The coinage of Scodra (with an appendix on recent finds)

Archaeologiae. Una Storia al plurale. Studi in memoria di Sara Santoro, 2022

Scodra is among the most important archaeological sites known from Albania, mentioned in many ancient sources, eg. Polybius, Livy, Pliny, Florus, Appian, Ptolemy, Procopius. Research carried out since the 1950s has shown the hill of Scodra to be already inhabited in the Bronze Age. In the 2nd century BC it was the capital of the Illyrian king Genthios, and in the 3rd century AD it was a Roman colony. In Late Antiquity it was the capital of the Roman province of Praevalis. In 2011 an Albanian–Polish research project was established based on an international agreement signed between the Institute of Archaeology in Tirana and the Antiquity of Southeastern Europe Research Centre of the University of Warsaw. During the excavations a section of the original so-called Cyclopean walls has been traced and dated to the 4th (?) or early 3rd century BC, and Hellenistic pottery has been discovered. In one of the cisterns, Roman inscriptions were used as spolia. One of them is especially important, mentioning Scodra as a Roman colony. In the lower town, ruins of a wealthy roman house with hypocaust system were discovered, as well as a Late Antique defensive wall and cemetery. Fortifications built to counter the Sultan’s army during the siege of Scodra in the 15th century were also discovered. The Ottoman period was marked by different buildings among them a perfumer’s shop, apothecary, hammam and many vessels of majolica.

2018

The paper addresses the question of so-called Thraco-Macedonian electrum coinages by re-examining some of the older theories by scholars such as J. Svoronos in the light of two hoards and archaeological evidence (IGCH 354, found in Macedonian in c. 1840, and IGCH 1165; a coin from Stageira). The windmill or swastica coinage on the Phocaic weight standard is examined in more detail. The analysis points towards coin production, jointly with silver, from the middle of the 6th century onwards, although it appears to be restricted to fractional coinage.

This is the third consecutive volume in the series 'Coin Collections and Coin Hoards from Bulgaria', presenting the numismatic collections of municipal and regional museums in Republic of Bulgaria. After the first one on the museums of Lovech and Razgrad (CCCHBulg I, 2007) and the second about the coin collection of Kyustendil museum (CCCHBulg II, 2009), the latest volume focuses on the rich numismatic collection of the Regional Historical Museum ‘Stoyan Shishkov’ in the town of Smolyan. All extant hoards and stray coins from the Central Rhodopes are included in this edition. It covers the ancient and early Byzantine coin from the region, 1325 pieces in total: among them 1064 are Greek, 13 Thracian, 110 Macedonian, 1 – Egyptian, 1 – South Italian, 22 Roman Republican, 510 Roman Imperial, 42 Roman provincial issues and 30 early Byzantine, as well as 13 coin hoards. 1. ‘Abdera hoard "/Starcevo?" – 19 small 4th century BC AE coins of Abdera – nos. 397-415; 2. "Starcevo – I, Belite kamani" – 726 large AE coins of Maroneia of the 2nd – early 1st century BC (the largest even found hoard) – now 617 published, nos. 456-1072; 3. "Starcevo – II" - 5 small AE of Abdera of the 4th century BC (from filed survey) – nos. 416-420; 4. "Starcevo – III" – 32 small AE of Abdera of the 4th century BC (from excavation) – nos. 421-452; 5. "Starcevo – IV" (= IGCH 939?) – 23 small AE of Maroneia of the 2nd – 1st century BC – nos. 1073-1095; 6. "MVR-Smolyan / 2000" (part of ‘Starcevo I’?) – 28 small AE of Maroneia, 2nd – 1st century BC – nos. 1096-1123; 7. "Smolyan II / 2000" – 41 small AE of Maroneia, 2nd – 1st century BC – nos. 1124-1164; 8. ‘Strashimir / 1977" (CH IV, 79) – 22 AE of Thasos and 2 denarii (1- Republican; 1 – Augustus) – nos. 1165-1187; 9. "Smolyan region hoard" – 3 AR Alexander-type late tetradrachms, 2 Mesambria and 1 Odessus, ca. 125 BC – nos. 453-455. 10. "Smolyan I / 1975" (= IRRCHBg, 61) – 7 Republican denarii and 1 quinarius, nos. 1199-1206; 11. "Barutin" – 91 late Roman AEs, from Constantine I down to Valens – nos. 1207-1253; 12. "Borino I" – 23 AE late Roman AE3 and AE4, from Constantine I down to Julian II – nos. 1254-1276; 13. "Borino II" – 33 Late Roman AE3 and AE4, from Constantine I down to Julian II – nos. 1277-1297. As usual, coins are catalogued and illustrated with clear black & white photos in chronological and geographic principle, following the classic SNG-standard. This volume was printed with the financial support of the Regional Historical Museum ‘Stoyan Shishkov’ at Smolyan.

Cercetari Numismatice, 2019

Over time, we collected all kinds of images and data of coins that aroused our interest at one point. They were part of different private collections of which nothing is known today. The coins come from the region of Dobruja, offering through their presence new features of the movement of people and money during the Roman period. Thus, we describe some coins from Tyras, from Istros and Odessos, from Nicaea and Prusias ad Hypium, from the province of Bithynia, but also isolated issues from Topirus, Amisus Pontus and Caesarea in Cappadocia. Some pieces wear countermarks with legends such as TONZOV, PR, or the monogram attributed to the city of Antioch in Pisidia; others are punched with an imperial head attributed to Vespasian by an unknown mint.

The book presents the most complete study of the enigmatic coinage of the Scythian kings in the Northeastern Thrace (mod. Dobrudja). The study includes a complete die-study with a discussion of iconography, denominations, chronology, mint, countermarks and overstrikes, circulation, and forgeries. In all 1,084 coins are catalogued.