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ACTA TERRAE

SEPTEMCASTRENSIS

ISSN 1583-1817

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CONTENT

ACTA TERRAE SEPTEMCASTRENSIS V

Editorial board:

Editor: Sabin Adrian LUCA (Universitatea „Lucian Blaga” din Sibiu, România); Members: Paul NIEDERMAIER (membru corespondent al Academiei Române), (Universitatea „Lucian Blaga” din Sibiu, România); Dumitru PROTASE (membru de onoare al Academiei Române) (Universitatea „Babeş-Bolyai” Cluj-Napoca); Paolo BIAGI (Ca’Foscary University Venice, Italy); Martin WHITE (Sussex University, Brighton, United Kingdom); Michela SPATARO (University College London, United Kingdom); Zeno-Karl PINTER (Universitatea „Lucian Blaga” din Sibiu, România); Marin CÂRCIUMARU (Universitatea „Valahia” Târgovişte, România); Nicolae URSULESCU (Universitatea „Al. I. Cuza” Iaşi, România); Gheorghe LAZAROVICI (Universitatea „Eftimie Murgu” Reşiţa, România); Thomas NÄGLER (Universitatea „Lucian Blaga” din Sibiu, România); Secretaries:Ioan Marian ŢIPLIC (Universitatea „Lucian Blaga” din Sibiu, România); Silviu Istrate PURECE (Universitatea „Lucian Blaga” din Sibiu, România); Web editor: Cosmin Suciu

 

Acta Terrae Septemcastrensis I

Acta Terrae Septemcastrensis II

Acta Terrae Septemcastrensis III

Acta Terrae Septemcastrensis IV

A roman group of coins from Vâlcea county museum

Silviu Istrate PURECE,

Universitatea “Lucian Blaga” din Sibiu, România,

arheo_spi@yahoo.com

UN GRUP DE MONEDE ROMANE IMPERIALE DIN COLECŢIA MUZEULUI JUDEŢEAN VÂLCEA

-rezumat-

În colecţia Muzeului Judeţean Vâlcea, între numerele de inventar 14024-14033, au fost înregistraţi 10 denari romani imperiali achiziţionaţi de la doctorul Ploscaru Constantin din Rm Valcea în 1997.

Monedele au fost emise de împăraţii: Vespasianus 1, Antoninus Pius 1 (din care 1 pentru Faustina I), Commodus 1, Septimius Severus 6 (dintre care 1 pentru Iulia Domna şi 3 pentru Caracalla) şi Caracalla 1, la Roma (vezi tabelul şi graficul).

În urma analizei lotului de monede putem să facem câteva observaţii:

1. monedele se grupează într-un interval cronologic nu foarte întins;

2. se poate constata o unitate din punct de vedere a nominalului, lotul conţinând numai denari;

3. monedele sunt puţin circulate, un anumit grad de uzură constatându-se în cazul monedelor anterioare domniei lui Septimius Severus.

4. lotul nu conţine monedă realizată din aliajele cuprului, deşi aceasta este foarte frecventă în cadrul descoperirilor izolate.

În urma unei analize comparative putem observa că structura tezaurului de la Pădureţu este sensibil apropiată de cea a lotului nostru, în timp ce fragmentul de tezaur de la Gârbou, se eşalonează pe un interval cronologic aproape identic cu cel al acestuia.

În concluzie, considerăm că nu este deloc imposibil ca grupul de monede intrat în colecţia numismatică a Muzeului Judeţean Vâlcea să provină dintr-un tezaur (cea mai facilă cale de obţinere a monedei romane de argint), ce s-ar fi putut încheia cu monedă aparţinând lui Elagabalus. Structura lotului, tipul de nominal, aspectul monedelor, precum şi unitatea sa ne face să ne gândim la o astfel de posibilitate.

 

Vâlcea County Museum has registered in its numismatic assemblage, between the numbers 14024-14033, 10 roman imperial denars bought in 1997 from dr. Ploscaru Constantin from Vâlcea.

The catalogue of the coins:

 

1. VESPASIANVS

 

Av. IMP CAESAR VESPASIANVS AVG; Rv. COS-VII

RIC II, no.: 99a, Roma, 76, D, A: 6, weight: 3,12g, size: 19,3x17,4mm.

Description: Eagle on cippus whith head to left.

Head to right, laureate.

Inventar number: 14027.

 

2. ANTONINVS PIVS: FAVSTINA I

 

Av. DIVA-FAVSTINA; Rv. AETER-NITAS

RIC III, no.: 351, Roma, after 141, D, A: 6, weight: 2,82g, size: 18,5x16,3mm.

Description: Providentia standing left, veil blown out behind head, holding globe.

Bust to right.

Inventar number: 14030.

 

3. COMMODVS

 

Av. [M C]OMMODVS-ANTON AVG P[IVS]; Rv. [PMT]RP VIIII-IMP VI COS IIII PP

RIC III, no.: 72, Roma, 183-184, D, A: 12, weight: 3,43g, size: 17x15,5mm.

Description: Minerva advancing right brandishing javelin and holding shield< at feet, right, owl.

Head to right, laureate.

Inventar number: 14028.

 

4. SEPTIMIVS SEVERVS

 

Av. SEVERVS AVG-PART MAX, Rv. VIRT-AVGG

RIC IV/I, no.: 171a, Roma, 200-201, D, 6, weight: 3,32g, size: 19x18,6mm.

Description: Virtus standing left, holding Victory and resting on shield, spear against left arm.

Head to right, laureate.

Inventar number: 14024.

 

5. SEPTIMIVS SEVERVS

 

Av. SEVERVS-PIVS AVG, Rv. FVNDAT-OR-PACIS

RIC IV/I, no.: 265, Roma, 200-210, D, 6, weight: 3,11g, size: 18,1x18,7mm.

Description: Septimius, veiled, standing left, holding branch and roll.

Head to right, laureate.

Inventar number: 14026.

 

6. SEPTIMIVS SEVERVS: IVLIA DOMNA

 

Av. IVLIA-AVGVSTA, Rv. FELI-C-I-TAS

RIC IV/I, no.: 551, Roma, 196-211, D, 12, weight: 2,82g, size: 18,4x19,5mm.

Description: Felicitas standing left, holding caduceus and scepter.

Bust to right.

Inventar number: 14025.

 

7. SEPTIMIVS SEVERVS: CARACALLA

 

Av. M AVR ANTONI-NVS CAES; Rv. [SE]CVRITAS PE-RPETVA

RIC IV/I, no.: 2, Roma, 196, D, A: 12, weight: 2,81g, size: 17,3x16,7mm.

Description: Minerva whit aegis on breast, standing left, resting right hand on shield and holding spear in left hand.

Bust to right, draped, cuirassed.

Inventar number: 14033.

 

8. SEPTIMIVS SEVERVS: CARACALLA

 

Av. M AVR ANTO-NINVS CAES; Rv. SPEI PERPETVAE

RIC IV/I, no.: 5, Roma, 196, D, A: 5, weight: 2,53g, size: 18x17mm.

Description: Spes advancing left, holding flower and raising skirt.

Bust to right, draped, cuirassed.

Inventar number: 14032.

 

9. SEPTIMIVS SEVERVS: CARACALLA

 

Av. ANTONINVS-PIVS AVG; Rv. PONTIF TRP-VIIII COS II

RIC IV/I, no.: 83, Roma, 206, D, A: 6, weight: 3,32g, size: 19,3x18,6mm.

Description: Marte in military dress, standing left, resting right hand on shield and holding spear.

Head to right, laureate.

Inventar number: 14031.

 

10. CARACALLA

 

Av. ANTONINVS PIVS-AVG BRIT; Rv. PMTRP XV-COS III PP

RIC IV/I, no.: 193, Roma, 212, D, A: 6, weight: 3,13g, size: 19,5x17,8mm.

Description: Serapis wearing polos on head, standing front, head left, raising right hand and holding transverse sceptre.

Head to right, laureate.

Inventar number: 14029.

 

As we can notice from the above list of coins, the group of coins is quite compact. Coins were issued by the emperors: Vespasianus 1, Antoninus Pius 1 (from which 1 for Faustina I), Commodus 1, Septimius Severus 6 (from which 1 for Iulia Domna and 3 for Caracalla) and Caracalla 1, in Roma (see the table and the graphic).

 

The majority of the pieces of this group belong to the Severian Dynasty (7 coins) and represent 70% from the total amount of coins. By analyzing the graphic we can observe that the group of coins is highly unitary not only concerning the minting time, but also the type of coin, all of doctor Ploscaru’s coins being denars. It is interesting how this group of coins reached in the doctor’s numismatic collection (now belonging to the V â lcea County Museum) . It is very strange why he didn’t sell any bronze coins to the Museum, because it is well known that the roman imperial bronze ones are the most frequent depicted coins in the isolated discoveries from Dacia. What is remarkable is that the coins are very well preserved. Most of them don’t have any sign of wear (this is a specific situation for a hoard Mitrea, B., 1971, p. 124; Purece S. I., 2005, p. 23 etc.) . All these arguments make us draw the conclusion that the coins have not stayed a long period of time in circulation, except the denar minted by Vespasianus.

Taking into account that the coins have been issued in a relative close succession, considering their state of preservation and the fact that they are only denars, we can assume the possibility of getting them from a hoard by doctor Ploscariu. After all, this is most common way of obtaining large amounts of roman silver coins. It is possible that these coins were part of a hoard that was probably ended with a coin issued by Caracalla or one of his successors.

It is interesting to see if there are any structure similarities beetwen our group of coins and any hoards ended whit coins minted by Caracalla or his successors. An eventual analogy may give as another clue to sustain our supposition that the coins are part of a monetary deposit.

Unfortunately, we can not compare our lot of coins with the only hoard discovered in the Roman Dacia, the hoard from Enoşeşti, Olt County (Suciu V., 2000, p. 37), finished whit Caracalla coins (Suciu V., 2000, p. 89). Unfortunately, t his hoard is presently lost but there are some opinions which claim that it was hidden during the reign of Elagabalus (Preda C., 1992-1993, p. 112). The only thing left to do is to compare our group of coins with the hoards ended with coins from Elagabalus.

One of the largest hoards from Roman Dacia was found at Pădureţu (Vâlcea County). This hoard hasn’t been sufficiently published; we have just some lapidary remarks about the repartition of the coins by emperors (Preda C, 1992-1993, p. 112). Unfortunately, our effort to establish the details about this repartition failed because we don’t have any piece of information about the numbers of the catalogue and because in the hoard preliminary study there isn’t a separation between the coins issued by Septimius Severus for Caracalla, Geta and Iulia Domna and the coins minted by Caracalla for himself, Geta and Iulia Domna. The only way to compare them to Pădureţu hoard is to take the coins issued during the reigns of Septimius Severus and Caracalla as a whole and not by emperors. In the case of Pădureţu hoard, from the total of 4942 coins (Preda C., 1992-1993, p. 110), 4328 were minted for Septimius Severus’ family, representing 87,58%. The coins issued before the reign of Septimius Severus totalize 584 pieces, which represent 11,82% and the coins minted after the death of Caracalla totalize 30 pieces, which represent 0,60%.

As belonging to Dacia, besides the great hoard discovered at Castranova (Dolj County) (Protase D., 1965, nr. 25), but lost at the time, we can also take into consideration one single hoard ended with coin from Elagabal. We are talking about the hoard found at Frânceşti (Vâlcea County) (Depeyrot G., Moisil D., 2004). The Frânceşti hoard has a different structure in comparison with the Pădureţu hoard. From a total of 1365 coins (Depeyrot G., Moisil D., 2004, p. 3), 1342 are anterior to the Septimius Severus reign period, representing 98,32% and just 22 are from Septimius Severus and Caracalla , which represent 1,61%. The hoard is ended with a coin minted by Elegabalus, which represent 0,07%.

It is interesting to study the coins which were preserved from the Gârbou (jud. Sălaj) hoard, in spite of the fact that this hoard was found in Transylvania. The oldest coins are from Vespasianus and the latest from Elagabalus, therefore coins minted not long after Caracalla's reign (Suciu V., 2000, p. 39).

Going back to our group of coins, we can observe that the pieces dated in Septimius Severus and Caracalla's reigns represent 70% and the previous ones represent 30%.

Taking into consideration the data above, one can notice the following things:

- two out of the three hoards ending with coins from Elagabalus found in Oltenia came from Valcea County (the historians have not reached yet a conclusion regarding the date when this hoards were hidden) (Găzdac C., 2002, vol. I, p. 61).

-the Pădureţu hoard seems to have the same structure like that of our group of coins, while the coins of the Gârbou hoard were issued almost during the same period.

In conclusion, we mention the possibility that the coins possessed by the museum were once part of a hoard that ended with coins from Elagabalus. The structure of the pieces, the fact that there are only denars, their state of preservation and their close issuing succession, are all arguments sustaining this possibility.

 

 

Abbreviations

 

Depeyrot G, Moisil D, 2004

Georges Depeyrot, Delia Moisil, Le trésor de Frânceşti. Les débuts de la crise de denier (98-235), Wetteren, 2004

Găzdac C., 2002,

Cristian Găzdac, Circulaţia monetară în Dacia şi provinciile învecinate de la Traian la Constantin I, Cluj-Napoca, 2002

Mitrea, B., 1971

Bucur Mitrea, Un document numismatic din a doua jumătate a secolului al III-lea: tezaurul de monede romane imperiale de la Olteni (jud. Vâlcea), în SCN, V, 1971

Preda C., 1992-1993

Constantin Preda, Tezaurul monetar roman imperial de la Pădureţu, jud. Vâlcea, în BSNR, 140-141, 1992-1993

Protase D, 1965

Dumitru Protase, Les trésors monétaires de la Dacie Romaine. Leur signification socialé-économique et ethno-politique, în Congresso internationale di numismatica, Roma, 11-16 sept. 1961, vol. II, Roma 1965

Purece S. I., 2005

Silviu Istrate Purece, Tezaurul de la Stăneşti, Bucureşti, 2005

Suciu V., 2000

Viorica Suciu, Tezaure monetare din Dacia romană şi postromană, Cluj-Napoca, 2000

 

GROUP STRUCTURE BY EMPERORS

 

Issuer

Reign period

Principal issuer coins number

Secondary issuer coins number

Total number

Entrances coefficient by year

%

Vespasianus

10

1

-

1

0,1

10

Antoninus Pius

23

-

-

1

0,04

10

Faustina I

-

1

Commodus

13

1

-

1

0,07

10

Septimius Severus

18

2

-

6

0,33

60

Iulia Domna

1

-

Caracalla

-

3

Caracalla

6

1

-

1

0,16

10

Total

-

6

4

10

-

100

 

GROUP STRUCTURE BY EMPERORS

 

 

CATALOGUL FOTOGRAFIC AL MONEDELOR

 

1. VESPASIANVS

Inventar number: 14027.

2. ANTONINVS PIVS: FAVSTINA I

Inventar number: 14030.

3. COMMODVS

Inventar number: 14028.

4. SEPTIMIVS SEVERVS

Inventar number: 14024.

5. SEPTIMIVS SEVERVS

Inventar number: 14026.

 

6. SEPTIMIVS SEVERVS: IVLIA DOMNA

Inventar number: 14025.

7. SEPTIMIVS SEVERVS: CARACALLA

Inventar number: 14033.

8. SEPTIMIVS SEVERVS: CARACALLA

Inventar number: 14032.

9. SEPTIMIVS SEVERVS: CARACALLA

Inventar number: 14031.

10. CARACALLA

Inventar number: 14029.