Georgi Dobrevo/2000 Reconsidered: Note on a 1St-Century Bc Coin Hoard from Thrace*
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doi: 10.2143/AWE.12.0.2994453 AWE 12 (2013) 281-294 GEORGI DOBREVO/2000 RECONSIDERED: NOTE ON A 1ST-CENTURY BC COIN HOARD FROM THRACE* EVGENI I. PAUNOV Abstract This note deals with a hoard of five silver coins from south-eastern Thrace. In the original publication (Penchev 2001) these coins were described with errors and wrong identifications, thus a revision and reinterpretation is offered here. The hoard from Georgi Dobrevo is an unusual association of two Republican denarii, two imitative tetradrachms of late Thasos type in barbarous style and one broken piece – a rare tetradrachm of Ilium in the Troad. An overview of the historical, geographical and numismatic background of this hoard is given in order to elucidate its precise position and significance. In 2000, during rescue archaeological excavation on the Thrakia highway near the village of Georgi Dobrevo (formerly Bunakli and Kirilovo) in the Lyubimets area of Haskovo district, a scattered coin hoard was found. It was unearthed in a Thracian and Roman set- tlement at Dana Bunar (Sector 1),1 south-west of the village2 (on the course of the highway from Sofia to Istanbul). The site had shown constant occupation from the mid-5th century BC to the late 6th century AD and later, with few interruptions.3 It lies 1 km from the north bank of the River Maritza (the ancient Hebros) between Lyubimets and Svilengrad (some 40 km north-west of Adrianople/Edirne), along the main Roman road, the Via Diag- onalis.4 Setting a good example, the hoard from Georgi Dobrevo was published the very next year by an expert in mediaeval coinage, Vladimir Penchev.5 * I would like to thank François de Callataÿ, Ilya Prokopov and Metodi Manov who kindly read, commented upon and improved successive drafts of this note. 1 Excavations were carried out in 2000–01 by Krassimir Leshtakov and Elena Angelova-Pencheva, both from the Department of Archaeology, University of Sofia ‘St. Kliment Ohridski’. The results and archaeological material from the Dana Bunar site are not yet published (except Sector 2, the nearby Neolithic site: see Vassil Nikolov’s report in AJA 112 [2008], 159–61). 2 GPS coordinates: 41.8477; 26.1046. 3 The stray coins from Dana Bunar and surrounding sites (286 pieces in total) were later separately published by Mariana Minkova from the Stara Zagora Museum (Minkova 2008). No coins from the 2nd or 1st centuries BC are attested, except one bronze of Thessalonica, ca. 187–31 BC (SNG Cop. Macedonia, 365) and six AE coins of Rhoemetalces I and Augustus (ca. 11 BC–AD 12) – five of type RPC I, 1719 and one of RPC I, 1720 (see Minkova 2008, 65). 4 The course of the Via Diagonalis in this area is noted and described by the late Dimcho Aladzhov in the 1980–90s (see Aladzhov 1997, 188–89). For older records, see Jirecek 1877, 46–47; Todorov 1937. 5 Penchev 2001. Penchev is the single keeper of the coin collection at the National History Museum in Sofia. As a rule, he strictly forbids any approach for access to and research on the coins in the collection, whether from Bulgarian or foreign scholars. 996073_AWE_12_13_Paunov.indd6073_AWE_12_13_Paunov.indd 281281 224/10/134/10/13 111:391:39 282 E.I. PAUNOV The overall importance of this hoard, along with multiple errors and discrepancies in the original publication, has prompted the current study and revision. Only five silver coins of the 2nd–1st centuries BC were gathered from a ploughed field in a surface area of few square metres (0.10–0.40 m from surface) – apparently a fragment of a larger hoard, or a few parts of such. According to the initial publication, the preserved content is as follows:6 A. Roman Republic: two denarii 1. L. Sempronius Pitio, 148 BC (RRC 216/1), Rome, 19/20 mm, 3.74 g; mid-wear (Fig. 1). 2. L. Sentius C.f., 101 BC (RRC 325/1a), Rome, rev. control mark O above, 19/20 mm, 3.95 g, mid-wear (Fig. 2). B. ‘Thracian’ tetradrachms, barbarised imitations of Thasos type: 2 AR 3. 29/34 mm, 15.41 g, edges bent on three sides (Fig. 3). 4. 30/31 mm, 15.33 g, slight bent edge (Fig. 4), both of unlisted dies,7 patinated and light corrosion visible. C. Late Hellenistic tetradrachm: 5. Troas, Ilium: 1 AR (large flan, but bent and broken8), 28/35 mm, 13.83 g, monogram 1 in the left field and owl to palm in the right field. No wear visible, patination (Fig. 5). Comments The denarii9 were correctly recognised and suitably identified by Penchev10 quoting M.H. Crawford’s monumental corpus on the Roman Republican coinage.11 At the same time, though, he was not aware of the bulk of Republican hoards found in Thrace.12 Let me address now the problem which has spurred me to revise the publication and write this note. A concern had arisen with the broken issue of Ilium (no. 5 above), so unu- sual for the circulation pool of ancient Thrace. Penchev had quoted13 the now long-super- seded edition BMC Troas14 without stating a particular number, since no such coin was known to W. Wroth in the late 19th century. He did not mention further or more recent references, although the Ilium tetradrachms are identified and described by J.H. von Eckhel,15 satisfied to argue that ‘the tetradrachm was struck in the 1st century BC’. He had read the ‘two-line legend in the exergue’16 as: JGJSIDJ…. / TOUDIOF….., though more than that can clearly be observed on the published photograph. 6 Field numbers 17, 18, 33, 49 and 59 /2000. Instead of handing in the coins to the responsible Regional Museum in Haskovo as usual, they were given to and inventoried in the National History Museum in Sofia, by the same person – Dr Penchev. Inventory numbers are not known. 7 Similar to type Göbl 1973, Klasse III, taf. 46–47; and Lukanc 1996, pls. 103–138. 8 The damage is clearly modern, caused by agricultural work in the field. 9 Although Penchev had failed to mention the denarii in the title of his article. 10 Penchev 2001, 34. 11 Crawford 1974. 12 The majority of them are already published; see the inventory IRRCHBg. 13 Penchev 2001, 38, n. 2. 14 Wroth 1894, 58. 15 von Eckhel 1794, 484–85. 16 Penchev 2001, 33, tabl. 1.3. 996073_AWE_12_13_Paunov.indd6073_AWE_12_13_Paunov.indd 282282 224/10/134/10/13 111:391:39 GEORGI DOBREVO/2000 RECONSIDERED 283 Fig. 1: Denarius of L. Sempronius Pitio, 148 BC, RRC 216/1 (after Penchev 2001). Fig. 2: Denarius of L. Sentius C.f., 101 BC, RRC 325/1a (after Penchev 2001). Fig. 3: Thasos imitation tetradrachm, cat. no. 3 (after Penchev 2001). Fig. 4: Thasos imitation tetradrachm, cat. no. 4 (after Penchev 2001). Fig. 5: Tetradrachm of Ilium, magistrate ´Jgjsidßmou toÕ Diofánou from Georgi Dobrevo, cat. no. 5 (after Penchev 2001). 996073_AWE_12_13_Paunov.indd6073_AWE_12_13_Paunov.indd 283283 224/10/134/10/13 111:391:39 284 E.I. PAUNOV As a matter of fact, this is a magistrate’s name with filiation, and it should be restored as: JGJSIDJM[OU] / TOU DIOF[ANOU] = Jgjsidßmou toÕ Diofánou. This name appears on a tetradrachm published for the first time by E.T. Newell in 1938,17 and later on two occasions by A.R. Bellinger18 (Fig. 6). However, the coin from Georgi Dobrevo/2000 bears in the left field on its reverse a monogram 1 (see Fig. 7) hitherto unlisted for this issue.19 Curiously enough, the same monogram appears on the next civic magistrate’s issue – the one for Philokleos, Philon and Hyllon (Fig. 8).20 First of all, this is not an issue of Ilium but one in the name of the goddess Athena Ilias, as the coin clearly states itself (’Aqjnav ’Iliadov). It is well defined by A.R. Bellinger, based on the coin materials from the American excavations at Troy in 1932–38.21 Later, it also received a masterly interpretation in an epigraphic context by L. Robert.22 These civic tet- radrachms of Troas are generally dated after 188 BC, when both Pergamum and Ilium had profited by the treaty of Apameia. Then, the defeated Seleucid monarch Antiochus III had to leave his European possessions and to lease parts of Asia to the Romans (Appian Syr. 39). True, the Ilium coinage is relatively rare, producing a list of no more than 21 variants and magistrates.23 This coinage was an issue of the city of Ilium which dominated a league of cities. It is the confederation of Troad, also called League of ‘Athena Ilias’.24 It had included no fewer than seven cities: Ilium, Dardanus, Scepsis, Assus, Alexandria Troas, Abydus and Lampsacus. Of course, the names of those men who appear in the exergue of coins, having held an official position (presidents of the prytanes) in the temple of Athena Ilias, but here they appear in genitive as eponymous magistrates.25 Initially, Bellinger has dated26 the activity of moneyer Jgjsidßmou toÕ Diofánou before 133 BC, but later he admitted that these series may have been struck after the Roman annexation of Asia.27 However, the Jgjsidßmou toÕ Diofánou seems to be a late issue, similar to the tet- radrachms of magistrate Menephronostos, son of Menephron, with the additional symbol of grazing Pegasus.28 The latter is struck during the First Mithridatic war, in the time of the Pontic 17 Newell 1938, pl. LXXXV.B. No pedigree for this coin is given. 18 Bellinger 1958, 14, no. 20, pl.