REVUE BELGE DE NUMISMATIQUE ET DE SIGILLOGRAPHIE BELGISCH TIJDSCHRIFT VOOR NlTMISMATIEI( EN ZEGELI(IJNDE PUBLIÉE UI1'GEGEVEN SOllS LE HAllT PATRONAGE ONDER DE HOGE BESCHERMING DE S. M. LE ROI VAN Z. M. DE KONING PAR LA DOOR HET SOCIÉTÉ ROYALE KONINKLIJK BELGISCH DE NUMISMATIQUE DE BELGIQUE GENOOTSCIIAP VOOR NUMISMATIEK Directeurs GHISLAINE MOUCI-IARTE, PIERRE COCKSHAW, FRANÇOIS DE CALLATAY et JOHAN VAN HEESCH CXLVIII - 2002 BRUXELLES BRUSSEL GIJS DE GREEF (*) ROMAN COIN HOARDS AND GERMANIe INVASIONS AD 253·269. A STUDY OF THE WESTERN HOARDS FROM THE REIGNS OF VALERIAN, GALLIENUS AND POSTUMUS C) Introduction A lamanni, oastaiis Galliis, in ltaliam penelraueruni. Dacia, quae a Traiano ultra Danubium [ueral adiecia, amissa est. Graecia, Macedonia, Pontus, Asta, oasiaia est per Gothos. Pannonia a Sarmatis Quadisque popu­ lata est. Germani usque ad Hispanias peneiraoeruni et cioitaiem nobilem Tarraconem expugnaverunl. Parihi, Mesopolamia occupata, Syriam sibi coe­ perunl nitulicare. Eutropius, Breuiarutn, IX, 8 With these dramatic words Eutropius and other Roman authors de­ scrîbed the events, which took place under the reign of the emperors Va­ lerian (253-260), Gallienus (253-268) and Postumus (260-269). However, the nature, the ehronologîeal and geographical spread and the impact of these invasions remain mostly unknown. The combined evidenee of texts, epigraphy, numismatics and archaeology has been proven incapable of solvîng these problems. This is why, from the beginning of the 20th cen­ tury, many scholars have sought a link between the Germanie invasions and the hundreds of coin hoards from this period which have been found ail over Europe e). This, in sorne cases aIl to automatically supposed, Iink between hoard and invasion has been severely critized over the last (*) Gijs DE GREEF, Kloosterstraat 58, B-3150 Haacht. e-mail: [email protected] (1) This article is a résumé of my masters thesis Romeinse munLschatlen en Germaanse invallen 253-269 n.C. Een stuâie van de weslerse schaluondsien uit de regeerperiode van Valerian us, Gallienus en Postumus, presented at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in June 1999. Promotors were S. Scheers and J. van Heesch. (2) The most important publications in this view are: A. BLANCHET, Les trésors de monnaies romaines et les invasions germaniques en Gaule, Paris, 1900; A. BLANCHET, Les rapports entre les dépôts monétaires el les éoénemenis militaires, politiques el économi­ ques, in RN, s. 4, :39, 1936, p. 1-70 and p. 205-270; H. KOETHE, Zur Geschiclile Galliens im dritten Viertel des 3. Jahrhutuieris, in BRGI(, 32, 1942 (1950), p. 199-224; P. VAN GANSBEKE, Les invasions germaniques en Gaule sous le règne de Poslume (259-268) et le /émoignage des monnaies, in RBN, 98, 1952. p. 5-30; É. DEMOUGEOT, La {ormation de l'Europe el les invasions barbares. J. Des origines germaniques à l'avènement de Dioclétien, Paris, 1969, p. 463-507 and D. GRICOURT, Les invasions de pirates de 268 en Gaule sep­ tentrionale et leurs incidences sur la poliLique de Postume, in TM, 10, 1988, p. 9-43. 42 GIJS DE GREEF decennia C). Remarkable is that bath « believers » as « non-believers ) have based their arguments on very fragmentated and incomplete evi­ dence sirice no catalogues or maps including ail hoards from the period 253-269 existed. The map of H. Koethe is now completely out of date and offers no precise dating. No recent catalogue with the hoards of the joint reign of Valerian and Gallienus exist while J. Lafaurie's map of hoards of silver coinage ending on Postumus includes no more than 77 finds. Only the hoards of bronze coinage have recently been published by D. Bollard C). Therefore a catalogue of a1l coin hoards with a terminus post quem un­ der Valerian, Gallienus and Postumus or ending with coins of the con­ temporary usurpators Ingenuus, Regalianus, Marcianus, Quietus, Aureolus and Laelianus was made. The area covered is Western Europe or the states of Belgium, Germany, France, Luxemburg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain. the UK and Switzerland ("). This resulted in a list of 767 hoards ending with a coin struck between 253 and 269. Belgium 102 Portugal 4 Gerrnany 46 Spain 19 France 533 UK 35 Luxemburg 11 Switzerland 13 Netherlands 4 TOTAL 767 Table 1. Number of coin hoards with a Lerminus between AD 253-269. These are strikingly large numbers, not only in absolute but also in relative terms. If we study the publications of the Corpus des trésors mo­ nétaires antiques de la France (TAF), we find that hoards from the period 253-269 represent sorne 10 % of aIl the ancient hoards found in regîons like Aquitaine, Pays de la Loire or Poitou-Charentes but 25 % in Picar­ die and ca. 34 °tfo in the region Nord-Pas-de-Calais (in Belgium they con­ stitute sorne 20 % of aIl hoards). It is somewhat surprising ta find out that a relative insignificant period of 16 years can deliver up to a third of ail ancient hoards (including sorne 5 centuries of Roman reign). And (3) Sorne principal skeptics are: R. REECE, Coinage and Currency in the Third Centu­ l'y, in A. KING and M. HENIG (eds), The Roman West in the Third CenLury, Coniribu­ lions {rom Archaeology and History (Bar International Series, 109). l , Oxford, 1981, p. 79-88; J.P.C. KENT, lnlerpreiinç Coin-Finds, in J. CASEY and R. REECE (eds), Coins and the Archaeolcqisl, London, 1988, p. 201-217 and R. DELMAIRE, Les enfouissements monétaires. lémoignages d'insécuritéi, in ReuNord. 77, 31:i. 1995, p. 21-26. (4) H. KOETHE, op. cil. (n. 2), p. 199-224; J. LAFAURIE, L'Empire gaulois. Apport de la numismatique; in ANRW, II, Principal, 2, 1975, p. 853-1012 and O. HOLLARD, La lhésaurisoiion du monnayage de bronze de Poslume: structure et chronologie des dépôts, in TM, 13, 1992, p. 72-105. (5) The Italian hoards are not included in this study, for the depots of northern Ita­ ly, see L. O({AMURA, Hourds Los' during Third-Cenfury <l Wirren », in E. SCHALLMAYER (ed.), Niederbieber, Postumus und der Limesîall. Slalionen eines polilischen Prozesses. Be­ richl des erslen Saalburgkolloquiums, Bad-Hornburg, 1996, p. 37. ROMAN COIN BOARDS AND GERMANIC INVASIONS AD 253-269 4·3 this while in other prosperous and densely populated regions hoards with a terminus between 253 and 269 are very rare (for example: only 4 in the Provence and relatively small numbers for Spain, Portugal and Britain). Within this mass of hoards there are however large geographical and chronological differences, as can he seen on fig. 1 and 2 for the periods 253-260 and 260-269 and on fig. 3 to 9 for the various sub periods. How can these obvious differences be explained? For exarnple, why does fig. 1 and 5 show us a large concentration of hoards in the Rhône-Saône region around 259-260 but not under the reign of Postumus? On the following pages we will try to find an answer to this question by proposing several hypothetical causes. As we will see, only the Germanie invasion-hypoth­ esis is able to give us a aU-embracing answer to the presence of geogra­ phical and chronological concentrations of our hoards (6). Interpreting the coin hoards 1) Basic conditions In 1981 R. Reece wrote : « If the coin hoards are to act as an indicator of unrest then it must be shown: a) that in the surrounding areas ai the same date ihere is an absence of similar hoards, b) iluü in the same arca at differ­ enL dates, but when sitnilar coins were in circulation, ihere is an absence of similar hoards. » C). A quick look at our maps shows that both conditions are met. The large differences in hoard-density between the different re­ gions and countries has already been pointed out, while the Rhône-Saône region is a beautiful example of the second condition: lots of hoards in 259-260 and very few under Postumus. 2) The influence of usurpations on hoarding Western Europe only knew 3 usurpations in the period 253-269: those of Postumus (june-july 260), of Laelianus (june-july 269) and of Marius (july-septernber 269) C). The latter usurpation plays no part here because (6) Remark that the ernphasis lies on concentrations of hoards and not on the hoards individually. We are looking for a theory that can explain the hiding and non-recupe­ ration of concentrations of hoards. This does not automatically mean that the theory can be applied ta ail individual hoards. When we conclude that Germanie invasions were the cause of this flood of coin boards it's obvious that we can't (or even shouldn't) involve every coin hoard in our analysis of the date and location of the invasions and raids as sorne authors have the habit ta do (e.g. Demougeot). (7) R. REECE, op. cil. (n. 3), p. 85. (8) We follow the chronology for the reigns of Valerian, Gallienus and Postumus as descrived by M. CHRISTOL, L'Empire romain du Ilr siècle. Histoire politique de 192, mort de Commodus, à 325, concile de Nicée, Paris, 1997. This publication cao also be used as an overall guide for this period or in arder to retrieve the references to the various Iitterary, epigraphical, ... sources. These cao also be found in X. LORIOT and D. NONV, La crise de l'Empire romain 235-285. Paris, 1997. 44 GIJS DE GREEF Fig. 1. Survey of ail coin hoards with a terminus post quem during the joint reign of Valerian and Gallienus (AD 253-260). ROMAN COIN HOARDS AND GERMANIC INVASIONS AD 253-269 45 Fig. 2. Survey of all coin hoards with a Lerminus post quem during the reign of Postu­ mus or the sole reign of Gallienus (AD 260-269).