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.
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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.
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