REPORT ON ROMAN REPUBLICAN AND ROMAN IMPERIAL COINS Prepared on behalf of the International Association of Professional Numismatists for the United States Cultural Property Advisory Committee June 26, 2020 Roman Republican Coin Finds Beyond the Borders of the Italian Republic Definition The term “Roman Republican coinage” refers to gold, silver and bronze coins struck between c. 326 BC, the accepted date of the first Romano-Campanian bronze issue naming the Romans in Greek script, and 27 BC, the year in which Octavian assumed broad constitutional powers and the title Augustus, an act that established him as the first Roman Emperor. Mints and Bullion Sources The primary mint of the Roman Republic was located in the Temple of Juno Moneta at Rome, where vast quantities of metal derived from sources outside Italy, such as plunder, indemnities on defeated enemies, taxes imposed on conquered cities and peoples, and the mines of Spain were struck into coin.1 According to Plutarch’s Life of Pompey (45.3) in the year 60 BC alone, the value of silver brought to Rome from these provincial sources amounted to some 85 million denarii (roughly equivalent to 316 US tons). Metallurgical analyses show that before the late second century, Roman Republican denarii are composed primarily of silver with isotope signatures linking them to sources in Asia Minor.2 All of this raises a real moral conundrum even before questions of extra-Italian circulation and find evidence are considered. Since the metal for Roman Republican coins largely comes from sources outside of Italy—most commonly by looting and coercion—and can be shown through scientific means to have come from specific sources, who should the coins belong to? International law (Article 8 of the Statute of the International Criminal Court) condemns wartime looting as a crime and whenever possible would seek to restore looted property to its rightful owner. Taking this into account it seems very much unclear whether Roman Republican coins that can be shown to have been produced from plundered bullion should belong to the modern Republic of Italy simply because this foreign metal was melted down and struck into coins at Rome. Surely at least an equal (and arguably morally superior) claim to rights over these coins should belong to modern states like Spain and Turkey since it was from their ancient peoples and territories that the Romans looted the metal for their production. It is also important to be aware that while the mint of Rome was the main mint for the Roman Republic, several Republican issues are known or believed by scholars to have been struck at mints located outside the territorial limits of the Republic of Italy. In many cases these are thought to have been military mints moving with Roman commanders 1 M. J. Taylor, “State Finance in the Middle Roman Republic: A Reevaluation,” American Journal of Philology 138.1 (2017), 160-166. 2 W. Hollstein, ed. Metallanalytische Untersuchungen an Münzen der römischen Republik (Berlin: Gebr. Mann., 2000), 122-123. 2 striking coins from plundered bullion in order to pay their legions. Table 1 lists mints of Roman Republican coins known ore believed to have been located in eight modern countries outside of Italy. It is unclear how such coins can be considered Italian cultural property when they were produced outside of Italy, using locally obtained bullion (via plunder, taxes, etc.), and possibly even local manpower to cast the flans and strike the coins. Table 1: Roman Republican Mints outside of Italy Country Mint Name Date RRC Spain Spain 211 BC 96/1 Greece Greece 196 548/1a-1b Turkey Laodicea-ad-Lycum? 88 BC? 550/1-3c Greece, Turkey Mint moving with Sulla in the East 84-83 BC 359/1-2 France Massalia 82 BC 365/1a-1c Spain Spain 82-81 BC 366/1a-4 Spain? Perhaps Spain 76-75 BC 393/1a-1b Turkey Antioch? 59 BC? 549/1 Albania, Turkey Apollonia, then Asia 49 BC 445/1a-3b Spain Mint moving with Pompey 49 BC 446/1-447/1b Tunisia, Algeria, Libya Africa 47-46 BC 458/1-462/2 Spain Spain 46-45 BC 468/1-471/1 Spain Spain 45-44 BC 478/1a-1b Spain Spain 45 BC onwards 479/1 France Gallia Transalpina and Cisalpina 43 BC 488/1-489/6 Tunisia, Algeria, Libya Africa 42 BC 509/1-5 Greece, Turkey East (mint moving with M. Antonius) 39 BC 527/1-528/2b Greece East (mint moving with Octavian) 39 BC 529/4b Greece, Turkey East 39 BC 531/1a-1b Spain Osca 39 BC 532/1 Greece, Turkey East (mint moving with M. Antonius) 38 BC 533/1-3b Greece, Turkey East (mint moving with M. Antonius) 37 BC 536/1-4 Greece, Turkey East (mint moving with M. Antonius) 36 BC 539/1 Tunisia, Algeria, Libya Africa (mint moving with Octavian) 36 BC 540/1 Greece, Turkey East (mint moving with M. Antonius) 34 BC 541/1-2 Greece, Turkey East (mint moving with M. Antonius) 33 BC 542/1-2 Greece, Turkey East (mint moving with M. Antonius) 32 BC 543/1 Greece, Turkey East (mint moving with M. Antonius) 32-31 BC 544/1-39 Greece, Turkey East (mint moving with M. Antonius) 31 BC 545/1-2 Libya Cyrenaica 31 BC 546/1-8 Finds of Rome Mint Republican Coins outside of Italy The widespread extra-Italian circulation of coins struck by the moneyers and dynasts of the Roman Republic cannot be disputed in light of the data presented in Map 1 and Table 2. Map 1 graphically illustrates the wide dispersal of hoards throughout the United Kingdom, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, based on a search for Republican coins of the Rome mint in the Ashmolean Museum’s online database Coin Hoards of the Roman Empire (http://chre.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/) (the list of precise locations is given in Supplement 1). Table 2a provides the data for 37,571 individual pieces found in hoards and archaeological excavations from 16 different modern states published in the print 3 volumes of Roman Republican Coin Hoards, the online database of Coin Hoards of the Roman Republic (http://numismatics.org/chrr/) Inventory of Greek Coin Hoards, the Coin Hoards series of the Royal Numismatic Society, and major excavation reports with dedicated numismatic sections, the table does not (and cannot) take into account the numerous private finds reported in various media, or unpublished find records from archaeological sites. Therefore it is virtually certain that the real quantity of Roman Republican coins found outside of Italy and is much greater than the table might suggest. The vast majority of the Roman Republican coins found outside of Italy is silver denarii (the most common Roman denomination struck in the republican period) although bronze coins also appear, especially as excavation finds.3 The denarius was the standard coin used to pay the legions and therefore traveled widely throughout the Mediterranean world as the Roman Republic acquired an overseas empire over the course of the third-first centuries BC.4 The prevalence of republican silver as opposed to bronze outside of Italy is explained by the general tendency of pre-imperial Roman bronze coins to circulate close to the place of issue and by the fact that for the majority of the republican period bronze coins were struck in very limited quantities compared to the vast output of denarii.5 Nevertheless, it is worth noting that even the large bronze currency bars known as aes signatum, which one would not expect to find outside of Italy, actually appear hoarded in the Balkans.6 Table 2a: Finds of Rome Mint Republican Coins outside of 3 Greece Hierapytna IGCH 318 200 Greece Hierapytna IGCH 352 1 Greece Lechaena CH VIII 417 1 Greece Vonitsa CH VIII 431 2 Greece Nekromantion CH VIII 530 17 Greece Preveza CH VIII 542 17 Greece Dolj County CH VIII 543 93 Romania Sfintesti IGCH 656 21 Romania Beius IGCH 657 1 Romania Furculesti IGCH 658 100 Greece Cavalla IGCH 660 3 It has been pointed out recently that foreign coins account for more than a quarter of the finds at archaeological sites: F. de Callataÿ, “Greek Coins from Archaeological Excavations: A Conspectus of Conspectuses and a Call for Chronological Tables,” in P. van Alfen (ed.), Agoranomia: Studies in Money and Exchange Presented to John H. Kroll (New York, 2006), pp. 184-185. 4 K. Harl, Coinage in the Roman Economy (Baltimore, 1996), pp. 60-72. 5 O. Mørkholm, Early Hellenistic Coinage (Cambridge, 1991), p. 6; K. Butcher, “Small Change in Ancient Beirut,” Berytus 45-46 (2001-2002), pp. 37-40; M. Crawford, The Roman Republican Coinage (Cambridge, 1974), p. 265. 6 L. Milani, “Aes rude signatum e grave rinvenuto alla Bruna presso Spoleto,” Rivista Italiana Numismatica (1891), pp. 27-116; J. Brunsmid, “Nekoliko nasasca novaca na skupu u Hrvatskoj i Slavoniji,” Viestnik Hrvatskoga arheologoskoga drustv (1896-1897), pp. 3-64; M. von Bahrfeldt, “Der Münzfund von Mazin (Croatien) : Afrikanische und Italische Kupfermünzen, Aes Rude und Signatum,” Berliner Münzblätter 241 (1900), col. 2863-2868. 4 1 Romania Licuriciu CH VII 119 3 Greece Platania IGCH 663 1 Greece Veroia CH VII 97 1 Greece South Macedonia CH VII 102 91 Greece Macedonia CH VII 139 1 Bulgaria Mindja IGCH 664 3 Bulgaria Vetrea CH VII 141 39 Albania Tirane IGCH 665 50 Bulgaria Rodina IGCH 679 2 Bulgaria Kamen IGCH 681 280 Bulgaria Orehovica IGCH 686 338 Bulgaria Kojnare IGCH 687 7 Bulgaria Rasovo IGCH 688 7 Bulgaria Boljarino IGCH 975 36 Bulgaria Belica IGCH 976 12 Bulgaria Nova Maxala IGCH 977 35 Bulgaria Karavelova IGCH 978 4 Bulgaria Korten IGCH 979 89 Bulgaria Ostrov IGCH 980 1 Bulgaria Stracimir CH III 79 6 Bulgaria Calarasi CH IX 273 1 Bulgaria Pernik CH IX 280 3 Bosnia Bosanska KjustendilKrupa CH IX 277 214 Croatia Gracac CH IX 267 136 Algeria Constantine IGCH 2306 3 Morocco Tangier