Monede din perioada romană imperială descoperite în zona Orheiului (Republica Moldova)
Monede din perioada romană imperială descoperite în zona Orheiului (Republica Moldova)

Summary/Abstract: The author presents 63 coins from the Roman Imperial period, discovered in the vicinity of the city of Orhei, located in the central-eastern part of the Republic of Moldova. They appear to originate from several distinct findspots in the mentioned area, which were later mixed into a single batch that entered the collection of the Vasile Pârvan Institute of Archaeology long ago, without details regarding the conditions of their recovery. The only preserved information is that the coins were found near the localities of Mitoc and Isacova, a few km west of Orhei. Numerous coin finds have been made in the area of Orhei, most of them within settlements or necropolises belonging to the Sântana de Mureș-Chernyakhov group. The study of this batch made it possible to distinguish several distinct groups of coins, most of them in hoarded form. Some of the coins from the 2nd–3rd centuries underwent XRF analysis. Of the total, 48 of the coins are dated to the Principate period (38 denarii, five antoninianii, one sestertius, one as, two provincial coins, and one unspecified coin), while 15 coins are dated to the Late Roman period (four siliquae and 11 nummi). The first and largest group is a hoard of 31 Roman denarii, ranging from Hadrian (125–128) to Septimius Severus and Caracalla (206). This corresponds to a well-documented phase of hoarding in Moldova, associated with the reform of Septimius Severus in 194, which reduced the silver content of denarii, as well as with the prohibition on exporting silver coinage outside the Empire. Within the hoard, the Antonine period, especially the reign of Marcus Aurelius, is best represented. Many of the coins have suffered from burning, which in the case of some plated denarii caused the silver layer to deteriorate and the bronze “core” to be exposed. The degree of wear on the denarii indicates that the hoard was hidden perhaps a few decades after minting of the last coin, sometime during the 3rd century, as has been observed in the case of four other hoards of denarii discovered in the Republic of Moldova. In terms of composition, the closest analogy on the Moldovan territory is the hoard from Solonceni (Rezina district). The second group in the presented batch constitutes a heterogeneous mixture of coins (cast imitations after denarii from the Antonine period, fragments of subaerate denarii from the second half of the 2nd century, a plated denarius from the 3rd century, antoninianii, a sestertius, an as, and two provincial coins). Most of them probably represent isolated finds, however, four coins (a denarius and an antoninianus, both plated, from Macrinus and Gordian III respectively, and two antoninianii from the joint reign of Valerian I and Gallienus) could have been added to the denarii hoard that ended in 206. In this case, the resulting structure would be similar to that of the well-known craftsman hoard discovered in northern Wallachia at Mălăieștii de Jos, Prahova County. The three cast imitations, which faithfully reproduce denarius types of Marcus Aurelius Caesar, Faustina II, and Lucius Verus, do not contain silver, the principal alloy elements are copper and tin. In the case of the Lucius Verus type imitation, the XRF analysis detected the presence of notable amounts of zinc and lead, making it plausible that the coin was originally covered with a surface layer whose composition was similar to brass. This group also contains a cast imitation of a 5-assaria coin issued in Histria during the Severan period. The third group is a fragment of a hoard, consisting of four siliquae issued at Sirmium (three coins) and Constantinople before the weight reduction of 358. The closest analogy is the hoard of siliquae from Budăi, discovered about 2.5 km north of Orhei. The last group of coins, a small hoard, perhaps representing the contents of a purse, consists of 11 coins dating from the last phase of the Constantine-Licinius condominium to the end of the reign of Constantius II. A close analogy is a hoard of 43 nummi, that ends in 357–358, discovered at Lucășeuca, southwest of Orhei.

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