Cercetări arheologice la Histria, sectorul Sud (2018–2024). Descoperiri monetare
Archaeological research at Histria, the South sector (2018–2024). Coin finds

Summary/Abstract: During the systematic research undertaken in the southern sector of the Histria site between 2018 and 2024, 49 coins were discovered, of which 39 specimens (79.59%) were identified, chronologically distributed as follows: one coin from the period before Roman rule, 16 coins from the Principate period (two denarii and 13 provincial issues), 19 coins from the late Roman period (63.15% from the Tetrarchy period) and three Byzantine coins from the 6th century. The excavations were concentrated in the western half of the great public utility building identified over a decade ago, up to the border with another important monument of the site, the Basilica extra muros. The structure of the batch confirms for this area of the city a constant monetary presence in the first half of the 3rd century, a pause in the supply of coins in the middle of this century, a return of monetary circulation post Gallienus and its cessation at the end of the Tetrarchy, in connection to the reduction of the fortified enclosure and implicitly of the urban area. The sporadic coins that entered here later are most likely related to the funerary arrangements in the two levels of the necropolis that successively overlapped the area of the former monumental building. As inedited for the previously known statistics, we mention: a rare coin minted in Istros in the 2nd–1st centuries BC, with a round countermark on the effigy of Demeter and the legend XAIPE; two provincial coins minted in Callatis, a city very little represented in the monetary circulation of Histria, including a rare issue of Caracalla; two proto Byzantine coins that fill in the gaps in the statistics on years of issue so far. Recent observations generally confirm previous findings – prompted by the publication in 2014 and 2018 of two substantial batches of coins – regarding the monetary presence in southern Histria: probably built during the period of the first Severan emperors, the monumental edifice would have suffered some destruction during the years of the “Scythian War” that seriously affected the whole city, was possibly partially rebuilt during the Aurelian Diocletian construction period and continued to function at least until the beginning of the second decade of the 4th century. The complete list of identified coins discovered in the Histria South sector, attached below, a sample reaching a total of 141 pieces, provides a general picture of the monetary mass in circulation in this area of the Pontic city.

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