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NUMISMATIC NOTES AND MONOGRAPHS
Numismatic Notes and Monographs is devoted to essays and treatises on subjects relating to coins, paper money, medals and decorations and is uniform with Hispanic Notes and Monographs published by the Hispanic Society of
copyright 1933 by
the american numismatic society
the intelligencer printing co.
lancaster, pa.
In the course of the interesting excavations carried out at 1
of Roman Republican bronze coins was unearthed.
Quoting from the accompanying letter sent by a podium about a meter above the ground level outside the building. The foundations for the walls and columns formed a sort of box into which field dirt was poured ; and apparently in the Republican period the Stoa had no other than a dirt floor. . . . Either when the Stoa was built or at some later date . . . the need for some system of water disposal arose in the west wing of the Stoa. An underground channel was accordingly built: A trench about one
podium; the pan of the trench, about 0.50 m. wide, was paved with ordinary terracotta roof tiles; a triangular drain was formed by roofing this floor of tiles with wooden planks laid to meet at a point (the wood was gone but the shape could be traced in the cutting); and the whole trench was then filled in. An inlet into this drain must have been left in the floor, but it could not be traced. Presumably it had a cover of wood or stone or terracotta and perhaps even a protective tubing of terracotta. When we dug the foundations here we found only two of these roof tiles in place. The hoard lay in a pile on one of these tiles. My first thought was that these were odd pieces which had fallen one by one down the inlet and been abandoned, but the number of the pieces and the fact that they were clustered later led me to think that they were a purseful laid there for temporary safekeeping by a shop-concessionaire in the Stoa. It seemed difficult but not impossible to reach a long arm down the hole and bring out the purse again."
So much for the surroundings in which the hoard was found. The coins themselves comprised examples of the Roman struck as, semis, triens, quadrans, sextans, and uncia, together with a so-called "half-litra," a sextans and several unciae of the Romano-Campanian series, numerous sextantes (sometimes called semunciae, as they are without denominational marks) of uncertain mintage but
2
to semis assigned to sextantes and an uncia formerly given to 3
but even this approved method was in many cases inadequate and only sufficed to make recognizable (sometimes barely so) the original types.
In the following catalogue the coins are numbered from 1 to 61, the excavator's numbers given the coins when found (i. e. nos. 3106-66) being disregarded. The references are to Coins of the Roman Republic in the British Museum by before cleaning would have been utterly misleading as most of the specimens were too much covered with heavy deposits of lime, dirt and even decomposed portions of contiguous coins.
Taking up first the study of the group presumably struck at sextantes and unciae based on the "semi-libral" standard. These coins, at the time of their issue, were associated with the (cast) as, semis, triens and quadrans of reduced weight. 4
dates the commencement of the "semi-libral" series in 286 B. C., while 5
assigns it to 271-268 B. C. 6
held that the reduction of the as from libral to sextantal weight was gradual and not the result of any special legislative act. Grueber,
7
following 8
does not recognize the "semi-libral" reduction but calls coins such as our nos. 1 to 9 "triental."
9
as first commenced to be reduced during, and because of, the exigencies of the First Punic War.
Sub-division 'b' (nos. 10-16) comprises sextantes and unciae still further reduced; while sub-division 'c' (nos. 17-25) follows with specimens of the as, semis, triens and sextans, all of sextantal weight. These have always been assigned to the First Punic War, following 10
that the sextantal as was struck at that very time. Against this generally accepted "fact," 11
numerous serious arguments and rather damaging evidence, preferring, as a consequence, to follow what has hitherto been regarded as only a blunder on the part of Festus who clearly assigns
12
the sextantal as to the Second Punic War. Hence, nos. 17-25 would first have appeared about the year 210 B. C., or a little later.
Sub-division 'd' (nos. 26-40), comprising examples of the semis, triens, quadrans and sextans of the uncial standard, would represent the continued fall in weight and may be dated after circa 200 B. C. In other words, nos. 1-40 (practically two thirds of our hoard) represent the bronze coinage, of ever lessening standard, struck at circa 250 B. C. to some time after 200 B. C.
The second group contains eleven coins (nos. 41-52) bearing the distinguishing type of the sextans (i. e. head of Mercury on the obverse) but without the usual marks of value. 13
and 14
following 15
regard these coins as semunciae, the one associating them with the triental and sextantal series, the other with the semi-libral. 16
to regard them as actually sextantes belonging to the sextantal reduction, and so dates them circa 242-229 B. C. In view of the comparative rigidity of the Roman coin types, it seems best to follow unciae without marks of value.
17
If
The third group comprises the strictly Campanian issues bearing local types. No. 53 is a half-litra and dated by 18
after 280 B. C. It is still of "Greek" weight, having as yet little to do with the Roman system of bronze coinage, and was evidently intended for local circulation only. Nos. 54-57 belong to the succeeding issue, characterized by types revealing Roman as well as local influence, and by weights based on the semi-libral standard. They have been assigned by
The final group is composed of specimens assignable to various mints and dates. The semis, no. 58, is supposed by 19
to have been struck at 20
No. 59 has been assigned by 21
following 22
to 23
24
while, if we follow circa 210 B. C. Likewise, coins similar to nos. 60-61 were formerly assigned to 25
but 26
from a large hoard of some eight hundred Carthaginian (Sardinian) coins recently found at
The specimens in the
With regard to the probable date at which our coins were hidden, two points should be noted. In elucidating these we propose, in general, to adopt
The second point to be noted is the interesting fact that the hoard contains not even a single specimen of the very common series of urban bronze bearing either the symbols, the monograms or the abbreviated names of monetary magistrates.
27
These latter issues, according to their recorded weights, ought to be distributed between the sextantal and uncial series,
28
and they have therefore been spread by previous writers over a period running from circa 268 to 150 B. C. In numerous published
29
the signed and the anonymous issues have been indiscriminately mingled. In the 30
and suggests further
31
that "there was a steady decline in weight towards … an uncial standard for … (the) as … but this was dictated by stress of necessity—not by any law." Accepting this outline as substantially close to the actual facts, the signed urban bronze could hardly have commenced to appear before about 200 B. C. On the other hand, as our hoard did contain a few specimens of uncial weight it could not have been buried very much, if any, before 200 B. C. ; and
after that date. Hence we would appear to be justified in assuming that the
The preceding paragraphs had already been written when the author received a most interesting communication from
In answer to the reply that the hoard presents unmistakable internal evidence for a burial sometime shortly after 200 B. C.,
The former owner of the hoard was probably one of the little shopkeepers doing business around the forum, and the hoard itself represents his savings or perchance, the contents of his "cash box" at the time the disaster overtook his shop. Why he never returned or took the trouble to retrieve his savings after the fire was over, we do not know. Possibly he perished in the conflagration. To account for the curious fact that the coins were not recovered when the debris was removed, preparatory to constructing the stoa which replaced the row of more modest little tabernae, it seems necessary to suppose that they had actually been hidden beneath the floor of the shop.
The ante quem can be assigned to a hoard of Republican bronze coins.
32
It is considerably later than the Cervetri hoard, but definitely earlier than the
The writer desires here to express his thanks and appreciation both to
Aes Grave, Vol. I, p. 103.
Aes Grave,
Gesch. des ält. röm. Münzw., pp. 45 f.
Coins of the Roman Republic in the British Museum. Pp. xxv. 16, note 2.
Hist. mon. rom., vol. ii, p. 10 and vol. iii, p. 468.
The First Age of Roman Coinage. Journal of Roman Studies. Vol. XIX, 1929. Pp. 19-37.
Hist. Nat. XXXIII, 44.
Loc. cit., p. 31ff.
De verb. sig., s. v. grave and sextantari.
Loc. cit., pp. 24-6 and 33.
Loc. cit., p. 112 ff.
Mon. rom., Vol. I, pp. 111-115.
Loc. cit. pp. 53, 93, note 2.
Cf. loc. cit. p. 26, where they are regarded as quartun ciae.
Les Monnaies antiques de l'Italie, p. 441.
Loc. cit. Vol. II, p. 187, note 2. Mon. rom. p. 625) the coin to Capua.
Cf. loc. cit. p. 28 and note 2, where reference is also made to an article by Blätter für Münzfreunde, 1900, pp. 117 ff.
Loc. cit. Vol. II, p. 163, note 3.
Loc. cit. pp. 396 f.
Le prime monete romane di bronzo coniate in Rivista Italiana ai Numismatica. XXXV, 1922. pp. 13 f.
Loc. cit., pp. 24-5.
loc. cit., Vol. II, p. 208 ff.
Notizie degli Scavi. 1931, Ser. VI, Vol. VII, p. 88 ff.
Similarly the hoard contains none of the local issues bearing magistrates' letters or symbols, though it does contain a few specimens bearing mint marks (nos. 58-61).
Cf. the very full lists of weights given by Rivista Italiana di Numismatica, XXIV, 1911, p. 275 ff.
Cf. those of Riv. It. di Num., XXIV, 1911, p. 275 ff.); Rocchetta a Volturno (Ibid., XXVIII, 1915. p. 275 ff.); Notizie degli Scavi, 1917 p. 235 ff.); Ibid., 1900, p. 7); Ibid., 1931, p. 542); Ibid., 1931, p. 615 ff.).
Loc. cit., p. 32.
Loc. cit., p. 33.
The
The present study was already in final page proof when Messrs.
During the course of the campaign (1932) in which the Republican coins described above were found, there was also unearthed another hoard, but one some six hundred and fifty years later in date. About 1.80 meters above the level of a side street in the city, among the fallen bricks of a building-wall, the excavators discovered an ancient ox bone (Pl. 1) containing one hundred and sixty-three copper coins and their halves, together with numerous fragments of broken and damaged specimens.
Although all of the coins were corroded and encrusted with a greyish deposit' of soil, a careful brushing sufficed in most cases to remove enough of the accumulated dirt to render the types at least recognizable. In the case of some dozen specimens, where the corrosion was too hard or thick to remove by brushing alone, it was deemed advisable to clean them further by the electrolytic method. In any case, these coins are most unsatisfactory material to work with. The older pieces were already for the most part in an extremely worn condition when put away by their ancient owner—and subsequent corrosion has not made it any easier to recognize their almost vanished types or to decipher their legends. In addition, many of these coins had in ancient times been roughly broken in two, in order that they might circulate as halves. The later coins,
Being for the most part well known, few of the coins in this hoard call for any remark. With certain exceptions, the earlier issues, such as nos. 1-73, are very much worn by long continued circulation. In fact, many (nos. 20-22, 43-73) are so worn that only by their general appearance, fabric and planchets is it possible to assign them, with any probability, to the reigns from
The crudely made little coins of
These coins of
Probably the next type is represented by nos. 93-94, bearing the inscription VOT XX contained in a wreath. Under ordinary circumstances these coins would be assigned to about the year 434-435, though in the late empire considerable liberty was taken in the recording of votives. Thus, for instance, on the coins of
Nos. 95-108 would appear to be the next issue. In style and die-cutting, they are very much cruder than any of the preceding, the flans are smaller and more irregular, the striking is very carelessly carried out. The type of the two victories vis-à-vis and the accompanying inscription auggg form now constitutes an anachronism) were copied directly from similar coins of
The still more crudely made group (nos. 109-119) follows, bearing the type of a single victory facing to left, surrounded by the now correct inscription
Even more badly made than the preceding are the coins of the final group, nos. 120-168. In fact, so utterly barbarized in style and so miserably minute in size are the little flans of nos. 164-168 that it has been deemed advisable to segregate and to describe them as imitations. On the whole, types and inscriptions are the same as for the preceding group, except that the star in the left field of the reverse has disappeared and its place has been taken by the officina letter (P, S, T, Q, ϵ). In one very doubtful instance (no. 126) the obverse inscription does seem to contain the letters PLA following the usual D. N. All of the remainder, which chance to be in any way legible, certainly do not possess these letters, although
Coins of types very similar to nos. 120-163, but bearing the inscriptions of the succeeding emperors 5
None, however, so far as it is possible to ascertain by a most careful inspection of the all but illegible obverse inscriptions of nos. 120-163, appear to have been contained in the
Judging by the fact that all of
We can hardly associate that act with the events which rapidly followed each other at 6
descents upon the rich lands of 7
that they seldom or never attacked defensible cities, and we possess no record that
In this connection 8
We are therefore hardly justified in connecting its deposit with any public disaster. We may indeed surmise that the hoard was hidden away for reasons known only to its former owner and that it was never afterwards retrieved because either forgotten or because some purely personal event prevented his return to claim it.
Die Münzen der römischen Kaiser, Kaiserinnen und Caesaren von Diocletianus bis Romulus. By
Description historique des monnaies frappées sous l'Empire romain. By
Description générale des monnaies byzantines. By
loc. cit. p. 221 nos. 7-8; p. 224, nos. 4-7.
For instance, on page 435 of
Hodgkin, loc. cit., p. 435, who says: He (
Letter from