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Journal of Archaeology and Ancient History 2020 Number 28 Editor: Karl-Johan Lindholm Editorial Board: Assyriology: Olof Pedersén

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Journal of Archaeology and Ancient History 2020 Number 28 Editor: Karl-Johan Lindholm Editorial Board: Assyriology: Olof Pedersén Journal of Archaeology and Ancient History 2020 Number 28 Editor: Karl-Johan Lindholm Editorial Board: Assyriology: Olof Pedersén. Archaeology: Anders Kaliff, Neil Price. Classical Archaeology and Ancient History: Gunnel Ekroth, Lars Karlsson. Egyptology: Andreas Dorn. Editorial history, illustrations : www.arkeologi.uu.se/Journal/jaah_28 ISSN: 2001-1199 Published: 2020-12-15 at http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-426054 The Late Roman and Early Byzantine Solidi of the Stiernstedt Ancient Coin Collection Svante Fischer1 1 [email protected] Department of Archaeology and Ancient History Uppsala University, Sweden MB ABSTRACT Svante Fischer 2020. Th e Late Roman and Early Byzantine Solidi of the Stiernstedt Ancient Coin Collection. Journal of Archaeology and Ancient History. 2020, No. 28 pp 1–26. http://urn. kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-426054 Thi s is a study of 33 Late Roman and Early Byzantine solidi from the period 394-565 that are kept in the Stiernstedt Ancient Coin Collection. Th e solidi were acquired in the late nineteenth century by the co-founding president of the Swedish Numismatic Society, August Wilhelm Stiernstedt. After his death, the solidi along with 2,434 other coins were published as a coherent assembly, the Stiernstedt Ancient Coin Collection (Heilborn 1882). Th e entire collec- tion was acquired at a sale from the Bukowski auction house in Stockholm by the Swedish-Texan antebellum cattle baron and gilded age banker Swante Magnus Swenson the same year. Together with many other coins and various prehistoric objects acquired in Sweden, the Stiernstedt Ancient Coin Collec- tion was donated by Swenson in 1891 to the State of Texas under the name of the Swenson Collection. Th e Stiernstedt Ancient Coin Collection is currently kept at the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History at the University of Texas at Austin. Th e study concludes with a catalogue of the 33 solidi. In the commentary, I have tried to identify and recontextualize the solidi by compar- ing them to recorded hoards from Scandinavia and the European Continent as well as unprovenanced solidi in Swedish and European collections. KEYWORDS Late Roman Empire; Scandinavian Migration Period; Roman Solidus; Wilhelm August Stiernstedt; Coin collection; 19th century antiquarianism; Scandinavian Archaeology; Late Roman and Early Byzantine Numismatics Svante Fischer The Late Roman and Early Byzantine Solidi of the Stiernstedt Ancient Coin Collection Introduction Th is study concludes a research project fi nanced by a 2018 grant from the Berit Wallenberg Foundation. 1 Th e purpose of this research project was to document and publish a number of solidi that were acquired in the late nineteenth century by Baron August Wilhelm Stiernstedt (1812–1880) (see Fig 1, Table 1). Th e solidi were included in his Stiernstedt Ancient Coin Collection, which is currently kept at the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History at the University of Texas at Austin. Fig 1. August Wilhelm Stiernstedt. Photograph courtesy of Riksarkivet. 1 Th e research project has also been supported by the Gunnar Ekström Foundation for Numismatic Research, Th e Sven Svensson Numismatic Foundation, the Swedish Society for Ancient Monuments, the Dolph Briscoe Center and the Department of Classics of the University of Texas at Austin. I wish to thank D. Alex Walthall and Ingrid Edlund-Berry of the Department of Classics, and Stephanie P. Malmros of the Dolph Briscoe Center. I am also much indebted to the helpful staff of the Dolph Briscoe Center for their generous assistance and stoic patience. 3 Table 1. Solidi in the Stiernstedt Ancient Coin Collection issued 394-565. Inv. # Page Fig, Plate RIC X/MIB Date (from) Date (to) Ruler Mintmark Mint Diam. (max) Weight (g) Die-axis 2400-2165 36 Fig 17a-b, VI X 506 451 455 Valentinian III CONOB Constantinople 20 4,43 6 4 2400-2187 28 Fig 6a-b, Pl II X 1287 402 412 Honorius RV Ravenna 20,09 4,51 12 2400-2188 28 Fig 4a-b, Pl I X 1206 394 395 Honorius MD Milan 21,35 4,43 12 2400-2189 28 Fig 5a-b, Pl II X 1206 394 395 Honorius MD Milan 21,01 4,39 11 2400-2208 32 Fig 11a-b, Pl IV X 2021 426 430 Galla Placidia RV Ravenna 22,86 5,16 5 2400-2209 33 Fig 13a-b, Pl IV X 2005 425 455 Valentinian III RM Rome 21,9 4,39 6 2400-2210 33 Fig 12a-b, Pl IV X 2018 430 440 Valentinian III RV Ravenna 20,49 4,45 6 2400-2212 34 Fig 14a-b, Pl V X 3711 425 ? Valentinian III IMITATION, RV Gaul? 21,48 4,41 5 2400-2211 35 Fig 15a-b, Pl V X 3711 425 ? Valentinian III IMITATION, RV Gaul? 21,26 4,36 12 2400-2213 35 Fig 16a-b, Pl V X 287 441 447 Valentinian III CONOB Constantinople 21,95 4,41 6 2400-2215 41 Fig 25a-b, Pl VIII X 2816 468 472 Anthemius COMOB Rome 21,58 4,4 5 2400-2216 42 Fig 26a-b, Pl IX X 3212 474 477 Julius Nepos RV Ravenna 19,7 4,45 6 2400-2233 27 Fig 3a-b, Pl I X 1205 394 402 Arcadius MD Milan 21,19 4,44 12 2400-2247 31 Fig 10a-b, Pl III X 292 441 447 Thedosius II CONOB Constantinople 21,98 4,4 6 2400-2248 29 Fig 7a-b, Pl II X 27 402 408 Thedosius II CONOB, Beta Constantinople 20,64 4,45 5 2400-2249 30 Fig 8a-b, Pl III X 202 408 420 Thedosius II CONOB, Sigma Constantinople 20,95 4,42 7 2400-2250 30 Fig 9a-b, Pl III X 257 431 434 Thedosius II CONOB, Gamma Constantinople 20,79 4,28 6 2400-2255 37 Fig 18a-b, Pl VI X 510 451 456 Marcian CONOB, Gamma Constantinople 21,18 4,42 6 2400-2256 38 Fig 19a-b, Pl VI X 510 451 456 Marcian CONOB Constantinople 19,5 4,4 6 2400-2258 39 Fig 20a-b, Pl VII X 605 462 466 Leo I CONOB, Beta Constantinople 20,07 4,46 6 2400-2259 39 Fig 21a-b, Pl VII X 605 462 466 Leo I CONOB, Gamma Constantinople 20,39 4,35 5 2400-2260 39 Fig 22a-b, Pl VII X 605 462 466 Leo I CONOB, Theta Constantinople 20,47 4,19 5 2400-2261 39 Fig 23a-b, Pl VIII X 605 462 466 Leo I CONOB, Heta Constantinople 20 4,45 6 2400-2262 40 Fig 24a-b, Pl VIII X 616 457 472 Leo I THSOB Thessalonica 21,02 4,36 6 2400-2264 43 Fig 28a-b, Pl IX X 929 474 491 Zeno CONOB, Delta Constantinople 20,24 4,48 6 2400-2265 44 Fig 29a-b, Pl X X 930 474 491 Zeno CONOB; Epsilon Constantinople 20,51 4,44 6 2400-2266 43 Fig 27a-b, Pl IX X 3627 474 491 Zeno COMOB, RV Ravenna 20,31 4,44 6 2400-2267 44 Fig 30a-b, Pl X X 930 474 491 Zeno CONOB, Sigma Constantinople 20,25 4,48 7 2400-2268 44 Fig 31a-b, Pl X X 929 474 491 Zeno CONOB, Iota Constantinople 20,28 4,44 6 2400-2269 44 Fig 32a-b, Pl XI X 929 474 491 Zeno CONOB, Iota Constantinople 19,6 4,44 6 2400-2270 45 Fig 33a-b, Pl XI – 491 ? Anastasius IMITATION Gotland? 22,27 4,4 6 2400-2271 45 Fig 34a-b, Pl XI – 491 ? Anastasius IMITATION Gaul? 21,46 4,42 6 2400-2288 47 Fig 35a-b, Pl XII MIB 74 535 565 Justinian CONOB Constantinople 20,98 4,36 6 2400-2289 47 Fig 36a-b, Pl XII – 527 ? Justinian COMOB Italy? 19 4,28 6 In 1849, Stiernstedt sent a solidus to the Swedish National Board of Antiquities, Riksantikvarieämbetet (RAÄ). It was struck for Constantine II in Aquileia (see Fig 2, p 53, Plate I). The coin was found by the farmstead of Ella near the lake Klämmingen in Gåsinge parish, Södermanland in the fall of 1848 by farmhands during potato harvest. It was acquired by the Swedish History Museum (SHM) and given the inventory number SHM 1500. It remains a highly unusual find as most such coins are found in hoards. The rationale behind the research project was to verify a lingering suspicion that at least some of the solidi kept at the University of Texas had been found in Sweden, too. This proved to be the case. The solidi must be regarded as decontextualized artifacts that have been deliberately stripped of a major part of their historical narrative. It must be emphasized that collecting coins in nineteenth century Sweden was an ambivalent process where people were aware that finds should be reported but coins were considered far more important than archaeological finds. This paper aims to restore context to the solidi. But in order return an archaeological value to the coins, the Stiernstedt Ancient Coin Collection cannot be understood in isolation but must be integrated in a wider analysis. The solidi constitute unexplored new source material from the Scandinavian Migration Period. They have to be recontextualized in much larger studies. To do so, one must first publish an updated catalogue of the solidi. An initial obstacle for the research project was the fact that this very important coin collection has never been studied in any detail until recently. For a brief history of the collection from a Texan perspective, see King (1965), Kroll (1978); for a general numismatic description, see Castellano (2018a, 2018b).
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