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Scythians and Greeks on the Western Black Sea

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The Scythians have fascinated investigators since the time of Herodotus. This study examines the bronze and silver coinage of the kingdom of Scythia Minor in Dobruja at the mouth of the Danube River, a Scythian successor state that emerged in the second century BCE after the breakup of Scythia Magna.

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Description

Scythians and Greeks on the Western Black Sea: The Coinage of the Kings of Scythia Minor in Dobruja, 218/212–110 BCE

Numismatic Studies 47

by Elena S. Stolyarik and John M. Kleeberg

The Scythians have fascinated investigators since the time of Herodotus. This study examines the bronze and silver coinage of the kingdom of Scythia Minor in Dobruja at the mouth of the Danube River, a Scythian successor state that emerged in the second century BCE after the breakup of Scythia Magna. It is based on a corpus of over 1,500 coins, more than ever before, and draws upon scholarship in nine languages, including hard-to-find sources from Bulgaria, Romania, USSR, Ukraine, and Russia. The much-debated chronology of the six kings of Scythia Minor (Kanites, Tanousas, Charaspes, Ailis, Sariakes, and Akrosas) is determined through literary evidence, inscriptions, die linkage, shared monograms, coin hoards, and counterstamps. Metrological analysis distinguishes four denominations, plus the alterations and debasements of the weight standard during the troubled reigns of Ailis and Sariakes. Fifteen counterstamps that appear on Scythian coins are attributed to the local Greek poleis of Callatis, Tomis, Istros, and Dionysopolis. An inventory of four hoards and 47 findspots of single coins identifies the mint site, Dionysopolis. The volume concludes with a catalog of 63 major coin types and 15 counterstamps, plus bibliography and index.

CONTENTS

Acknowledgements
Introduction
Scythia Magna and Dobruja
Literary and Epigraphic Sources for the Kingdom of Scythia Minor in Dobruja
Earlier Studies of the Coins of Scythia Minor
Ethnic Identification and Chronology of the Kings of Scythia Minor
Coin Types, Legends, and Magistrates’ Monograms
Metrology, Weight Standard, Denominations, and Die Orientation
Countermarks on Scythian Coins
The Geographic Pattern of the Circulation of Scythian Coins
The Mint Location: Dionysopolis
Conclusion
Catalog of Coins and Countermarks
Appendix: List of Magistrates’ Monograms and Mintmarks
Abbreviations
Ancient Sources
Inscriptions
Papyri
Auction Catalogs and Electronic Sales
Bibliography
Index

ISBN: 978-0-89722-405-5 (US)
ISBN: 978-0-89722-406-2 (RoW)
ISBN: 978-0-89722-408-6 (ebook)
Hardcover, viii + 225 pp., 8.5″ x 11″, b/w illustrations throughout
ANS Members: $105 + s/h. Non-Members: $150 + s/h. Apply Member discount code during checkout.

About the Authors

Emerita Collections Manager of the ANS, Dr. Elena Stolyarik is a numismatist specializing in the coinages of the Black Sea region. She served as a Chief of the Numismatic Department of the Odessa Archaeological Museum of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences and also participated in excavation of the ancient city Tyras at the North-Western Black Sea Region. Upon coming to the United States, Dr. Stolyarik worked as a research associate at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology in Philadelphia, where she re-examined the entire collection of Greek coins. She is the author of a monograph Essays on Monetary Circulation in the North-Western Black Sea Region in the late Roman and Byzantine Periods (late AD 3rd century–early 13th century). She is also the author of numerous articles related mainly to Greek, Scythian, Late Roman, and Byzantine coinage in the Black Sea region.

John M. Kleeberg is a native of New York City. He was educated at Stuyvesant High School; Yale University (B.A., double major in History and Classics); University of Oxford (D. Phil., Modern History); and NYU Law School (J.D.; admitted to the New York bar, 2004). From 1990 until 2000 he was the Curator of Modern Coins and Currency at the American Numismatic Society. Since 2004 he has worked at the Claims Conference. Other monographs include Numismatic Finds of the Americas, also published by the American Numismatic Society, and the history of the New York Numismatic Club. In 2018 he was awarded the Huntington Medal for numismatic scholarship.

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