THE ROMAN COINS OF THE SCHOOL MUSEUM COLLECTIONS OF THE HAYVORON DISTRICT

Abstract

The article «Roman Coins from the School Museum Collection of the Haivoron Region» is devoted to the publication of Roman coins from the museum collection of the Zavallia Secondary School of I-III degrees in Haivoron district. The purpose of the study is to attribute the numismatic material of the collection and to conduct its scientific description and analysis in an attempt to search the place of Roman coins of this collection in the overall picture of the monetary relations of the Roman Empire with the barbaric world. The source of the study was the school numismatic collection of Roman coins of II IV centuries AD. Methods of scientific description, typological and historical methods, as well as the method of scientific reconstruction, were used during the research. The collection of antique Roman coins of the Zavallia School consists of 27 full solid coins and 2 fragments of coins. They were found in 7 different Chernyakhiv culture settlements on the territory of the Haivoron district of the Kirovograd region and Savran district of Odessa region. The school collection contains 20 silver denarii, 2 fragments of denarii imitation, 1 drachma, 1 antonian, as well as 2 copper folios and 1 copper semifolis. Silver coins are dated from the beginning of II century A.D. (denarii of Hadrian (117-138 A.D.)) to the middle of the third century A.D. (antonian by Gordian III (238-244 A.D.). Denarii by Mark Aurelius (161-180 A.D.) and denarii by Commodus (177-192 A.D.) are represented in 4 copies each. Most of the denarii are dated the beginning of the second century (Adrian ((117-138 AD)) – the beginning of the third century (Caracalla (211-217 A.D.). This corresponds to the third period of monetary circulation in the Roman Empire, as it was defined by V.V. Kropotkin. The fact that there were mostly Roman silver coins of the second century A.D. found on the Chernyakhiv settlements is explained by the following reasons: 1) they entered the «barbaric» world as a result of trade relations in the pre-Chernyakhiv period (Brychevsky M., Kropotkin V.); 2) they became a fee of Rome to Chernyakhiv tribes during the Scythian wars in the middle of the III century AD (Magomedov B.). In the III-IV centuries A.D. the rise of the economic crisis in Rome has led to a reduction of the emission of silver coins. Consequently, it led to a shortage of monetary silver in the Cherniakhiv culture. The minting of the local barbaric imitation of Roman denarii made of low-quality silver raised. Two fragments of denarii of Antoninus Pius (138-161 A.D.) and Mark Aurelius (161-180 A.D.) of gray metal (Bila Skelia settlement) in the collection may be evidence of this phenomenon. The antonian of Gordian III (238-244 A.D.) from the settlement of Zavalla-Radselo marks the IV period of the monetary circulation in the Roman Empire due to the definition of V. Kropotkin. Coins of this type are relatively rare in Eastern Europe. No silver coin has been dated to the 4th century. It entirely corresponds to the historical realities of the economic and political crisis of the Roman Empire deepening in the first half of IV century A.D. Copper folles, semi-folles of Constantine I (330 – 336 years A.D.) and Flavius Julius Constantine II (337-361 years A.D.) from the collection mark the 5th period of monetary circulation in the Roman Empire (from the 80’s of the III century to 70s of the IV century). Gothic Union, the part of which Chernyakhiv tribes were, was defeated by the Huns, settlements were burned, and the part of the Visigoths with the permission of Emperor Valentine moved into borders of the Empire. The Chernyakhiv tribes ceased or significantly reduced using of Roman money in internal trade relations. One of the folles (Constantine) in the collection had a small hole in the middle – it was used as a necklace and not for its intended purpose. It is interesting that in addition to the numismatic material of the Roman coinage itself, coins of the Minor Asian part of the Empire (the drachma of the Cappadocia province of Caracalla (211-217 A.D.) also got into the «barbaric» world of the Chernyakhiv tribes of the Middle Pobuzhzhia. Thus, the museum collection of Roman coins of the Zavallia Secondary School of I-III degrees reflects the third and the fifth periods of circulation of money in the Roman Empire and corresponds to the general picture of trade and money relations of Rome with the «barbaric» world of the Chernyakhiv period (3rd-5th century A.D).
Rome with the «barbaric» world of the Chernyakhiv period (3rd-5th century A.D).