A bronze hoard of the period of Zeno I / by Howard L. Adelson and Georg L. Kustas

8/9/2019 A bronze hoard of the period of Zeno I / by Howard L. Adelson and Georg L. Kustas

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o

. AD E L S O N

S TAS

NNU M SMAT CSO C E T

C r e a

t i v e C o m m o n s A t t r i b u t i o n - N

o n C o m m e r c i a l - S h a r e A l i k e

/ h t t p : / / w w w . h

a t h i t r u s t . o r g / a c c e s s

_ u s e # c c - b

y - n

c - s

a - 4 . 0


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E S R V E D Y

NU M SMAT CSO C E T

G R M AN

N .G U C ST AD T

C r e a

t i v e C o m m o n s A t t r i b u t i o n - N o n C o m m e r c i a l - S h a r e A l i k e

/ h t t p : / / w w w . h a t h i t r u s t . o r g / a c c e s s_ u s e # c c - b y - n c - s a - 4 . 0


3/101

T S AN D MO N O G R A H S

C r e a


/ h t t p : / / w w w . h a t h i t r u s t . o r g / a c c e s s_

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T S AN D M O NO G R A H S

eatiseson sub ectsrelating

y medalsanddecorations.

N CO M M T T E

E L L I NG R Ch ai rma n

.B U TTR E Y R .

O TT

STA F

S S R d it or

L S O N A ss oc ia te d it or

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O NS Í X

E ANA Y S S I

A A NA Y S S 17

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epublicationofthesecondof three

ef romthelatef if thcenturywhichhavecome

sare allbasicallyofthesamecomposition.

rliestspecimens w hichdecrease innumberas

aretheremnantsofthecoinage ofthe

urystill incirculation.Thefirsthoard

a leU niversity w aspublishedbyusin

p p . 13 9 -1 8 8. I t e t e nd s t o th e p er i od o f L e o I .

bothac uiredfortheA mericanNumismatic

neM. E dw ardsduringherso ournsinGreece

econdcontinuestothesecondreignof theEmperor

rdhasitsterminusinthepre- re formco inage

ignofAnastasius.

thethreehoards formswhatisoften

of animpenetrablefoglyingbetweenthe

eB y antinesplendorof theepochof

atthroughthisworkthereader willcometo

mportanceofthecoinsas historicalpieces

lityoftheir ownandthatthestudy

econstructionofthe historyofthe

nhas previouslybeenpossible.

holerepresentsacollaborativeeffort

eproductofcontinualcooperationbetween

emetro logica lanaly sisanditstabulationare

whileMr.K ustasisresponsibleprimarily

oardandtheconclusionsderivedtherefrom.

thattheapplicationoftwoessentially

orthestudyofthecoins eachelaborated

r hasinnoinstanceyieldedcontradictory

clusionsaretherebymutuallyvalidated

f ourreaders.

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eP ublicationCommitteeoftheSociety

tionofthe work andweoweaparticular

leagueswhohavebelaboredtheireyesight

nganidentificationofsomeofthemore

errorsinascriptionand discussionwe

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O NS

rdofminim iofLeo I , parto f theYa leco llection

it le " A B ron eH oardof theP eriod

se u m No t es I X ( i 9 60 , p p . 1 3 9- 1 88 .

e ll inger C atalogueof theC oinsF oundatCorinth

1 9 30 .

k e " T h e Mo n et a ry R e f o r m of A n as t as i us I a n d

ications " A mericanC ouncilo fLearnedSocieties.

umanities.StudiesintheH istoryofCulture.

1942.

r y H i s t o ry o f t he R o m a n E m p i re f r om t h e D e at h

deathof J ustinian( A . D. 395toA . D. 565 ,

lI o f 2 vo l s.

. B r o n e R o m a n I m pe r ia l C oi n ag e o f th e L a t e r E m p i re

. A . G . Ca r so n a nd J . P . C . K e n t i n cl u de d

eR omanB ron eC oinageA . D. 324-498

I isareprintw ithcorrectionsandaddit ions

nallyappearinginNumismaticCircular

g ly " A L a t e R o m an H o a r d f ro m Co r in t h "

5thSeriesX I ( 1931 , pp. 229-233.

na g e = J . W . E . P e a r c e R o m a n Co i na g e fr o m

do n 1 9 33 .

. W . E . P e ar ce a nd M .E . W o od " A L a t e

a lmatia " NumismaticC hronicle 5thSeries

P - 2 6 9- 28 3.

n TheAthenianAgora.V olumeI I .

hroughtheV enetianPeriod P rinceton 1954.

a a ge A n ti o ch - on - th e -O r o n t es I V , P a r t I I . G r ee k

n e an d C ru s ad e rs C o in s P r i nc e to n 1 9 52 .

C ata logueof theC oinsof theV andals O strogoths

heEmpiresofThessa lonica Nicaeaand

ritishMuseum L ondon 1911.

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11/101

E ANA Y S S

American NumismaticSocietyisa

3andЖ 4rangingf romthetimeofC onstan-

ndreignofZ enointhelatter partofthe

blishthis andsimilarhoardsofminimi1in

hadbeendevelopedbyMissK atherineEd-

edbyherdeathi n1950.Shehadproceeded

getherthevariousreversetypesandof

k-listofthecontents ofthehoard.H er

s werepurchasedintheGreekcity of

meinthe20 s.Nofurtherinformationabout

vailable.

of2231 bron epieces.O fthese 1064are

andarelistedi nthecatalogue.Theillegible

ndisregarded.Amongthelatterareincluded

lysmallmodule( c. 3mm. w hichdonot

the imprinto fadie and20piecesofe ceed-

woormore" taps onthesurface inthefo l-

ave ignoredtheslivers astheyservenoscien-

recordthebrittlenessofthe metal.

proportiontothe numberoftimestheyare

areabout100.

generalcompositionasY .I fitspurchase

ographicalprovenience ourhypothesisthat

ewhereon" alinerunningfromCorinth

emssupported.2ThehoardconsistsofbothЖ 3

e b ee n c ut d o wn a n d J E 4 s :

ermof referenceanddoesnotappearinthe con-

modernstudiesthewordusuallyrefers asitwillhere

epiecesofЖ 4moduleorsmallerf romthelatefourth

erunderofficialauthorityor byirregularmoneyers

esternportionsof theEmpire . F oradiscussion

y theR omansthemselvesseeY, pp. 148s.

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cimens 62arebarbarousissues therest

5areЖ 3andtheremainderЖ 4. A llthe

hoardhavebeencutdow n. A sinY , theya ll

wearbecauseofthelongperiod ofcircula-

estthatthe clippingwasdonenotatthe

somelater dateinthefifth century as

temofproduction8 nodoubtforthepurpose

enerallytothereducedweightand module

evenclippedtheycontinuetobesomewhat

instructivetonotethatY , w hiche tends

yasfarasL eo containsahigherpercentage

mew enton morew ere losttocirculation. 4

ationislessthanin Y .Thereare for

uivalentto504-515intheY a lecatalogue

ngnocorrespondencewhatevertoR oman

occasionallyfindsamongtheissuesof Marcian

ecimenw hichshow sadegreeofdebasement

ybethe productofaR omanmint.s

in comparisonwithY thuspermitsus

littlemoreandverify thee istenceofthe

ever therarityofthesebarbarousissues

ealmostcompletecontrolthattheR oman

coinage acontrolthathashitherto not

ousЖ 3 aphenomenonnotappearinginY .

ofkeepingwiththecharacterofthe remainder

rtoissuesfoundabundantlyin Western

ippingseep. 18andY, p. 144.

esintheZ achahoard( unpublished , presently inthe

ha isav il lage inthew esternPé loponn se. Thehoard

ne bute tendsbeyondV intothesi thcentury .

appearinit inaproportionlesseventhanV .

eo: 508 739 886 Z eno: 1002 il legiblemonograms:

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t imeso lim itedinnumber( 5: 8 54 64

ustifiedinsupposingthemWesternbarbarian

rnR omanhoard.Notonlythestylebut the

k richbrow nasaga instthegreenish-grayof the

estsmintingina differentarea.6Thestyling

anissuesof theperiodofV a lentinianI I I

ndgenerally" dumpy fabric.Since

uch greatersparsityandwithadebased

uch incommonwiththeso-calledbar-

cultto determinetheiroriginwithany

nI ta lyorthenorthwesternportionof the

bleguess.7

le muchclearerandmorelegiblethan

many instancesthemint-mark mayberead.

betterindicationof thenumismatic

anhas generallybeenavailablefrom

eginningsometimeinthereignof TheodosiusI I

noreasontosuspectthattheseco insarenotintegra lto

mayperhapsbesufficientlyaccountedforby a

onofthemetal aswellasthe placementofthe

amongtheregularissuesis notableandnodoubt

roughthe socialandeconomicdisruptionsoftheperiod

perienceddie-cutterbecameararity.Seeourre-

141andthe j udiciousobservationsof J . W. E . P earcc

gef romalate4thcenturybron ef ind( " A nE astern

" N u m is m at i c Ch r on i cl e 5 th S e ri e s X I ( 1 9 31 , p . 3 2 1 :

ncedthatifunmistakable instancesofdegradationarefoundthey

if legitimate to loca landtemporarycondit ionsat

nceinthemselvesofanemptyTreasuryanda

fation.

materia lf romthisperiodlistedinY pp. 145 146

undatCorinthinthe courseofthee cavationsof

venby J . M. H arris " C o insF oundatC orinth "

, p. 145. Thehoardconta inssomeco insf romtheH ouseof

a l e nt i ni a n I , 6 M a rc i an 3 L e o 9 Z e n o 9 2 A na s ta s iu s

ata llsuchf indsrepresentof f icia lR omanmintingis

ninhisreferenceto asimilar unpublishedhoardfrom

n s e ( L e P é l op on n s e by a nt in j u s u e n 12 04 P a r i s 1 95 1

esmonnaiesauthenti uementbarbaressontrares etl on

silesmonnaiesby antinesdesV ° -V I esi clesqui

sbarbaresà causedeleurmaladressesontr ellement

onby antins.

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tthecentury thediesarepractically

.Thereductionin thesi eofthecoins

aturi ationindie-cuttingthatthe unskilled

ldnoteasilymeet w hile thetechni ueo

uatetoanaccuratelyplacedimpression

those issuesw hichbearthemint-mark of

omanprovenienceorforw hichaR oman

rpossible 9a lltheco insinthehoard aside

mentionedabove weremintedintheeastern

fw econsiderthatV o f ferstw iceasmam-

theproportionof issuesf romR omein

23V ) w ouldsuggestthatY istobe locatedin

closertoR omethanV , w hichw illhaveaprov -

sternGreece.V beingalaterdeposit the

hichbelongtothemiddleof thecentury tended

ssoutofcirculationmoreandmore. I nother

samepatternofdisuseastheЖ 3.

eraclea isrepresentedinthehoard.

pecimens 2ofA rcadiusand1ofhisgenera l

vebeenrecordedforZ eno w hileL eo sissue

on series.10Thesparsityofrepresentation

tsthattheoutputfromthis mintserved

ndeed thechaosofE gyptiancurrency

e nt in ia n I I ; 2 ( 3 7 3 8 o f H o no ri us 1 ( 4 5 o f Ar ca di us 2

e a rl y 5 Ü 1 c e nt u ry 1 b a rb a ro u s sp e ci m en ( 7 7 o f T he o do s iu s

o n or i us a n d 5 ( 2 5 8 2 5 9 2 6 6 2 6 7 2 7 0 o f t he p e ri o d of

show varietiesof theR omanmint-mark. ThethreeG sre uire

theratR omeorA uile ia (seecata loguenotes.v . .

gatewithastar betweentheturretsbelongsto

6 . A sinthecaseof71 sincewehavenothingdef initely

herwestthan R ome thesetooareprobably

a lentinianI I andofhisperiodshow ingadistinctive

on d a d ou b t R o m an ( 2 5 4 2 6 0- 2 62 2 6 5 2 6 8 2 6 9 .

f the" tw ov ictoriesfacingoneanother ho ldingonew reath

2 7 3 , o f w hi c h th e re a r e so me s p ec i me n s in Y ( 2 8 5- 2 89 , s o me

o o d ( p . 2 83 a n d so m e by N e we l l ( E . T . Ne we l l T u v

umismaticNotesandMonographsNo.60.NewY ork

3 2 ( 9 5 _ I ° 8 i i n s o fa r a s th e d es i gn a ti o n of m i nt i s a va i la b le i s su e

2932.

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chMilnehascalledattention11attests

fromtherestofthe E mpire.AfterTheo-

C O R D I A A V G c r o s s re v er s e fr o m Al e a n dr i a t h er e

neofhis" crossinw reath has so far

etermine anA le andriansource nordo

sA mongtheco insof theE asternmints

odosiusI I f oundintheA gorae cavations

driamak esthepoorestshowing. 12I t isthereforenot

ontothenorthof Athensforthelatter

enthemintw asstil l inoperation therepre-

sinsomewhatsimilarcase.I nreviewing

ompsonremark s: " O new oulde ceptto

gthetwomoredistantmints( v i . N icomedia

llrepresentationmayindicateminorimportance

elingofitsoutputto thenorthratherthan

nately nomateria lf romthenorthhasbeen

ughformtoassist ushere.H owever a

Thompson sstatementissuesfromacom-

goraco ins P earceandWood sD almatian

sC orinthianpieces. Corinthhasonly iHerac-

co ins 14theDalmatianhoardtothenorth

whatlargerproportion.Y has3outof 928.

ationfromH eracleainV isprobablyac-

ty intheseB alk anhoards coupledw itha

ce shoardf romA siaMinor 16impliesan

essivelydecliningin thecourseofthe

posit intheenvironsofH eracleamaywe

eablerepresentationof thismintage.

showsasteady contractionfromthe

ouseofConstantine.Thelastverifiable

w o R o ma n H o a r ds o f C oi n s fr o m E g y pt " J o u rn a l of R o m a n

p . 1 84 .

milarly forP earceandWood sD almatianhoard.

e " A L a t e R o m an H o a r d f ro m S ou t hw es t A si a M in o r "

Series X V ( 1935 , passim.

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nV isthe" crossinw reath o fTheodosius

w here indeed thenumberofspecimense ceeds

his largesamplingisunusual particularly

heCorinthmaterialconfirmsit.W hether

mmunicationbetweenThessalyandAnti-

henecoinsofthereign ofMarcianare

) . 16Thedecline involumeisdeducible f romthe

nw reath co inageisrecordedforLeo. 17

ethatthesameimperialorderbrought

iningin AntiochaswellasAle andria

ryevidencemakesacloserdetermination

ConstantinoplemintedforZ eno ls

ere ected. TheA gorahasunearthedamonogram

essa lonica( Thompson 1678 . unconf irmed

9 9 0 9 9 1 c o nf i rm e d . C y i c us s h ow s a t ot a l ot

9 3 6 9 3 7 9 5 9 9 9 4 , a n d th e re i s o ne f r om N i co -

rarereverse( Sab. 18 andunusua lfabricand

ofZ eno sissues how ever show nomint-

ospaceforone. I tmaybepresumptuousunder

nthemall toConstantinople.Theforce

nd here asidefromconsiderationsof

uldbebetterservedbya moree uitable

rrencythroughouttherealm thanbythe

onlyone location.Norshouldoneneglect

erationthat asthemoduleofZ eno s

thereisreallynoroom leftfortheinclusion

mllersi ecouldquiteeasilyprovokethe

asitdid thefinerdetailsofthe wreath

sincethediesw erea lw ayslargerthanthef lan

ouldtendto eliminatetheimpressionof

ilityofdifferentiationaccordingtostyle

fmorethan onemint.F romtheevidence

hf romtheco llectionofP ro fessorA . R . B e ll inger

irmedspecimenatA ntioch( 2028 .

cit inSabatier slist ings.

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arstohaveusedonly tw oformsofZ eno s

V 3and4 , w hileThessa lonicashowsonly

ationsarefacileanddangerous butmostof

nogramsЫ andИ ( V 3and4 , 915-988 are

weightthan thosewithmonograms

d 2 , 8 9 6- 9 14 a n d di s pl a y a wo r km a ns h ip

odetail thelineationofbothobverse

ndmoreeconomical.

henone considersthoseissuesofL eo

igureonthereverse( Sab. 15 . This

largestsinglegroupinginthehoard

lo f147co ins oroneseventhofa llthe legiblepieces.

sitnotat leasttheoreticallypossible

ibutionofmintsforbothL eoandZ eno 19

mbershouldbeassignedtomintsother

I t istruethatahighconsistencyofsty ling

aperiodwhich asw ehavesuggested 20

dtheservicesofgood die-cutters.Nor

suere uireanyothere planationthana

perorormint-master.H owever the

tainclearly definedstylisticgroupings

picionthatthereis aninnerlogicto

eeminglyamorphous couldwebutfind

stheclosemeasureofcontrol overthe

anditscoinagethat thepovertyofthe

tobelie.I nthisparticularinstancea

ainbemadeonthe basisofweightand

rtherobservethatsomecoins showathick-

eminiscentof someofthemonogramissues

istinctionhasits sourceinaparticular period

argeographicalareais aq uestionwhich

fadditionalfindsfor itssolution.Attempts

thparticular versionsoftheobverse

eno atechni uew hichw oulda llow at

havenotproducedmeaningfulresults.

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how ever w eshouldnotlosesighto f the

ofConstantinopolitanissues.Thecapital

centurytobethe primesourceofcoinage

eandmay indeedhavearrogatedtoitself

imew enton. L eo svarious" lion reverses

erew ecanreadthemint-mark a llcomefrom

eptionis418w ithC V Z onw hichthe

.Thegroupallowsusa neatstylistic

totw overydistinctseries the" crouching

4-508 displayingahomogeneityofstyle

co insw iththe" standing variety ( 418-423 ,

ntcompositionandmuch morefinely

uching varietyinV allissuesfromCon-

tthattherecordedspecimensfromother

e . 21

iain V attestthecontinuingimportance

oftheE mpire.We notethatunderMarcian

esameasthatof Constantinople.How-

nentrationislarge it isa lsose lective . Nico-

rtionofthe varietiesoftheMarcianic

ottohavemintedanyofL eo smonogram

forthe latteremperorbeinglim itedtothe" emperor

cianshow stwomint-mark s N C andN C O,

lingofNicomedianco inscanbedistinguished

ainty.Theflanstendtobe broader

ewhathigherrelief.Theoutlinesof thefigure

thewreath andthemonogramlinesaresharp

nvariablywell made theleavesnot

ysharplydrawn linesingoodrelief.

icusisama orminto f theE mpireand

roughthereign ofZ eno.Theabsenceof

reignofMarcianand thestronglyrising

w osucceedingemperors(L eo 5 Z eno 5

putf romthissourceor converse ly areduc-

ss a lo n ic a C y i c us a n d Al e a n dr i a. A " w al k in g l i on

aandNicomedia( C 2009 2470 , andtheanimal

tioch(C 2813 .

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heodosiusI I ( 7co ins andL eo. How ever

ghproportionofthecoinsof Marcian

slegible isf romC y icus( 2outof10

raryaconclusion. F orbothL eoandZ eno

icarethecrudestamongthespecimensinV .

e thestylingcloseto barbarous.

onicaisclosesttothe areaofdeposition.

atnoe amplesof itsco inageappearbefore

larlack.Thephenomenonisparticularly

thatcoinsfromThessalonicaheadthe list

ns. 22C orinthshow saverysi eablerepresenta-

butaheavydropforthef if thcentury .23P earce

anmaterialandMattingly sC orinthianhoard24

rto f thee planationliesinthefactthat

tionsinbron ebetw een393andthe j o int

heodosiusI I , 408-423. 25H ow ever this

table lack ofe amplesf rombeforeorafter

phasi ingtheimportanceofAthensand

nthin thecommerceofthefifthcentury 28

tethatmoneyfromThessalonicawassent

largemartsoftheE mpire.Theinland

w ere le f tto theirow ndevices supplied

redistantmints ( inpartbyoverland

thavebeenlitt lecontactbetw eentheGreek

hinterlandinthef ifthcentury . Leo sissues

icaarethe bestmadeofthecoinsin

lyroundedandthe metalisfirm.Thelines

ed asifto conformtothecontourofthe

carefullye ecuted.

rL iciniusI throughTheodosiusI I Thessa lonicashows

nople thene tmintinorderof f re uency 1244.

NospecimensofTheodosiusI appearinC orinth.

osiusI andhisperiod 2 A rcadius 7MarcianC HE S

odosiusI ; 1A rcadius 6Marcian noneforL eo.

fhcenturyseeJ . H . F inley J r. " C orinthintheMiddle

I I ( 1 9 22 , p p . 4 7 7 4 7 8 a n d P . C h ar a ni s " T h e Si g ni f ic a nc e

theH istoryofAthensandCorinthin theSeventhand

i s to r ia I V ( 1 9 55 , p p . 1 63 1 6 4.

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ofMarcianbearamint-markusually

-325 374 375 . Themark hasoccasionedsome

ensuggested. 7H ow ever there isnoreason

emoteareaatthistime.Chersonesecoin-

ginbefore J ustinianI inanycase in

hcentury . 28P earceandWoodrecordthee -

amples aga inofMarcian intheDalmatian

ascription. I t isnoticeablethatnoMarcianic

ionallyrecogni edmarksofThessalonica

anyformulathatmay besointerpreted.There

eof MarcianfromThessalonicawhich

. Themintisw ork inginboththeprev iousand

reis noreasontosuspecta suspensionof

an. The largesamplinginV o fC HE S

hichthemint-mark islegible w ouldsuggest

scouldmoreeasilybemetatama orminting

TheodosiusI hasaw iderrangeofmints

Marcianthereis acontractionofimperial

rrito ries. Thisw oulda lsohelpe pla inthe

ThessalonicathatweobserveforL eointhe

oubtof theformoftheinitial letterinour

hesitationinsupposingС tostandforTand

mint ofThessalonica.Thetransitionfromthe

is confirmedbycoin511whichclearly

SforTH S , w iththesamedistinctivesty lingas

pecimensfromL eo sreign.Theassignment

ica isepigraphica lly sound. I tsuppliesthe

andmeetsthehistoricalre uirementsof

sra isedbyК О С observedinlarge

co ins , w ith1specimenrecordedforB asil iscus29

cimensofalltheseemperorshavea common

rscloseto thatofNicomedia.Theflanstend

ndthereliefsomewhathigher.E ffect

h er i ne E d wa r ds i n h er n o te s o n V .

nagef romtheChersonesemintseeB MC p. cii i .

e . O . o f 1 02 4 c on c ea l s К О С a n d no t C O N .

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nline inthew reath the lettering or

rguallineisveryprominentin thisgroup

К О С co insofL eo. V conta ins10e amples

9 t ( V 6 a n d 1 ( 7 0 3 o f i nd e te r mi n at e

ssumptionthatthismaverick isa lsot -

aw holehas26co ins( 667-692 withthismono-

r mint-markforthisseries.Sofaras the

sespermitsusto j udge there isa fairlyw ide

hapreponderanceof theshortD N E O .

wouldseemtoindicatethat К О С isaGreek

.С isthenthelunatesigma.This distin-

ermints.O neshouldthereforelookto

amecouldbeabbrev iatedasК О С . F or

comestomind only tobesummarilydis-

noev idencetoconnectLeow ithC orinthinany

fadingoutpostof empirewouldbe

on.The e cavationsatCorinthseem

lespecimen. К О coulde ua llywell

twolettersofCy icus.Thissupposition

forC y icuscontinuesanimportantmint

ry. C y icus how ever seemssuf f iciently

C V Z . B arringnew ev idence it ishardly

Cosismeant.I tisa sufficientlyvalidrule

mintbe locatedinacityofsomema ormili-

ortance andtheislanddoesnot meetthis

od. F urther themintingcit iesintheEast

rprisinglyshortradiusfromthecapital

all oftheE asternempirefromwithinthis

s andC y icuscanberuledout le tusconsider

pleitself.I tisthe onemintweshouldhave

lly represented yetamongL eo sco insitshow s

ev e rs e 5 0 9 5 1 0 wi t h ^ £ ( V 1 a n d 58 9

heobverse legendon510cannotberead but

edistinctivefullerformofthe legendwith

e ni t iv e D N E O S F A V G . L e o s m o no g ra m s

C r e a



u s e # c c - b y - n c - s a - 4 . 0


22/101

1 - 4 s h o u ld b e r ea d a s ab b re vi a ti o ns o f L E O S o r

N I S ) . A ss um in g th es e ar e L a t in f or ms w it h , £ 4 a n d t< £

e pa s s in t o Gr e ek . Th e О a t t he t o p of t h e le f t pe r -

iredacross-barbeneathitwhich couldbe

themonogramasstandingfor A flN.

le tosuggestthatК О standsforthenameof

mandmarksatransitionfromL atinto

sre ign. I tsintroductionisastepintheGrae-

, w hichendsinthemiddleofLeo sre ign

eomegaandall itsmonogramissuesshow

msof the legend. I nthecaseofZ enoК О С

nctionwithonlythoseformsofmonogram

, 2 w hi ch h av e th e om eg a. I n de ed Z E N O N w hi ch

eknominativeinthe legend appears

0 1 9 0 2 9 0 5 9 1 2 .

eenthestylingofL eo smonogramissues

seriessuggestthatw ehavetodonotw ithan

twithanabruptchangebroughtaboutby

ctor. H erew eare intherea lmofpurespecu-

osupposethattheverydestructivefire which

eSeptember2 46530destroyedpartof the

mportationofnew die-cuttersandpromptinga

nage I f so maynotthesim ilarit ieswith

tthesource? 31TheК О coinsmayrepresent

workshopwithintheparticularminting

al.

e plausiblethoughitmayappearon

w oob ections: 1 w ouldnottheforceof tra -

thestandardsymbolfortheminto f theca-

eranynew comer particularly sinceC ON

utthe lifeo f theE asternE mpire and

sc u s sh o ws b o th К О С ( 1 0 23 a n d CO N ( C 2 2 84

tleastthepossibil ityo f twodistinctmints if

vagrius H ist. Eccl. i i13. F ordeta ilsandsupplementa l

pp. 321 322.

twocities wasinanycaseclose.W rothnotesthat

ndC y icusintheB y antineperiodisclose ly

apita l( B MC p. c .

C r e a



u s e # c c - b y - n c - s a - 4 . 0


23/101

softwodistinctworkshopswithinthe

presentstate ofourevidencedoesnot

atefortheB asiliscanspecimens.I tisalso

nocoinswithCO Nappeareitherinour hoard

southerncoastof theP ropontisonthe

e uidistantf romC y icusandNicomedia . I t

he mainroadfromL ydiatoConstanti-

andtheeast. 32A noldandproudcity it

ntilthe reignofSaloninus.I nthefifthcen-

nceasanindependentmetropolisinthe

prics.A measureofitscivilimportanceis

etachmentofScholarii ordomesticguards

etime ofJ ustinian.33Anumberofits

arecitedasactivein churchaffairs.34Thus

amintand sincetheК О С co insaresim ilar

edia itsdie-cuttersmayeasilyhavecome

reekformofthemonogramontheК О С

nkeepingwiththe Greekhinterlandthan

omanassociationsandwouldfitinwith

mperial seriesforwhichCiosis known.

ngnomint-markmightthenbereservedfor

specimensassignedtoCios. Theoccasionfor

must remainobscure.Militarypressure

eryearsofLeo sre ignf rombarbarianin-

necaveatshouldbegiven:howlikelyis it

itsmintdesignationtoК О С , or putan-

nof amint-markinthreelettersfor this

heHistoricalGeographyofA siaMinor L ondon 1890

ned. p. 236.

bishopof CiosattheCouncilof E phesusin431

Sacrorumconcil io rumnovaetamplissimacollectio reprint P aris

2 70 a n d i f R a m sa y i s co r re c t ( o p . c it . p . 4 28 , a c e rt a in

upposestobebishopofC ios w aspresentattheC ouncil

pearsin 458asoneof thecorrespondentsofthe

oV . Schult e A ltchrist l icheSt dteundLandschaften

9

C r e a



u s e # c c - b y - n c - s a - 4 . 0


24/101

ercomethedifficultyinvolvedin there-

s becauseof thenesto fproblemsconnected

ntof theК О С co ins w eprefertopostpone

dingtheappearanceofadditionalevidence.

chronologicallybyreign butdoesnot

y orderwithinthereignitself.The in-

onprimarily forthere ignofLeobecauseof

ypesand obverselegends.O ntheusual

hattheissuewiththefullest rangeand

hinthetypeshould precede thishonor

nthe" lion series( 418-508 . Thesame

reК О С tobe late inthere ign forthese

plyDN E O. Thelastissuew illbethe

ed " representedinV byasinglespecimen

ugustusbe ingpresumablyLeo sgrandsonof

edinOctober 473. 38I fw emaydraw а л

umberof " lion typesw iththeshort

O ( 5outof91co ins , theseriesmayhavebeen

ningof theDN E O obverseandthengave

fits demiseisthesameas theintroduction

astheshortformalmoste clusive ly . The issueswith

mo n og r am Щ , ^ ( V 1 - 4 , s e em t o

w ithonly1co in( 524 showingtheshortform

s" emperorandcaptive serieshasasitslargest

P E R P E T . I t t h en p a ss e s th r ou g h th e t wo g e ni -

L E O N S a n d L E O S a n d sh o ws m a ny c o in s

emaysupposeitbeginsshortly after

P E T A V G a n d r un s w el l t hr o ug h t he r e ig n .3 7 T he l a te r

mint-markofastar orcrossinthe left

ury p. 323 note1 remark sthat" co insissuedat

sre ignshow Marcian shead the legendbeingmere ly

P E R P E T A V G .

aptive reverseusually impliesav ictoryofsomek ind

smilitaryventuresweresingularlyunsuccessful.

arstobeavictory inP ontusoveranunspecified

atearlyinthereign mentionedincertainepiscopal

C r e a



u s e # c c - b y - n c - s a - 4 . 0


25/101

gue. The" empress seriesappearstohave

legendand maybeconsideredcontem-

missuesbeginshortlyafterthe" lion

atappearstobe anabbreviationofthe

s e en a s P T i n 5 2 8 an d 5 31 t h ro u gh a h e av y c on c en -

egenitivedownto theshortforms.38

msof theemperors w ehavelisteda larger

aspreviouslybeendone althoughsurely

oe amplesreflectnotanofficialchange

dualartist.Thedistinctionsmaypossibly

archif moree amplesoftherarerforms

endtablesshowingthecorrespondences

fthevarietiesofmonogramfoundin V

rks:

1 = C 7

6 1

63 = C 2 = P e ar ce a nd

275

4 3 65 = C 6 = P e a rc ea nd

75

3 67 V a r .

3 69 = C 4 = P e ar ce a nd

Sab. 21=

6

5 = P e ar ce a nd W o od n in th o n

sinMansi J . D . Sacrorumconcil io rumnova— co l-

5 8 1 5 8 3 6 0 0 c i te d b y B u r y p . 3 2 2 n o te 5 . T he e v id e nc e a t

more accuratedesignation.Althoughthedatecan

tistemptingtoconnectthe" emperorandcaptive

ctory particularlyastheonly tw omintstostrik ethe

ndNicomedia thelatterbeingcloseto thebattle-

opiousevidenceofV promptsthisrevisioninsub-

ttentative lyof feredinY , pp. 144 145. F uturee -

-marksmaybelegiblewill sharpenpresentdistinc-

tw efeelw il lnotseriouslya lterthebasicpattern.

C r e a



u s e # c c - b y - n c - s a - 4 . 0


26/101

S

N I S

R U S

23

i

. 3 26

r .

3 2 6

( u nd er B a s il is cu s

de r B a s i li s cu s

C i

O N O F M O N O GR A MS B Y M N TI N Y

N i co m ed i a C H E S

S

Nicomedia

icus

ssa lonica C y icus

i

C r e a



u s e # c c - b y - n c - s a - 4 . 0


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A A NA Y S S

eV olohoardisparticularlyrewarding.

4coinswhichare fullydescribedandweighed

ssingincompletenessanythingpreviously

thesecoinscanbeused inthemetrological

romthestudy fourco insofLibiusSeverus

estintheperioda. D. 461-465 one il le-

cannot beattributedwithanycertainty

dsevenpieceswithillegiblemonogramswhich

oorZ enoorA eliaZ enonis. C arefulstatist ica l

pieces usedinthefre uencytablesreveals

a orclasses: f irst thereare810specimens

ntinianI I throughL eo second 36specimens

scus andthird 110specimensf romthereign

coversa crucialperiodinR omanhistory

ourthcenturytothe reformcoinageof

sitpossibleto fo llow thema orvaria tionsof

ingtheV ö lk erw anderungf romthecontents

ebodyofthe metrologicalanalysis how-

putforthafew wordsofcaution. B ron e

dmoreparticularlywhentheweightofthe

small willshowagreatervariationin

pectedinthecaseofsilverorgo ld. The

waysproducedal-marco anditmustbe

eraneffectivesystemof ad ustmentto

ards.Sincetheindividualcoinswere of

stofsystematicweightcontrolwouldhave

sof themint. I naddit ion thefactthatthe

acterwouldhave lessenedtheimportance

erminingtheirvalue.I tismorelikely

tionsofweightfrom reigntoreignwhich

onomicsignif icance. Thestatehadse i edcom-

e ofallcurrency includingthefiduciary

heendof thethirdcentury. Suchcurrency

ervaluedatthemintand inthemarket

C r e a



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profitsmusthaveaccruedtothe mintfrom

anperhapspointoutsomeof thesmaller

mevidentfromthecoinsthemselvesand

blereasonsforthesechanges butanyattempt

scientificdescriptionofthe historyofthe

eevidenceof asinglehoardwouldbeillusory.

othercaveatwhichshouldbecarefullycon-

trologicalstudyof minimi.Allwho

tainingminimihavebeenstruck by

ng normallypresent.I nourdiscussion

use planationspossibleandconcluded

en w ouldseemanintegralparto fanew and

ratherthana devicefortheconservation

conclusion whichattributedthepeculiar

othe generaldecayinmintingprocedures

antiatedinthis hoard.O nceagainthe

amassivescale.Naturallythiswould

uvestoacerta indegree. I t isimpossibleto

tateandC urrency intheR omanE mpireto300a. D. Stock-

2103. We neednotresorttoB o lin sthesisregarding

ria tion o f so-ca lled" charged co insinthecaseo

soovervaluedthatthe intrinsicvalueofthemetal

theiracceptabilityinthemarket.O nlyinsofar

ew aslega llye uiva lenttoagivenw eightofgo ldw ould

nagevaryw ithitsw eight. Theactua lquantityof

paredwiththe needsforsuchcurrencywouldhave

ofthefiduciarycurrencyinto goldtoagreaterde-

erew astoomuchbron eonthemarkettobeabsorbed

nvertibil itywouldhavefa llen. I nsofarasthequantity

besaid tobeanatural concomitantofitsweight

pieces maybesaidtoreflect theconvertibility

nstantrateofabsorptionintothe economyispostu-

88 hasmadeaninterestingremark ontheoverva luation

cywhichwasmaintainedduringthe earlyempire:

urrency how ever w asquiteadif ferentmatter. During

eenheavilyovervalued ascomparedtothegold

spect thoughI cannotprove it thattheemperors

eamountofcopperincirculation inordertoe tricate

ncialdifficulties andthatcertainmeasuressuch

dAntoninianus hasasoneofits basicaimsthedeva-

rncy asHill igerasserts. B o linstressesthatthe

have beenverygreat.

C r e a



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mtheundippedspecimensin thehoard

rudeworkmanshipwhichisevidentin the

theconse uentlackofuniformity

anyverye actdistinctionsmeaningless.

ardclippingonthe formofthefre uency

nbepredicted.Allthosecharacteristicswhich

dationw ouldbee aggerated. I tshould

edthatthemode orpo intofhighestconcentra-

eaverageweightand thatthecoefficient

itehigh.

hepublicationofY therearedataw ithw hich

n.F orthispurposeweshall addthe

rdtothatderivedfrom V .Manyofthe

atstudyareconfirmedin V .Thisisparti-

onsbaseduponthefre uencytable.

C r e a



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ductionswhichmaybemadeon thebasis

aw ordshouldbesa idaboutthecho iceof

oningbehindthechoice ofaninterval

actly thesameasinthecaseofY . I t is

nminteverad ustedevenitsprecious

egreethan0.095gramsorone-halfcarat.

allestweightintheancientworldwhich

nthecaseof al-marcoissuesoffiduciary

ttheR omanmintw ouldhavebeenaware

n afullcarat.A tablebasedupona

samulti-modaldistributionbecause

ofaccuracythanwase ercisedbythe

pintervalofonecaratseemsto yieldthe

uency table forV theco insarediv idedinto

groups.Cumulativesub-totalsofallthe

fV a lentinianI I I , Marcian andL eoare

velopmentofthelarger pictureoffifth

ymaynotbeobscured. I naddition o fcourse

mogeneous thelargerthebodyof datathe

onclusionswhicharederivedfromit.

efre uencytablewhichmustbee plained.

alforall periodssavethatfromV alenti-

s. F orthissegmentof thehoardthere isabi-modal

how ever rememberthatonly thirty -eight

particularseriesandthatclipping was

onanduncertainattributionsofsomeof

omparisoninarigidsensew iththef re uency

ble.Y containsonlythirty-sevencoins

dduringthesameinterval.The inter-

ntedbyY canonlybetentativebe-

blesis toogreat.I tispossiblethat this

tsfromstrikingtheearlierissues ofЖ 4

rweightthan thelaterissues.This

g whichfollowedaspecificpatternto

o lderco ins ortoother unk now nfactors.

basis oftheevidencenowbeforeusis that

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f romV alentinianI throughA rcadiusdoes

ousseries.I twillre uirefurthermetrological

moreinformationcomesto lightfrom

stsofclarityw ehaveincludedaf re uency

mationderivedfromY andV .

vedmetrologicalproblemtoonesidefor

ebroaderpicture certainfactsareimme-

lstepforall thecoinsinV beforethe

iththeso lee ceptionof thosedatingf romthe

ween0.78and0.95grams.Thecoins of

avier themodalstepbeingbetween

eY containedcoinsthroughthereign

dsaredirectly comparable buttheco insin

econdit ionthanthose intheV o lodeposit.

circulationfor alongerperiodoftime

oardorhadreceivedmuchworsetreatment.

d containsspecimenswhich f romthestandpo int

dcondition.Theyhad verylikelybeen

odof time.Anobviousconclusiontobe

udedinthef re uency table isthatthe J 4

Arcadius toZ enoformsahomogeneous

truckveryslightly heavierduringthe

rmsthe findingmadeinthecaseof Y ,

C r e a



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ei nweightduringthereignof Marcian

entinthatcasebecauseof thepaucity

eignincludedinthedeposit.

thecaseof theco inagesofZ enoandthe

hointervenedbetweenthefirstandsecond

mitsfurtherdeductions. I t isimpossibletodeter-

noarederivedfromhis firstreign( 474-475

d(477-491 . P ossibly thefourco insofZ eno

otherthana monogramandseemtobe

006 w erestruck inZ eno sf irstre ign

nogramtypes whicharegenerallylighter

condre ign. Thisiscon ectura l a lthough

rityofic onographietypesandthediffering

how ever placetoomuchimportanceonthe

enthetwoseriesbecausethis initselfmay

w coinsoftheiconographietypesto

ents.We maysafelyassumethatthebulk

epresentedinthishoarddatesfrom thesecond

oyedthe imperia ldignity f romF ebruary9

hhischild L eo I I , itw asonlyaf terNovember

leemperor. 41B y J anuary9 475hehadalready

asiliscuswasincontrolof thecapital.

ereignforZ enolastedlessthantwo

asiliscuslastedtwentymonths from

476. I t isimprobablethatthef irstreign

nlyone- tenthaslongasthere ignofB asil iscus

aternumberofcoins.SinceV shows110

edtoonly36 struckduringthereignof

nferthatthebulk of theco inageofZ enoderives

eventeenyears.Wecan notdatethedeposit

sincethebron eco inageitse lf isundated

asburiedq uitesometimebeforethe

1. ThechildemperorLeo I I hadconferredthe imperia l

hecoinagewasissuedinboth namesuntilthesole

Sabatier Descriptiong n ra ledesmonnaiesby antines

reursd O rientdepuisA rcadiusj us u à laprisedeCon-

I , r e p r in t G r a , 1 9 5 5 P i s . V I I , n o s . 15 1 6 a nd 1 7 .

C r e a



u s e # c c - b y - n c - s a - 4 . 0


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necanonlysay thattheev idencepo intsto

ugust476and April491.I fweallowa

heaccumulationofZ eno s110specimens

asonableguess.

tmadecanbeaccepted thene tgroupofco ins

geofB asil iscus A e liaZ enonis andthe j o int

Marcus.Thepiecesfalling intothiscategory

othetw entymonthsbetw eenJ anuary

is anoticeabledropinweight reflected

chfallsbetween0.60and0.77grams.This

obviouslymirroredin thedeclineinthe

ageto0.79grams thelightestyeten-

minimi.B asiliscusapparentlytookthe

rocessoflighteningtheminimibelowthe

ofArcadius.

chcoversthenospecimensfromthe reign

ntinuingdecline inw eight. Wehavepresumed

sdatefromAugust476to April491.

itslowestpoint 0.42to0.59grams and

esthenadirat 0.62grams.

the historyoftheminimimaybe

ency tables butacloserana ly siso f the

uponthesetablesis necessarybeforethe

hany degreeofe actness.

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u s e # c c - b y - n c - s a - 4 . 0


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d 1.21grams.Areviewofall thedata

eticalweightof about1.18grams with

mthe poundofrawmetal.O nceagain

nmustbee ercised fortheR omanmoneyer

onsinbron ecoinagefinerthanthe carat.

hisseries couldj ustaseasilybe1.14

beingstruckfromthe poundofrawmetal.

aR omanmoneyercoulddistinguishob ects

byonly0.04grams.W emaylogically

hatthetheoretica lw eightof thecoinsw asa

ansystemofweights. Thescruple aunito f

mansystem w eighs1. 14grams. Thereare288

ththisinmind w ew ouldsuggestthatthe

inimiissuedduring theperiodfromTheo-

re ignofLeo w iththee ceptionof those

Marcian wasonescrupleinweight.This

indingsonaverysmallsca le fromY, but

essomeviolencetothe principlesupon

eisusedinnumismatics. I nthecaseofY

wassogreat thatwefeltit morelikely

18gramswasmoreaccurate.I nactual

wouldbemeaninglessbecausethedifference

recouldbeacceptedf romtheev idenceofY .

moreserious foritinvolvesplacingthe

wohundredthsofa gramabovethehighest

eforthecoinsfromthe reignsofTheo-

n t in i an I I I a s w el l a s in t h e se r ie s f ro m t he

inianI I throughV alentinianI I I andin

etica lly it isimprobablethattheco ins

rethan1.12 or1.13gramswhenissued.

insfrom theperiodfromV alentinianI I

enincludedin thetotalof237covering

nianI I toV a lentinianI I I mak esnoappreci-

ts.O mittingthesepiecesdoesnotalter

hedifficulty.All thatcanbesaid isthat

o insf romthereignofV a lentinianI to

emstoshowatheoreticalweightof 1.14

C r e a



u s e # c c - b y - n c - s a - 4 . 0


36/101

erhapsthe136coinsfromthe reignsof

hroughA rcadiusandthere ignofMarcianhave

forthelightnessoftheremaining674

heperiodprecedingthereignof Z eno.

atisfactorymethodforsolvingthe

playingwithfiguresin ordertogeta spe-

emustallowthefacts tospeakforthem-

heminimi werestruckslightlyheavier

r.This conclusioncannotbeavoided.

er werenegligibleandevenundetectable

Theymerelyreflectimperialordinanceswhich

recoinsbe issuedfromthepoundof

ingthere ignsofTheodosiusI andV alen-

llasduringthatofLeo asmanyas300co insw ere

fmetal.E achpiecewouldthenhavea

9grams( f iveandahalf carats . Thisaccords

nthere ignofMarcian how ever m inimi

stheoretica lw eight( j ustabovesi carats

nedfromthe poundofrawmetal.These

R omanmoneyermightoperateandstill

erybythepublic.All coinswouldcirculate

auniformweightof1.14gramsandas if

hepound.

sedisthatthere wereminorfluctuationsin

hich reflectedgovernmentalmonetary-

werenotimmediatelyevidentoreven

nryandwerethereforeoflimitedeconomic

s.Theywouldnaturallyescapethenotice

ThisconclusionwasnotevidentfromY

omeofthe attributions.I twouldseem

esultofthemetrologicalanalysis.

weight oftheminimi wehaveseen

asiliscus.Thetheoreticalweightoftheindi-

bout0.97grams.P erhapsitwasevenas

ecarats butthestatist ica ldataseemto

eight.I neithercase thedifferencebetween

ecoins asissuedfromthemint andthe

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hadacceptedtheearliercoinagewasnow

oins weremorethantwo-tenthsofa

ticalweight whileonlyveryfewspecimens

ishedstandard.Specimensfromthereign

greaterdroptoabout0. 84grams( fouranda

h384co insstruck f romthepoundof raw meta l.

ly awareofthechangewhichhadbeen

mentalrecognitionofthechangedstandard

icnecessityifcompleterepudiationwere

tplace.

htof theminiminowbecomesclear.

pla inthemonetarypo licyw hichcausedthese

heentire picturetothegeneraleconomic

The evidencefortheperiodpreceding

mewhatconfusing butitwouldseemthat

elast q uarterofthefourthcenturythe

gramstheoreticalweight.This agrees

forintheyear396 theEmperorsA rca-

edthattwenty-fivepoundsofbron eshould

s.43This constitutionwasincludedinthe

edin438.ANovellaof V alentinianI I I of

thesolidus mightbeboughtfromthe

gildofmoneychangers , f o r7 200nummiandso ld

ignif icantchangeoccurredinthew eightsof thegold

period396-445 anditseemsclearthatthe

tomaintaina fi edvalueforthesolidus

s. Go ldco inageva luesintermsofbron e

tefreelyin themarket andthemargin

salepriceof solidibythecollectantwas

husthe profitmarginofthemoneychanger

rnment.E conomicconditionsinthemarket

betweenpurchaseandsalepricebemade

ecollectariimightevenpetitionfor sucha

2 1 2 . Cf . С . J u s t. X , 2 9 I , w h i c h re p ea t s th i s co n st i tu t io n

mssionofq uin u a f terv iginti. I nthecourseof the

atethischange.

I . S e e Y , p . 1 51 n o te 2 6 f o r ou r d is c us s io n o f th i s te t .

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w ek now thatin384/ 5theydidmak esuchapeti-

idiandminimi andtheq uantityofthese

etwouldchange andasaresult thepur-

ychangerswouldhavetoreflecttheeconomic

prescribedbylaw.O neisclearlybefore

erventionintheoperationof themarket

Thattherewere constantdifficulties

entalinterferenceisclearfromthe number

t.

200nummitotheso lidusistakenaspreva il-

f if thcentury andif theedicto fHonorius

orce thenatheoreticalweightof1.14

mthepoundof raw meta lisre uiredfor

eemtobereasonablein thelightofthe

heperiodfromArcadius throughthereign

f itsthissystemwell. I tseemslik e ly thattheaction

rcadiusestablishingthemintratio ofgold

ainthenatureofareformconnectedw itha

currency.Theconfusedpictureyieldedby

hecoinageof theperiodbeforethedeath

turalconcomitantofthischange.I nany

swasa periodoffinancialandfiscaldifficulty

nt.L argetributepaymentsweremadeto

barbarians. A tthesametimetheta struc-

ppliedrigorously.B ydintoftheseefforts

dtoretainsolvencyandtomaintaincurrency

thefinancialpositionofthe government

.P erhapstheresoluteq ualityofhis

alpolicytowardsthebarbarians aswell

fthewesternrulers andthemachinations

a inducedtheHunstoturnthe irattention

avennaandGaul.Marcianstoppedthe

tswhichhadbeenmadetothe H uns

rangementsandmanagedtoaccumulate

n100 000poundsofgo ld asumw hiche cited

us i n M GH , A . A. V I , p p . 30 3 3 0 4.

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un.4eTheemperormanagedtodothis

softhe empireinsuchfashionthatnot

utenewta esbutevenremovedoldones

a lsoremittedarrearsinta es. Hisre ignw as

age inwhichallthingswere well.47This

mittedtheemperortoreducetheprofits

int andtostriketheminimi slightlyheav-

msor276 coinsfromthepoundof metal.

duced thenumberofcoinsissuedand

ncreasedthe irva lue. I nessence theminim i

redtothe standardprevalentbefore396.

nmentfinanceswasnotlong-lived.

yL eo. TheB y antineauthorshavegivenL eo

davaricewhich isperhapssomewhat

thetighteningoffiscal policyintimesof

sfule peditionagainsttheV andalsin

hichensued uponthemurderofAspar

umsofreadycash.U nderthecircumstances

aina greaterprofitfromtheissuanceof

cingtheweight onceagaintothestandard

orius.B ythismeasureagreaternumber

dfromagivenweightofbron e.

luctuationsofthe bron ecurrencyfrom

calq ualityintheseminorshifts which

enalargemassof minimifromasingle

ordetailedstudy.Thefactsare q uite

ge planationforthesecyclica ltrendsmust

eabsenceof literaryevidenceoracomplete

nviewofthepaucityof certainlydatedpapyri

suchaprice inde w ouldappeartobebeyond

eightinthe caseoftheminimi however

olicyandarenot merechance.F orreasons

us D e M a gi st ra ti bu s P o pu li R o m an i I I I , 4 3 ( B o nn e d. p . 23 6 :

a io v к а M cc p i av v t v p hp io v ê X Ô c ov ô A < o v K a i t 6v u Ao t ov

X o s à T s o t o vp vT is т т о Х ё щ о ; X an í á v i vü h eX X e v ( f v 5 í mi pT s

r ov T S oc s т о й x p v̂ í o uA iT p v .

237 w hocitestheancientsources. The laterchronicler

thereignof Marcianasa" goldenage ( B onned. p.167 .

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butwhichnonethelessmusthavebeen

f f icia lso f thetime minorad ustmentsw ere

bron ecurrency . Onesuchad ustment as

de inthere ignofMarcian andthoughw ehave

planation theev idence isinsuf f icientfor

rntoaslightlyheav ierbron eco ininthe

y j udgethebron ecurrencyof theperiod

edat 1.14gramsand288minimito the

ssiblethat thetheoreticalweightwasslightly

renoma orchangesduringthoseyears.

ngedabruptly.P erhapstheshortreign

ngprecariously fortw entymonths e hausted

inthetreasuryatthetimeofL eo sdeath.

resourcesofthestatemusthavebeen

yearsfollowingthedeathof L eobecauseof

ressure.48U nderthecircumstancesaweight

urrencywouldhaveyieldeda signi-

thavesolvedthe fiscalproblemsofagovern-

ydependentuponta rece iptsink ind but

lioratingeffect.Atthispoint ifthesame

7 200nummitotheso lidushe ldtrue tw enty

havepurchasedonegoldpiece.This isa

nnow bedatedonnumismaticgrounds

ofB asiliscus.

dictofH onoriusandArcadiusaspreserved

cordstheolder evaluationattwenty-five

eso lidus. Whenthissameconstitutionw as

urisC ivil is theva luationw aschanged

e.49SincetheTheodosianCodewaspublished

ef fectasof J anuary1 439 thechangemust

rthisdate.No changeisindicatedinthe

tnianI I I o rMa orian. I nthepreservedsecond

w ascompletedin534 how ever thechange

H i s t o ry o f t he L a t er R o m a n E m p i re f r om A r ca d iu s t o I r e í ,

p . 25 3.

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irstC odeof J ustinian w hichisunfor-

aredin529by acommissionoftenwithvery

empoweredtoremoveobsoleteorunneces-

concilecontradictorylaws andeventomake

nte tsandin theorderoftheenactments.

ntoTrebonianus D orotheus andthethree

w ork edonthesecondC ode w hichise tant.

tantintroductoryconstitutionstothe

sevident therefore thatthechangeoccurred

blicationoftheTheodosianCodeandthe

monetaryhistoryofthe laterR oman

e thechangeto475/6.Trebonianusandhis

eapparentcontradictionbyinserting

older constitution.

s notendhere.A fragmentfromthe

dinSuidastells usthatduringthe early

othetreasuryhadreachedsuch alowebb

hateverL eohadmanagedtoaccumulate

peditionandbeforehisdeathhadbeenq uick ly

argesses. 60E venif thispassagebedatedto

o n n ed . p . 2 75 : t 5 k oi v v t t e el s т г й с т о т â - rr op ia v к а -

uriS vï x e ví nr Aomov & tey pê vт ф koivc tc u I coA covkoteAittev

r oZ r i vo ov os t oc ú í k ek ev c t o Tr v To c T r o AA u v x a p it ou v ou t o ç ç î A oi ,

C k ô w to s5 ¿ x p î o O s с Ь с г г е c cC rr y iv cb a E i v e t ti к а 1 ä A Ac os kA et tt oi ut o.

esthete tto477w ithoutany furthercomment. C . M ller

um G r ae c or u m P a r is 1 8 68 I V , p . 1 16 r e pe a ts t h e sa m e

buthedatestheeventto475 re ly ingontheauthority

etorianPraefectEry thrius w hoseactivit iesaredis-

w asinoff ice in473andlater andthathew asprobably

tlybeforethereturnofZ eno. O. Seeck P auly -Wissow a

derclassischenA ltertumsw issenschaf t I V , co l. 602 ho ldsthat

ceduringthefirstreign ofZ enobecausethepassage

cf ic a ll y ' E p O ô p i o â - r ra p /o s y ey o vc o s ё т г 1 Z r v c v o s. I n f a ct

essedtoE rythriusdatefrom466and472 duringthe

e d . P a u l K r u e ge r C o de I u s ti n ia n us i n C or p us I u r is C i vi l is

rl in 1954 H » P -5 7-E ry thriusw asapparently succeeded

ometimeintheyear472 ifw emay j udgef romthecon-

urisC ivil is. A lsoseeE. Ste in H isto ireduB as- mpire

, p . 66 . Cf . Ma lc hu s 88 B ( B o n n ed . p . 26 3 : ô t i t v & p o vt o

Р и с т ' ° и Ah pc ns v E K r r e uT r u ev ov с о с т т г е р E Ü S o nn ov a r p oc s ys vo u v ri s

ё т г T re vT oc O C T a is ó u o A T pa i й л г ё с т т е Л е у . T hi sp as sa ge is re pe at ed in

i s t or i co r um G r ae c or u m I V p . 1 20 . I t i s d at e d by M l l er t o

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s

therecanhavebeennosubstantialimprove-

asiliscus.With anemptytreasurythe

esorttoall possiblesourcesofrevenue.

arycoinageyieldedstillgreatermint

erageweightoftheminimi nowfellto

mayc on ec turethatthetheoretic alweightwas

imately 84c oinswerenowstruc k fromthe

eclineofthe nummus introducedinthe

asvirtuallytheonly smallchangeduring

tury wasnowcomplete. tremained

fbetterfinancialability withasenseof

iutereformsveryearly inhisreign. A n

n ecurrencywithsomelargeso-called

andan averageweightofalmostseventeen

bedrawnfromthereconstructionof

tseemsobviousata glancethattheim-

ellawareoftheprofitsto besecuredby

rybron ecurrency.Theprofittothemint

minimicannothavebeen inconsiderable

rgencytheweightofthecoinwaslowered

romapoundof metal. ntimesofrelative

eattempttomaintainarespectablefiduciary

c aseofmostc oinages however theimperial

oresisttemptation andthegeneraltrend

epassageis uestionablebecauseoftheimprobability

yptincreasedfromfiftypoundsofgoldto 5oopounds

oftime.Sucha ten-foldincreasewouldhavebeen

theperiod butthereisnosupportingevidence.

rnhistorianshave simplyomittedanyreferenceto

e M a gi st ra ti bu s o pu li R o m an i I I , 4 5 B o n n ed . p p . 2 8

pec if ically thatthestatewasonthevergeof f inanc ialruinf romthe

ssionofAnastasiusbecauseZ enoforcedthemagistrates

ebarbarians. ohn yduswasac ontemporaryof

anditmaybesafelyassumedthat hewouldhave

creaseinwealth.

7 stressesthef inanc ialac umenoftheemperor. Seealso

e M ag is tr at ib us o pu li R o m an i I I , 4 5 B o n n ed . p p . 2 8

sthatAnastasiussavedthestatef romvirtualruin. B ury

sesthefinancialpolicyofAnastasiusinlaudatoryterms.

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ecoinage.Thisis particularlytrueafter

aya lsonotethatthe increase inthenumber

ndofmetalprobablymeantanincrease

tisunlikelythat theimperialgovern-

n anywayintermsofthe q uantity

esmeantmomentarilygreaterprofits.As

therewasadayof reck oning andthatday

asil iscus a f terthema orforceof the

dspentitselfandtheW estwaslost.Thelarger

cedweightmusthave lostsomeoftheir

nversionintogold atthefi edrateof

idus.Thiswasdisastrousbecausethein-

y coinagewassolowthattheir market

conversion.Throughouttheentirefifth

ecurrencyhadbeenissuedi nlargeamounts

hat L eowasforcedintoa positionof

ntsthanbefore.H istremendouse pen-

ll-f a tedV andalice peditionin468had

sofover100 000poundsofgo ldle f ttohim

estimatesthecosto f thee pedit ionat130 000

ohnL ydusandC andidusgivetheestimate

o ldand700 000poundsofsilver. 52Thesetre-

couldnotpossiblyhavebeenrecoupedbefore

sus. Theearly si thcenturyauthor Malchus

mostavariciousruler who becauseof

w asguiltyo f thesinofe tortingmoney f rom

apswasthemeasureof hisneed.W ithan

yholdon thethronetheemperorwasin

tosecure moneyfromallpossiblesources.

ralthanthat heshouldseekagreatin-

theoperationofthemint Theevidence

heeconomicsituationre uiredsomegovern-

e l lo V a n d l ic o I , 6 ( B o n n ed . I , p . 3 35 ; I o an ne s L y du s

u l i R o m an i I I I , 4 3 ( B o n n e d . p . 23 7 ; C a nd i du s ( B o n n

y p. 337 note3 foradiscussionof thesef igures. Also

h te d e s sp t r m i sc h en R e i c h es V i e nn a 1 9 28 1 p p . 53 1 5 3 2.

B o n n e d . p p . 2 7 4 2 7 5 = f r a g. 7 i n M l l er F r a gm e nt a

m I V , p . 1 16 .

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swereopentohim:either hemight

nimie ualtothesolidus andsimplyre-

w hichmusthaveoccurredw henthebron e

lity—inwhichcase hederivednoprofit— or

tratioofgo ldtobron e w itha llthatthis

ngedthenumberofminim ie ua ltothesolidus

hew ouldsimplyhavestabil i edthecourseof

rrency . I t isclearf romthete tintheC orpus

condcourse thato f low eringthego ld-

1:1800to1:1440 w aschosen. Thereasons

Stocksof bron eformonetarypurposes

ble.B yloweringthemintratiothe E mperor

ne- f if thtotheva lueofsuchbron estock s.

vewouldhavehadthelong-termeffectof

fiduciarybron ecurrency.This however

assbecauseprices arenotoriouslyslowon

nditisdoubtfulthat thismovebyitself

sedconfidenceinthefiduciarybron e.The

nforcedtoaccept thegovernment s

highestauthority butthereisno surety

sthemovewas particularlyeffective.

entaladvantagewhichaccruedtotheimperial

ngewastheincreasedabilityto lighten

orquick ga in. Thef irstso lution w hich

conomicsituation thatis thedecline in

wouldhavebeensounderfromapurelytheoretical

how ever l ik e indiv idua ls are interested

economics andsothesecondcourse was

erin476wasnotmark edbyany improvement

the government.Aswehaveindicated

ringhisfirst yearsinpower.O nlyone

mperor a furtherreductioninthew eight

togetherw itha largerissue. B asil iscushad

eminimitothebreakingpoint.There can

mintratioof1: i8oogavebron eahigher

ein themarketplace.Suchis thenature

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overnmentinitstime ofneedwasvitally

chit couldobtainfromtheoperation

lana ly sis w hentheminimife lltoanaverage

anda theoreticalweightof0.84grams

maintained.Notonlywasthebron every

buttheactualcoinagewas belowitstheoretical

hatallcoulddetectit. Thisinitselfmight

ningless iftheissueshadbeen limitedand

ouldhavebeen maintained.Unfortunately

ebeenthecase.Thetemptationtoissue

of itmusthavebeenalmostoverw helmingin

tinthemidstofa financialcrisis.

eformof Anastasiusremainssomewhat

ay.Thereis noinformationastohowthe

eti edorhow thee changew asaccomplish-

arscertain.An emperorofbusinessability

dingupthetreasurycouldnot havemade

alueofthebron einthetreasurystocks

intratio . I nstead theemperorreformed

emonetarysystembyabolishingtheminimi

ioof 1:1440whichappearsintheCorpus

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s I I , V a l en t in i an I I I

L e o Z e n o o r A el i a Z e n on i s

O I N SF O R E A CH H E A D I NG I N TH E CA TA O G U E

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A bronze hoard of the period of Zeno I / by Howard L. Adelson and Georg L. Kustas

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Transcript of A bronze hoard of the period of Zeno I / by Howard L. Adelson and Georg L. Kustas