A Unique Bronze Coin of an Unknown Ruler of the Celtic Kingdom in Thrace
A Unique Bronze Coin of an Unknown Ruler of the Celtic Kingdom in Thrace

Summary/Abstract: Until recently nothing certain and particular was known about the Celtic/Galatian campaigns in Thrace and the founding of the new Celtic kingdom in the Balkans. The history of the Celtic/Galatian state in Thrace so far has only provoked discussions arising from different hypotheses regarding the most important issues – the time and the way of its founding, the time of existence, the territorial scope and its capital. The hypotheses of modern scholars for this state have been built thanks to a few brief accounts, mainly in the work of the ancient author Polybius and also thanks to the fragmentary evidence of several other ancient authors.Attempts to locate the capital of the state of the Celts/Galatians in Thrace, known by the name of Tylis from the records of Polybius and Stephanus of Byzantium, have lasted almost about 150 years so far without success. Thanks to a recently published monograph,which mainly focuses on the search and localization of the first capital of the state of the Celts/Galatians in Thrace, and generally on the history of this state, the situation changed significantly. In this monograph, the first capital of the Celtic kingdom in Thrace was clearly and precisely identified and it was stated that it had never been with the name ofTylis, but its exact name was Apre – located at the place of the ancient Thracian settlement of Apros – to the north of Lysimacheia, with the Celts/Galatians only slightly changing its name into Apre.An extremely interesting bronze coin – a unique one for now, kept in a private collection in Bulgaria, which was found some years ago in the region of today's town of Svilengrad, Haskovo region, is another significant and conclusive proof of the identification of the first capital of the Celtic kingdom in Thrace. The coin is presented here for the first time. The bronze coin is of a small denomination, but it is extremely important for history. On the obverse of the coin is represented a portrait image of a ruler.The ruler is with a wide diadem from which two strips run down behind his neck. On the reversе of the coin are depicted very interesting symbols and there are two inscriptions in Greek letters, presenting the names both of the first capital of the Celtic kingdom in Thrace and another name – apparently a person's name in the genitive – a name of a ruler of the Celtic kingdom in Thrace.This unique coin on the reverse features a combination of the capital's name Apreand a personal name of a Celtic ruler, unknown so far from any other sources – neither by the ancient authors, nor by inscriptions or other coins. This Celtic ruler, however, is already well known from the monograph published in 2017, as it was already established that he was in fact the second ruler of the Celtic kingdom in Thrace. This ruler from the presented coin was without a royal title, but he had only the status of a governor of the state of the Celts/Galatians in Thrace until the enthronement of the new king, Kavaros.This coin is another conclusive proof that the first capital of the state of the Galatians in Thrace was called Apre. This case of the presented coin is unique in the ancient coinages at all – in other coins there is no simultaneously presented inscription of the name of a polis in which the coins were struck – a residence or capital, and the name of a ruler. Moreover, we already have and the real portrait of this ruler.

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