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The Monetary Reforms of the Romans and the Finds of Roman Denarii in Eastern and Northern Europe

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The Monetary Reforms of the Romans and the Finds of Roman Denarii in Eastern and Northern Europe 135 The Monetary Reforms of the Romans and the Finds of Roman Denarii in Eastern and Northern Europe Lennart Lind Monetary measures undertaken inside the Roman Empire might be responsible for the composition of finds of Roman coins made ontside the Empire. A possible link between the composition of the denari«» finds in Barbarian Europe, on the one hand, and the monetary reforms of Nero (54—68) and Septimius Severus (193—2 I l ), on the other hand, has long been recogniaed. There is however a third Roman monetary reform which has put its imprint on the denorios finds in Central, Eastern and Northern Europe, the one of' Domitian (8 l —96). Lenntirt Littd, Deportment of Clossicol Arcltaeology and Ancient History, Stockholm University, S-106 9I Stockholm, Sweden. About 7,500 Roman dettarii, almost all from however, they cannot compete with later coins, the period 64-200, are known from finds in and they are usually found separately and Sweden (1990). The coins were unearthed form problems of their own (Lind forthcom- mainly on Gotland, which alone accounts for ing). c. 6,500 of the c. 7,500 denarii from Sweden. Most of the denarii found on Gotland are Only c. 1,000 denarii come from other parts of preserved and available for study; their ex- the country, i.e. Öland and the mainland (es- treme degree of wear is believed to prove that pecially Halland and Skåne). As lor the rest of the coins changed hands repeatedly in antiqui- Scandinavia, Denmark has c. 2,000 denarii ty. The denarii from the other parts of Swe- and Norway and Finland almost none (Lind den, as well as those from Denmark, are as a l'orthcoming). rule less worn than those from Gotland. The In Europe outside the limits of what was denarii from the rest of continental Europe, once the It&ti&eriut&t Romanum, Scandinavia outside the limes, are sometimes very worn, excepted, Roman denarii have been found in sometimes in a rather good state of preserva- the northern parts of the Netherlands, in Ger- tion. The dettarii known to have been found in many (FRG and the former GDR), Poland, Denmark are extant to a large degree; of the Czechoslovakia, the former Soviet Union and coins known to have been unearthed in other the "non-Roman" parts of Hungary and Ru- parts of the Continent, however, only a minor mania; Poland and the former Soviet Union part is available for study. enjoy the richest supplies. The Danish and the It has been known for a very long time that European continental material in its entirety monetary measures undertaken inside the show approximately the same composition as Roman Empire, for purely internal reasons, in that of Sweden, i.e. the decisive weight in some way might be responsible for the com- most countries rests on coins struck during the position of finds of Roman coins made outstde period 64—200, from the reign of Nero (54—68) the frontiers ol' the Empire. Already in 1860 to that of Septimius Severus (193—211). All Theodor Mommsen pointed to a possible link the considered countries have coins from the between the composition of the denari us finds period before the year 64. As for their number, in Europe outside the lit&res on the one hand, Current Su'edistt A retroeotogn Vol. I, l WS 136 Len»elrt Litlei and the monetary reform of Nero in the 60s on Gotland are distinguished by the fact that (which reduced the weight and the fineness of they are endowed with a preponderance of the silver coins) and the great debasement of clettelrii from the period of the three Antonine the denarius under Septimius Severus in the rulers (138—192) —Antoninus Pius, Marcus 190s (which diminished the intrinsic value of Aurelius and Commodus —and that the period a coin with one-third) on the other (Mommsen with the second largest store of coins is the 1860:771—774). The relevance of these find- one of Trajan and Hadrian (98—138), i.e. the ings of Mommsen for the material in Sweden, two preceding emperors. The dellelrii from the especially that on Gotland, was shown al- period of Nero to Nerva (54—98), and those ready in 1866 by Hans Hildebrand (1866:60f). from the period of Pertinax to Septimius Severus There is, however, a third Roman monetary (193—211),are almost always (cf. below) very reform which has put its imprint on the denar- few in number, but they are seldom totally ius finds in central, eastern and northern Eu- absent; the earlier group is commonly larger rope. I will come back to this presently. than the latter (cf. below). Most of the larger The written sources from antiquity do not finds on Gotland also contain one or a few have any information (at least not any we can specimens of so-called barbarian imitations. understand) answering the question of when Let us now examine the more important and from where the Roman deltarii found finds in some detail. On Gotland there are their way into the area of what today is Swe- eight hoard» exceeding 200 coins each, i.e. den. As to the general direction of the flow of Lind 1981 nos. 8, 18.43, 44, 53, 62, 63 and 89, the coins from the AIIl2eri21772 R0772e17221172 to and one with somewhat less than 200 coins, present-day Sweden, Gotland included, I think no. 9 (181 coins). Together these nine hoards it is possible to establish it by comparing the make up about two-thirds of the c. 6,500 finds in Sweden with those 1'rom the areas denarii unearthed on Gotland. (One impor- between the former Roman Empire and Swe- tant find on Gotland, Lind 1981 no. 73, has den of today. I will start with a survey of the been disregarded here. ) In the rest of the general situation in Sweden; after that I will country there are only two hoards of corre- deal with the more important finds in some sponding size, both from the southern part of detail, and then compare them to some finds the mainland, Lind 1981 no. 186 (Skåne), and on the European continent. For reasons that no. 190(Halland), respectively, together com- will become obvious, special attention will be prising more than 80% of the dellelrii found in given to the early coins of the hoards. For the Sweden outside Gotland. sake of convenience I will shorten the argu- Telble l shows the contents of these eleven ment by using only the largest, well-described, hoards (Lind 1981 nos. 8, 18, 44 and 62 with continental European hoards. additions from Lind forthcoming) distributed Finds of 1 or 2 deltarii are not very com- in per cent based on emperors' reigns, the mon in Sweden; most coins belong to hoards periods before 98 and after 192 forming but of varying sizes, some consi sting of hundreds one group each, Nero-Nerva and Pertinax- of coins. The character of the Swedish mate- (Septimius) Severus respecti vely. As for gen- rial is such that even if coins of the period uine Roman coins, these hoard» all consist of prior to Nero are almost totally absent, and dettelrii from the period 64—200, with the ex- coins of the period after Septimius Severus ception of a drachma of Lycia with the portrait are very rare, all emperors within the more of Trajan in no. 62 (it is the only one of its kind coin-concentrated span 64—200 are neverthe- found in Sweden and the only Greek Imperial less represented; and what holds for the mate- silver coin found in Scandinavia). As is clear rial as a whole also holds, by and large, for from Telble I all, with the exception of no. 190 individual finds, on Gotland as well as the (Halland), mainly consist of coins from the Swedish mainland. The most important finds fiveemperors Trajan(98 —117),Hadrian(117— Cnrrent Sreedieli A reAneninet, Vnl. I, 1993 T/te Mottetan Refot ms of tlte Rotnatts 137 138), Antoninus Pius (138—161),Marcus Au- interesting, that just about all hoards of 1,000 relius (161—180) and Commodus (180—192), or more reasonably well-described specimens but with the exception of no. 44 (Gotland) listed in my catalogue (nine in all) are made they all also have coins from before 98 as well up essentially of coins from the period of the as after 192; the latter group is missing in no. Antonines (138—192), with the exception of 44. one find from Czechoslovakia (Lind 1981 no. Eight of the nine hoards from Gotland 394) and one from Rumanian Moldavia (Lind show a clear resernblance to one another. The 1981 no. 403; concerning finds in Rumanian biggest portion in each of them, roughly one- Moldavia, see Mihailescu-Birliba 1980).Also third (29.2—34.4 %) falls to Antoninus Pius' worthy of notice is the pattern of geographical reign; and next in line comes Marcus Aure- distribution: five of these finds of 1,000 coins lius, with one-fourth in each hoard (22. 1 —28.0 or rnore. all with a composition rather similar %): then in seven out of eight cases Hadrian, to that of the larger finds on Gotland (cf. with between 15.6 and 21.0% (in the remain- below), have been discovered at geographical ing case, no. 89, Hadrian has only about 10 localities —in present-day Hungary and Po- %). After thi» it is normally Trajan and Com- land —which follow, or are oriented along, a modus which end up in fourth and fifth posi- roughly straight south-north line —a line go- tion, with roughly one-tenth each (6.
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