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COINS: CORINTH EXCAVATIONS, 1977, FORUM SOUTHWEST (PLATE48) D URING THE 1977 SEASON, excavation took place in the southwest corner of the Forum of Ancient Corinth. Results of that work have been describedas a whole by Charles K. Williams, II, Director of Corinth Excavations, in Hesperia, Volume 47.1 The C. K. Williams, II, "Corinth 1977, Forum Southwest,"Hesperia 47, 1978, pp. 1-39. For previous reports, see idem, "Corinth 1976: Forum Southwest,"Hesperia 46, 1977, pp. 40-81; J. E. Fisher, "Coins:Corinth Excavations, 1976, Forum Southwest,"Hesperia 49, 1980, pp. 1-29; Williams and Fisher, "Corinth,1975: Forum Southwest,"Hesperia 45, 1976, pp. 99-162. The following abbreviationsare used here in addition to those listed in AJA 82, 1978, pp. 3-8: Agora II = M. Thompson, The Athenian Agora, II, Coins from the Roman through the Venetian Period, Princeton 1954 Antioch IV = G. C. Miles, "IslamicCoins," Antioch-on-the-Orontes IV, i, Princeton 1948 Asyut Hoard = M. Price and N. Waggoner, Archaic Greek Coinage, The Asyut Hoard, London 1975 Babelon, Tr. II = E. Babelon, Traite des monnaiesgrecques et romainesII, Bologna 1910 Bibl. Nat. I = C. Morrisson, Cataloguedes monnaies byzantinesde la BibliothequeNationale, I, d'Ana- (Byz.) stase Ier a Justinien II (A.D. 491-71 1), Paris 1970 BMC = A Catalogueof Greek Coins in the British Museum, London 1873- BMCRE = H. Mattingly, Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum, London 1923- BMC, Wroth = W. Wroth, Catalogue of the Coins of the Vandals, Ostrogothsand Lombards,and the Empires of Thessalonica,Nicaea and Trebizond,in the British Museum, London 1911 Cohen = H. Cohen, Description historiquedes monnaiesfrappeessous l'empire romaine,commune- ment appellees Medailles Imperiales IV, London 1884 CopSNG = SNG, Copenhagen, 1944 DO = Catalogueof the Byzantine Coins in the DumbartonOaks Collectionand the Whittemore Collection,A. R. Bellinger and P. Grierson, edd., Washington, D.C. 1966- Ed. or Edwards = K. M. Edwards, Corinth,VI, Coins 1896-1929, Cambridge,Mass. 1933 EvelpSNG = SNG Grece:Collection Rena H. Evelpidis II, Louvain 1975 Fox = H. B. E. Fox, "The Duoviri of Corinth,"JIAN 2, 1899, pp. 89-116 Hendy = M. F. Hendy, Coinage and Money in the Byzantine Empire, 1081-1261, Dumbarton Oaks 1969 Hill (LRBC) = R. V. Hill, J. P. C. Kent, R. A. G. Carson, Late Roman Bronze Coinage,A.D. 324-498, London 1960 Hunter. = Catalogueof Greek Coins in the Hunterian Collection,Glasgow 1901 JIAN = Journal international d'archeologienumismatique (J. N. Svoronos, ed.), Athens 1898- 1927 Mionnet = T. E. Mionnet, Description de medaillesantiques grecques et romaines,Paris 1807-1813; and Supplement, Paris 1819-1837 MN = Museum Notes (American Numismatic Society), New York NNM = Numismatic Notes and Monographs (American Numismatic Society), New York Reinach, = Recueil gene'raldes monnaiesgrecques d'Asie Mineure I, iii, T. Reinach, E. Babelon, W. Rec. I, iii H. Waddington, edd., Paris 1910 RIC = The Roman Imperial Coinage, H. Mattingly, E. A. Sydenham, C. H. V. Sutherland, R. A. G. Carson, edd., London 1923-1967 SNG = Sylloge Nummorum Graecorum Svor. = J. N. Svoronos,Ta volo-rlara Tro KparovsrcT TIroAep.alwv,v Athens 1904-1905 American School of Classical Studies at Athens is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve, and extend access to Hesperia ® www.jstor.org 218 JOAN E. FISHER present report deals with the coins found during that season and serves as a supplement to Williams' account.2As in past reports, the appended catalogue recordsall the legible spec- imens, which amounted to a total of 587 coins. Some bulk counts are given, at the end of sections, of coins which were too badly preservedfor detailed entry, yet were evidence of a certain period. A stratigraphic list is also included. Before cleaning, about 1,210 coinlike items were entered in a field count of finds from the Forum Southwest for the 1977 season. Of that number around 420 appeared to be Roman, with more than 225 each Greek and Byzantine. Twelve coins were clean enough right from the soil to be identified as Ostro- gothic, as were 4 Frankish deniers, 1 Seljuq bronze, and 1 Greek five-lepta coin of 1848. The rest are still uncertain. Unusual coin accumulationsappeared in two areas: one in the overlapping Greek and Roman roads that lie just west of the South Stoa and another in the Byzantine metal-work- ing complex that borderedthis same thoroughfarein later times.3Glimpses of bronze in the hard-packedlevels of the Greek road promised a rich harvest of coins of late Classical and Hellenistic times; unfortunately,nearly all of them were encasedin crushedporos and were severely compressed by long, heavy use of the road. Weeks in the laboratory were spent freeing coins from countless, iron-hard clumps of coarse gravel. Many coins dissolved or fragmented in the process; others stayed fused together in hopeless lumps. Coins in the Roman roadway fared a little better, as many had fallen into cracksbetween the handsome paving slabs and thus were somewhat protected.Seven deposits accumulatedin pits in the road itself. At the Byzantine metal-working area many scoriae, tacks, buttons, and other round objects were found along with coins. Consequently, there were fewer numismatic additions to the collection than had been hoped, but the final count, by and large, kept the proportionsshown in the field tally, with Roman coins a solid majority,Greek and Byzan- tine next, and a few later coins to complete the picture.4 Generally speaking, the finds were all of known types. Minor variations occurredbut nothing significant such as new issues, magistrates, or symbols. In the largest section (Ro- man), the majority of the coins were from the mid-4th to the early 5th centuries. Con- stantius II (A.D. 337-361), Arcadius (A.D. 383-408), and Theodosius I (A.D. 379-395) were, in that order, the emperors most frequently represented. Many more of these coins, how- ever, were road damaged so that counts based on a certain emperor are a matter of chance 2 It is my pleasure and privilege to acknowledgewith gratitudethe unfailing help of the Corinth staff, most particularly that of Charles K. Williams, Director, Nancy Bookidis, Secretaryof the Excavations, and Stella Bouzaki, Conservator.I. Ioannidou and L. Bartzioti, photographers,deserve much recognitionfor their pa- tience and skill, as do members of the laboratoryteam, N. Didaskalou, A. Papaioannou, and G. Arberores. Continuing thanks go to Mando Oeconomides,of the National Museum at Athens, and to Nancy Waggoner and Francis D. Campbell, of the American Numismatic Society at New York City. 3 Jr., Cf. Williams, Hesperia 47, pp. 12-15, for Classical and Hellenistic roads and drains; pp. 24-25, for early Roman road; pp. 27-28, for paved Roman road of later date; pp. 29-33, for metal-working area and Byzantine buildings. 4 1977 final count: Greek Roman Byzantine Frankish Other 243 433 182 4 2 For field tallies and their attrition, see JA.A.Dengate, "Coin Hoards from the Gymnasium at Corinth," Hesperia 50, 1981, p. 155, note 16. COINS: CORINTH EXCAVATIONS, 1977 219 preservation,rather than an accurate picture of mint activity or trade. The same applies to the next strongest Roman group, the 5th-to-6th-centuryminimi. Happily, a concentration of Ostrogothicbronzes (Baduila, A.D. 541-552) survivedamongst a myriad of tiny illegibles. Next largest, the Greek section was similar to those of recent years: the finds were mostly autonomous issues from the Peloponnese. Once again, Corinth and Sikyon were the mints most commonly found. Corinthian Pegasos/Tridents were abundant, her Duoviri less so. Greek Imperials were scarce. No Greek coins were identified as coming from the West; a mere six representedthe East. The Byzantine section was strongestin 1 th-to- 2th-century coins, especially the later Anonymous Issues and, as usual, the strikings of Manuel I (A.D. 1143-1180). Finally, modern surface levels and a disturbed road fill produced the Frankish and Seljuq pieces. Five Greek silvers shown on Plate 48 are well-known fractions:a diobol (No. 1) and a drachm (No. 2) from Corinth, two hemidrachms (Nos. 103, 119) from the Aitolian and Achaian Leagues respectively, a tetrobol (No. 108) from Histiaia. Only the tetrobol is in relatively good condition although all appear for e record. The Achaian League hemi- drachm, similar to no. 555 of the Agrinion Hoard, can be identified as a late striking (160- 150 B.C.) from Patras while the Aitolian League hemidrachm,duplicate of Agrinion 617, is dated ca. 196-146 B.C.5On the other hand, the poor condition of both the drachm and the diobol from Corinth (4th century B.C.)precludes identificationof the die. A more unusual find (No. 114) from under the 5th-century B.C. floor of the Punic Amphora Building is the Turtle/Incuse stater from Aigina. Despite crystallizationof all surfaces and disappearance of some details, such as dots on the shell of the turtle, the obverse still shows a wide-necked turtle with a "thick"collar and the reverse, a defective five-segmentedincuse. This design probably belongs to a design transition between the earlier "Union Jack" reverses and the later "Windmill"or four-segmentedincuses. The worn, defective reverse die with the five segments, together with the "heavy"-collarobverse design argues, in terms of the Asyut Hoard, for placing our specimen late in Group III, dated ca. 500/490-480 B.C. in a fine study of internal and hoard evidence by Drs. Martin J. Price and Nancy M. Waggoner.6 Turning to Greek bronzes, two late Corinthian pieces deserve mention. The first (No. 85), an Octavius-Licinus Duovir struck under Claudius (A.D. 41-54) was known to Fox7 but without the ethnic COR on the reverse;also, on our obversethe Claudius head faces right.
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