins could be easily found in Samogitia, not far from the Prussian border, in remains of an old building. Von Baczko decided that the information was incomplete as it pointed only to the existence of the foundations of an old, stone building. All the information about the 83 coins presented above bring to mind the typical accounts of coin traders of the time.

Von Baczko informed also that “he was shown a few more coins” which had been discovered, as he was said “zu Höle bei Danzig”, so in today’s Gdańsk Ujeścisko. They were silver Vespasian’s coins with images of “various Judean sacrificial vessels” on reverses, there was also a coin with the representation of a “veiled woman” and the legend IVDEA CAPTA. The information about the find appeared in all catalogues of the Roman coins found on the Polish territory. The discovery was described as a hoard consisting of an unknown number of pennies from the period between Vespasian and Septimius Severus or Caracalla (the coin struck for Julia Domna). Sture Bolin repeated the information faithfully after von Baczko, so the discovery of the 1780 “Das preussische Tempe” does not contribute much to the matter in question. The only novelty is that von Baczko questioned the find’s authenticity, supporting his opinion with a vague remark about “das zu wenig erhobene Gepräge”, which implied that he considered the coins to be contemporary products.

Further in his article, von Baczko deliberates on how the coins had got to Prussia. He refers to some unspecified writers (“verschiedene Schriftsteller”) who suspected the presence of Romans by the Baltic Sea but emphasises that he does not know any written record by a Roman historian which would confirm the Roman presence so far away from the Empire’s borders. Von Baczko then suggests that the coins may have come as loot. He observed that Old Prussians had had the custom of leaving spoils taken from their enemies in the urns of their heroes. He argued that after the urns were destroyed by time, the coins that remained came to the surface as a result of land cultivation.

Having been long searched for, when eventually found von Baczko’s article turned out not to be particularly useful in interpreting the records concerning the coins. The lack of results is, however, also a result. There are a lot of laconic and arbitrary descriptions of coins which did not help to identify particular specimens. Based on the article, we may assume that he saw the coins and identified and described them himself. The legends he quotes are usually incorrect, but they did appear on Roman coins, so he did not invent them completely. He knew what could be found on Roman coins. It is also evident that he had a considerable knowledge of ancient Rome for his times.

While comparing von Baczko’s article with similar contemporary texts one may arrive at the conclusion that it is a typical product of Prussian scholars of the time, such as A. Grübnau, M. Praetorius, C.B. Lengnich. The coins were described selectively, only those specimens that for some reason attracted the attention of the authors mentioned above. The descriptions are incomplete, what is more, the described obverses do not match the reverses. Based on von Baczko’s article, one may conclude that he wrote about what he could discern on the coin. There is much to make us believe that having read the obverse legend on one coin, he coupled it with the reverse of another coin, while a third one provided the image. Such an approach was certainly adopted in the case of the solidi from the Mrzezin hoard. The author, who signed himself with an “X” described the obverse of Anastasius I’s solidus and the reverse of the Ostrogoth imitation of the same type of coin.

In the areas occupied by the Cherniakhiv and Wielbark archaeological cultures during the Roman period, including the areas of eastern and northern Poland, there are relatively numerous finds of Roman aurei of Trajan Decius (249–251) and his direct predecessors on the imperial throne. These coins are interpreted as part of the imperial treasury looted by the barbarians (Goths) after they won the Battle of Abritus in 251. In the same areas one can distinguish a horizon of finds of silver Roman coins, denarii and antoniniani, which cannot be directly linked to the Battle of Abritus, but more broadly, with the Goth raids on the Roman provinces in the early 250s, the spectacular culmination of which was the Battle of Abritus. This horizon is not clear in finds from southern, central and western Poland, occupied in the Roman period by the Przeworsk and Luboszyce cultures, not related to the Goths.

The article describes the finds of six Roman coins and a mysterious object with an Arabic legend discovered in the years 2000–2014 at the bottom of Lake Turawskie, created in 1939. With the creation of the reservoir many archaeological sites (of varied chronology, from the Roman period to the late Middle Ages) were flooded, many of which could not be properly investigated due to the time pressure. The Roman coins presented here are a standard part in the overall image of coins discovered in Silesia. The mysterious object with an Arabic legend is unique, it has partial analogies in Norman weights or early-Arab coins (al-wafā lillāh coinage).

This article discusses finds of Roman coins made during excavations in Novae (Bulgaria), by the University of Warsaw’s Research Center on the Antiquity of Southeastern Europe. Novae is a Roman legionary camp in the province of Moesia, associated mainly with the Legion I Italica. However, the camp was built by the Legion VIII Augusta. The article analyzes the coin finds from 60 years of excavations at this archaeological site, coming from the area of the so-called sector IV and sector XII. Sector IV is mainly the Legion I military hospital ( valetudinarium), while Sector XII is referred to as the Legion VIII cohort barracks area. The aim of the article is to present a model of the circulation of Roman coins in the areas of legionary camps on the lower Danube.

The article presents the interpretation of a coin found in the Kuyavian region, Central Poland a few years ago. According to the most plausible hypothesis, it is a cast barbarian copy of a barbarian imitation of a Roman denarius. In other words, the barbarians most likely made (by casting) a copy of an imitation previously made (presumably struck) by other barbarians using a Roman original as a model. Numerous barbarian copies and barbarian imitations of Roman denarii have been recorded in recent years. However, the author of the presented article is not aware of any cast copies of imitations, therefore, taking into account the current state of research, the artefact described in the article should be considered unique.