Moneda Provincia Dacia

MINISTERUL CULTURII SI CULTELOR MWZEUL NATIONAL DE ISTORIE A TRANSILVANIEI ACTA MVSEI NAPOCENSIS 39-40/1 CLUJ^NAPOCA 2002-2003 (2004} 247 Agnes Alfoldy-Gazdac, Cristian Gazdac THE COINAGE "PROVINCIA DACIA"- A COINAGE FOR ONE PROVINCE ONLY? (AD 246-257; For those less familiar, this type of coinage was first issued in AD 246, during the reign of Philip I, when the emperor allowed the province of Dacia to strike its own bronze coinage. This coinage respect the standards of imperial issues, so on the obverse appears the emperor's portrait or one of the members of the imperial family with the legend in Latin and in concordance with the official formulas. On the reverse, always appears the legend PROVINCIA DACIA, sometimes the words are split following the distribution of the image in the field. In exergue is inscribed the year of minting under the formula AN I - XI. The image depicted represents the personification of the province of Dacia, standing or seating between the two symbols of the legions from Dacia: an eagle with a wreath in his beak and a lion. The female can hold either two standards inscribed "V" and "XIII" (the legions 5th Macedonica from Potaissa -today Turda and 13th Gemlna from Apulum -today Alba lulia, Romania); a phalx (the Dacian sword); or an olive branch and a standard inscribed "DP {Dacia felix). Fig. 1. A coin "PROVINCIA DACIA". Although it was struck in a province this coinage, made of bronze only, was minted according to the official bronze denominational system of the imperial mint: sestertius, dupondius and as. This coinage is not unique. A very close analogy can be seen in the bronze coinage minted at Viminacium (today Kostolac) in Moesia Superior (today Serbia) started from AD 239 until AD 2S4-2552. The very close resemblance between these two coinages has made some authors to consider that actually the coinage "PROVINCIA DACIA" was minted at Viminacium, as well.3 The minting of official denominations also in a province at the same time with those from Rome is known for earlier emperors. For example, the Britannia asses have been assumed to be produced in Britain, since they are found mainly there4 but 'there was no 1 For a detailed description about this coinage see F. Martin: Kolonialpragungen aus Moesia Superior und Dacia, Budapest-Bonn 1 992, passim; A. Alfdldy-Gazdac, and C. Gazdac: The coinage "Provincia Dacia", Cluj-Napoca 2004, (forthcoming). 2F. Martin (n. 1), 21. 3 For the discussions on the location of the mint that issued the coinage "PROVINCIA DACIA" see Ardevan, R.: Monetaria provinciala de la Sarmizegetusa, in BSNR 86-87, 1992-1993, 117-122; A. Alfoldy: Circulatia monedelorde tip PROVINCIA DACIA fn Dacia romana, B.A. thesis, Cluj-Napoca 2002. 1 9ff; A. Alfdldy-Gazdac, C. Gazdac (n. 1). 4 D. Walker: Roman Coins from the Sacred Spring at Bath. The Temple of Sulis Minerva at Bath. 0. Fnds from the Sacred Spring, Oxford 1 988, 296-297. 248 Agnes Alfoldy-Gazdac, Cristian Gazdac Fig. 2. Denominations of coinage "PROVINCIA DACIA": sestertius, dupondius, as. Fig. 3. Sestertius of Viminacium Sestertius of "PROVINCIA DACIA". apparent shortage of supply, and local, barbarous imitations of second century bronze are comparatively rare'.5 As an argument that the coinage "PROVINCIA DACIA" was directly related to the imperial monetary policy is the fact that the denominations of this coinage followed the same pattern of debasement as those minted at Rome did: a.) the smaller denominations (dupondius, as) were getting more and more scarcely due to the strong devaluation of the Roman monetary system, especially the silver coinage, which implied the pull out of the smaller bronze denomination; 0.86 9S.83- 75.65 1 Dnpiijldius AN I (246-247) AN II (247-24S) AN ITT (248-249) v=aI Fig. 4. Proportions of denominations for coin finds "PROVINCIA DACIA" in Roman Dacia. 5D. Wigg; Coin supply and the Roman army, in Roman Frontier Studies 1 995. Proceedings of the XVIth Internationa! Congress of Roman Frontier Studies (eds. W. van Waateringe, B. van Beek, W. Willems, S. Wynia), Oxford 1997, 287. THE COINAGE "PROVINCIA DACIA" - A COINAGE FOR ONE PROVINCE ONLY? 249 E 25 19.83 "scsirjrdus dnpondius AN I AN II ANW AW IBI AN V AN VI AN VII AM VI!I AN IX AN X AN XI 246-247 247-248 246-249 249-250 250-251 251-252 252-253 253-254 254-255 2SS-25G 256-257 Year Of issue Fig. 5. Average diameter fluctuation of the coinage "PROVINCIA DACIA". 16 * 14 12 -sestertius dupnitdius AN I AN II AN III AN 1III AN V AN VI AN VH AN VIII AN IX AN X AN XI 2.1(i-247 247-248 248-245 249-250 250-251 251-252 252-253 253-254 254-255 255-256 256-257 Fig. 6. Average weight fluctuation of the coinage "PROVINCIA DACIA".6 b.) the sestertius, is following the same tricky pattern: the diameter kept almost the same size while the weight was decreasing. In Dacia such coinage was found at almost all the Roman sites which underwent researches and their existence did not stop before the reign of Philip I. Normally, such coins were also found by chance (see Map 1). As it has been demonstrated, the quantity of coins recovered depends on the extent and quality of excavation and the nature of the site.7 So far, the Roman sites from Dacia make no exception from this rule. The largest quantity of such coinage is coming from the site of Apulum (today Alba lulia) where in the Roman period were two towns (Colonia Aurelia Apulensis and Colonia Nova Apulensis) and a legionary fortress (the 1 3th Gemina). It is followed by two other big sites Porolissum (today Moigrad) and Potaissa (today Turda) both Roman towns and military garrisons. They are followed by other sites which underwent systematic excavations. Of 6 It must be mentioned that the lack of any value for the average diameter and weight for year 6th of minting (AD Z51-252) is due to the way of publication of the two coins "PROVINCIA DACIA" minted in this year found so far, F. Martin (n. 1), 101. 7 Ch. Howgego: The Supply and Use of Money in the Roman World ZOO BC to AD 300, in JRS 72, 1992, 3. 250 Agnes Alfoldy-Gazdac, Cristian Gazdac course, unlike the find spots where such a coinage was discovered just by chance, in the case of the sites mentioned above, also this way of finding has to be taken into account.8 The study of this coinage has revealed some interesting aspects. A first observation, which can be noticed, is that the first year of issue of this coinage "AN I" (AD 246-247) seems to be also the most productive one.9 Unfortunately, in the absence of any possibility to establish the exact quantity of coin-production of this coinage this aspect will remain, at the moment, at a hypothetical level. Nil. pieces 162 12f. IE n ! Year of n. 6 1-1 ii 2 % ■ issue 0 AN! AN II AN i El AN FfTT ANV AN VI AN VII AN VTTT AKIX AN X ANXI WG-247 247-24JS 24%-24y 249-250 25-D-251 251-232 252-233 253-2=4 254-2^ 25^25$ 2=^-257 Fig. 7. "PROVINCIA DACIA" finds in Roman Dacia. Actually, for the reign of Philip I, "PROVINCIA DACW'coinage became the main one in the supply of Dacia with bronze coinage. For the bronze coins minted in the period of AD 249-253, the comparative percentages indicate that the main mint to supply Dacia with bronze coinage was Viminacium (Moesia Superior) (today Kostolac, Serbia). For the last period of existence of this coin, AD 253 257, the frequency of coin finds suggests again a predominance of coinage PROVINCIA DACIA upon the one minted at Viminacium.'10 The relative recent publication of a large quantity of numismatic material with the mention of the find spots allows us to establish some local and regional patterns of this coinage movement. In the case of the site of Porolissum (today Moigrad, Romania) (see map 1) - a very heavy militarized site1' - 64% of the coins "PROVINCIA DACIA" minted during the reign of Philip I were found on the territory of the fort from Pomat Hill while 36% of the coins "PROVINCIA DACIA" minted in the same period were found on the territory of the civilian settlement.12 BThe inventory registers from those museums located at the Roman sites prove this way of finding. 9 The number "0" for the year of issue AN XI (AD 256-257) indicates that coins of the type "PROVINCIA DACIA" minted in that year have not yet been found either at sites from the former province of Dacia or amongst the finds by chance from Romania. They still exist, as they are present in a private collection (Mr. F. Kecskes, Bezdan, and former Yugoslavia), see F. Martin (n. 1), 1 06, n°. 7.67, pi. viii, n°. 7.67,1; and in the collections of the Magyar Nemzeti Muzeum (National Hungarian Museum) in Budapest, see M. Bakos: Sylloge Nummorum Graecorum Hungary II. Dacia - Moesia Superior, Milano 1 994, 36, n°. 11 6, tav. XI, no. 11 6. In both cases there is only one piece. 10 It must be mentioned that the results for the period of Valerianus I must be regarded with circumspection as the number of coins studied is very low (12 pieces), as well as the mint from Viminacium was closed two years earlier (AD 255) than the mint from Dacia, see F. Martin (n. 1), 21. 11 N. Gudea: Porolissum, cheia de bolta a apararii Daciei Poroiissensis, in ActaMP 1 2, 1 95-214. 1ZA. Alfoldy-Gazdac: Penzveres a romai Daciaban (246-257), in Hetkoznapi elet a romai Daciaban, Ciuj- Napoca 2004, (forthcoming). THE COINAGE "PROVINCIA DACIA" - A COINAGE FOR ONE PROVINCE ONLY? 251 PHILIP I (AD 244-249) VALERIANIC I Fig. 8. Percentages of coins "PROVINCIA DACIA" and colonia Viminaciutn in hoards from Lower Danube.13 □ Civilian settlement SFort 64% 36% Fig. 9. The percentage of coins "PROVINCIA DACIA" at the site of Porolissum. At the level of the whole province of Dacia regional patterns can be established for the distribution of this coinage.14 As it can be noticed from the graph above, the coins "PROVINCIA DACIA" minted in the reign of Philip I are more frequently found in the intra-Carpathian territory, while for those coins minted for later reigns they are more often found on the outer-Carpathian territory. This pattern is not a particular one for this coinage but is related to the similar phenomenon of the entire monetary circulation in Dacia.15 Until the period of AD 249-253 the percentage of finds/year is much higher for the sites in the interior of the province. The explanation of this situation is the location of the majority of towns (6 of 9) as well as the higher concentration of military bases, □ infra-Carpathian territory ■ outer-Carpathian territory I I I......- . J . .....- . . Philip 1 Trajan Decius rrebrmtamis Aeinilianus Valerianlls I Callus Fig. 10. Regional patterns of coin finds "PROVINCIA DACIA" in Roman Dacia. ''These pie-charts are based on the database from C. Gazdac: Monetary circulation in Dacia and the provinces from the Middle and Lower Danube from Trajan to Constantine I (AD 106-337), Cluj-Napoca 2002, tab. D 1, Philip I - Valerianus I. 54A. Alfoldy (n. 3), pi. 3. 15 C. Gazdac (n. 11), pi. QJ. 252 Agnes Alfoldy-Gazdac, Cristian Gazdac including the two legions, in the two Daciae: Apulensis and Porolissensis (the intra- Carpathian area, see map 1). The percentage value of coin finds/ year records a different pattern for the two areas of Dacia, north and south, for the last period of Roman administration and the post- provincial period. Starting with the period of AD 253-268 the percentage of coin finds/ year of the southern sites becomes higher than that of northern sites. At this stage of research, it can be suggested that the higher value recorded for the period of AD 268- 275 at southern sites can be tentatively explained by high traffic in the area of the crossing of the Danube, especially Drobeta (today Tumu Severin, Romania) and Sucidava (today Celei, Romania) (see map 1), caused by the abandonment of the province and the foundation of the new provinces south of Danube, Dacia Ripensis and Dacia Mediteranensis. The proximity of the Empire produces a much higher percentage of coin finds in the southern area in the post-provincial period, than for the northern sites. This situation can be explained though the exchange relationship between the centre (the Roman Empire) and the periphery, and later the hinterland (the province of Dacia). The recent publication of coin finds from Roman sites on the territories of the former provinces adjacent to Dacia'*5 - the two Pannoniae and the two Moesiae - allow us to push the research on the coinage "PROVINCIA DACIA" circulation beyond the borders of Dacia. The analyze of the bronze coin finds from the most well researched and published sites from these provinces - Camuntum (today Petronell, Austria), Brigetio (today Szony, Hungary), Poetovio (Ptuj, Slovenia), Intercisa (today Dunaujvaros, Hungary), all located in Pannoniau - reveal a completely different picture of the percentage of "PROVINCIA DACIA" coinage from what we have in Dacia. One can easily notice that at the most well researched and published sites from Pannonia the main mint for supply with bronze coinage was Viminacium. For the minting period AD 244-2531S, compare to the 16 Ibidem. 17 It must be mentioned here that the absence of the sites from Moesia Superiorls the result of the very poor state of publication of the numismatic material provided by the sites located on the territory of this former Roman province (today Serbia mainly and smali part of Macedonia). In the case of Moesia Inferior, the coins "PROVINCIA DACIA" are absent from the sites studied in that work, see n. 1 4. 18 Although the analyses were carried out for the period of Valerianus I (AD 253-259), as well (see the table with the percentages of bronze mints), the very scarce number of bronze coins found at the sites mentioned (between 1 and 3 pieces) made the results irrelevant. THE COINAGE "PROVINCIA DACIA" - A COINAGE FOR ONE PROVINCE ONLY? 253 Fig. 12. Comparative graph of % civic coins in the provinces from Lower Danube. other mints - Rome, "PROVINCIA DACIA"and Civic (Greek) mints - this mint has between 63.1 % and 88.8% of the bronze coin finds at those sites (see table 1, pi. 1 and 2). In the province of Moesia Inferior, the absence of coins "PROVINCIA DACIA" can be explain by the large quantity of civic (Greek) coin finds, which probably were destined to cover the shortage of the official bronze coinage.19 The province Moesia Superior reveals a particular case. Although, no coins "PROVINCIA DAC!A"were found as isolated finds at different Roman sites, they appear in the few bronze (between 21 and 81 bronze coins) hoards found on this territory (see map 2). The analyses of these hoards indicate the same huge dominance of the coins minted at Viminacium upon the coins "PROVINCIA DACIA" (see the pie-charts of the bronze hoards from Moesia Superior). In these hoards the mint of Viminacium holds between 84.21 % and 90.9% of the coins in the hoards (see pi. 3).20 A this point, it must be mentioned that at the moment, hoards containing coins "PROVINCIA DACIA" m the other provinces from the Lower Danube region are very scarce found, as well as the bronze hoards itself. So far, 8 coins were found in the hoard Sirmium I (today Sremska Mitrovica, Serbia) (1 54 bronze coins Antoninus Pius - Trajan Decius)21, 1 coin "PROVINCIA DACIA" in the hoard Preajba Mare (Romania)22, 1 coin "PROVINCIA DACIA"\n the monetary finds (5 coins) from Porolissum (today Moigrad, Romania).23 An illustrative picture about the role of coinage "PROVINCIA DACIA" is the comparative graph in fig. 1 3. This graph is based on the isolated coin finds only from Roman sites attested for sure. In order to have a picture close to the reality, as much as possible the percentages are calculated from the aggregate of all types of denominations (gold, silver bronze; official, provincial and civic coins). Comparing Dacia with the adjacent provinces indicates that the PROVINCIA DACIA coins are mainly found in this province and very scarce in the surrounding ones. While 19 C. Gazdac: Circulatia monetara in Dacia si provinciileinvecinatede laTraian la Constants I, Cluj-Napoca 2002,1, 49. 20 The data for these hoards at C. Gazdac II, (n. 19), 529-530. z] Ibidem, II, 513. 22 Ibidem, II, 481. In the case of the hoard from Preajba Mare the number of PRO VINCIA DACIA coins could have been larger but the hoard was partially recovered, 7 coins out of 30, see E. Petac, A. Panoiu: Un fragment dintr-un tezaur de monete romane imperiale descoperit la Preajba Mare, Targu Jiu, judetul Gorj, in Litua. Studii si comunicari 7, 1 997, 55. "A. Alfoldy (n. 3) 67." 254 Agnes Alfoldy-Gazdac, Cristian Gazdac u::j . n so ■ 70- 60 r 50 £(,,10.4 11.? 3.3 2.3 l~h. 0.31.4 0 □ Viminacium oo OH oo o o 244- 249- 253- 244- 249- 253- 244- 243- 253- 244- 249- 253- 244- 249- 253- 249 253 26't! 249 253 268 249 253 268 24!) 253 26 S 249 253 26& Fig. 1 3. Comparative graph of % for the coins minted at Ulpia Traiana Sarmizegetusa (PROVINCiA DACIA) and Viminacium (P M S COL VIM): the coins issued during the reign of Philip I reached almost 40% of the all coin finds in Dacia, they do not pass more than 4.8% in Pannonia Inferior, 2.3% in Pannonia Superior and are not found as isolated coins in the provinces of Moesia. In the case of Moesia, the explanation is provided by the large number of civic coins in circulation, while for Moesia Superior it is a matter of very scarce material available for research. For the provinces of Pannonia, the finds of Viminacium overwhelmed those of the mint of Dacia. The fact that Pannonia Inferior was located closer to Dacia than Pannonia Superior produced a slightly higher percentage of PROVINCIA DACIA issues in this province. On conclusion, it can be suggested that the coinage "PROVINCIA DACIA" it was virtually destined to this province, similar to the neighboring mint of Viminacium -which was the main mint for the supply with bronze coinage of the provinces Pannonia and Moesia Superior - from the reign of Philip I to that of Valerianus I. In fact both here we have a good example of a monetary policy intended to supply bronze coins locally and to neighboring areas from the nearest mint.24 Like the coinage minted at Viminacium, the coinage PROVINCiA DACIA" had to cover up a shortage of imperial bronze coinage. Although it was minted in a province - Dacia -, this coinage it was issued according to the Roman official monetary system of bronze denominations. It follows the patterns of overall monetary circulation in Dacia of the coins issued in the period AD 244-259. It was a temporary solution, which failed at the end. Periodical abbreviation: BSNR Buletinul Societapi Numismatice Romane, Bucharest, Romania JRA Journal of Roman Archaeology, Portsmouth, U.S.A JRS Journal of Roman Studies, London, United Kingdom Ch. Howgego: Coin circulation and the integration of the Roman economy, in JRA 7, 1 994, 1 0. THE COINAGE "PROVINCIA DACIA" - A COINAGE FOR ONE PROVINCE ONLY? 255 CARNVNTVM 244-249 249-253 253-259 No. No. No. Mint coins % coins % coins % Provincia Dacia 10 8.1 8 6.8 Viminacium 77 63.1 89 76 Rome 23 18.8 12 10.2 1 100 Civic (Greek) 12 9.8 8 6.8 TOTAL 122 117 1 POETOVIO 244-249 249-253 253-259 No. No. No. Mint coins % coins % coins % Provincia Dacia 1 2.7 3 10 Viminacium 19 52.7 17 56.6 Rome 16 44.4 10 33.3 2 100 TOTAL 36 30 2 BRIGETIO 244-249 No. Mint coins % Provincia Dacia 1 3.7 Viminacium 23 85.1 Rome 2 7.4 Civic (Greek) 1 3.7 TOTAL 27 249-253 253-259 No. No. coins % coins % 1 3.7 24 88.8 2 7.4 INTERCISA 244-249 No. Mint coins % Provincia Dacia 8 10.6 Viminacium 64 85.3 Rome 3 4 TOTAL 75 249-253 253-259 No. No. coins % coins % 7 13.7 2 66.6 44 86.2 1 33.3 51 3 Table 1. Percentages of mints in the supply with bronze coinage at sites from Pannonia. AD 244-249 Rome. CASNVNTVM AD 249-2S3 Viminac., 63.1 Civic I coins. 'PROV. DACTA. POETOVIO PI. I.1 Pie-charts of mint distribution at sites from Pannonia Superior and Inferior. 1 The data for these sites at Gazdac, C.: Monetary circulation in Dacia and the provinces from Middle and Lower Danube from Trajan to Constantine I (AD 106-337), Cluj-Napoca, 2002, tab. D 2-3, Philip I - Valerianus I. 256 Agnes Alfoldy-Gazdac, Cristian Gazdac BRIGETIO PI. 2. Pie-charts of mint distribution at sites from Pannonia Superior and Inferior. BOSNJANE (Mocsia Superior, Serbia) BREZANE (Moesia Superior, Serbia) HORREVM MARGI (Moesia Superior, Serbia) VRANJE (Moesia Superior, Serbia) PROV. DAC1A 9.09% 7 coins PL 3 Coins "PROVINCIA DACIA" and Colonia Viminacium in the hoards from Moesia Superior. THE COINAGE "PROVINCIA DACIA" - A COINAGE FOR ONE PROVINCE ONLY? 257 Map 1. The map of Roman Dacia. 258 Map 2. The map of the Roman provinces from the Lower Danube.