DOI issue:
Artykuły/Articles
DOI article:Dymowski, Arkadiusz: The Problem of the Presence of Barbarian Imitations of Roman Imperial Denarii in the Lands of Present-Day Poland. An Attempt at a Balance
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.57341#0154
ARKADIUSZ DYMOWSKI
i 52
workshops.5 Until quite recently, no finds of imitative denarii have been recorded
from Eraviscan workshops. This situation, however, underwent quite a radical
change following the publication of an article from 2017 concerning a hoard of
14 coins of this type discovered in the village of Czechy in Lesser Poland.6 To date,
in the area of interest to us we have not noted any copies of Republican denarii
that it would be possible to attribute to workshops located outside of the Roman
state, especially in the lands of Dacia. It may be that copies of this type exist among
the coins from Polish finds, but they have not yet been recognized.7
The coins of Augustus from the Lugdunum issue C.L.CAESARES, dated to
between 4 BC and AD 2, are the oldest Roman denarii from the age of the Roman
Empire whose imitations have been noted in the lands of Poland. Two imitations
of this type - thus far the only ones that have been found in the area of interest to
us here - were found in Sarbinowo (Cat. nos. 37-38), a few kilometers to the east
of the Oder in its lower reaches, which marks the present border between Poland
and Germany (Map 1). Both coins are characterized by the large degree to which
their images and legends have been barbarized. The coins were struck with different
pairs of dies, and these dies have different styles of workmanship. The finds from
Sarbinowo can be treated as a variation of a situation that has been observed within
the area of present-day Germany and the lands immediately bordering Germany.
This is because imitations of Augustinian denarii of the type C.L.CAESARES appear
in great numbers in the lands immediately to the east of the old Rhine limes and
in the Elbe river basin.8 Using the hypotheses raised in the first decades of the last
century,9 it is the area on the Middle Danube that is most often pointed to as probably
having been the center of production of these coins. These hypotheses, however, only
slightly correspond to our present knowledge concerning the territorial distribution of
these finds. There is no doubt that denarii of the type C.L.CAESARES were imitated
in great numbers in the Caucasus region - above all, in the lands of present-day
Georgia.10 However, it is rather unlikely that we can tie these imitations to the coins
discovered in Germany, if for no other reason than the fact that practically no denarii
of the type C.L.CAESARES have been noted in the area between the Caucasus and
the eastern frontiers, where these coins have been found.11 No doubt an explanation
5 RUDNICKI and DYMOWSKI 2015: 265.
6 DULĘBA and WYSOCKI 2017: 51-63.
7 DYMOWSKI 2016: 131.
8 See FMRD, NUMIS, MILITKY 2013: 261, no. 709.
9 See, e.g. JÓNAS 1935: 262.
10 KROPOTKIN 1961: 16; BERGHAUS 1984: 310.
11 Only one such coin has been found - in an unknown area in Sumy Oblast - in all the lands of present-
day Ukraine. ANOKHIN 2015: 146, no. 601.
i 52
workshops.5 Until quite recently, no finds of imitative denarii have been recorded
from Eraviscan workshops. This situation, however, underwent quite a radical
change following the publication of an article from 2017 concerning a hoard of
14 coins of this type discovered in the village of Czechy in Lesser Poland.6 To date,
in the area of interest to us we have not noted any copies of Republican denarii
that it would be possible to attribute to workshops located outside of the Roman
state, especially in the lands of Dacia. It may be that copies of this type exist among
the coins from Polish finds, but they have not yet been recognized.7
The coins of Augustus from the Lugdunum issue C.L.CAESARES, dated to
between 4 BC and AD 2, are the oldest Roman denarii from the age of the Roman
Empire whose imitations have been noted in the lands of Poland. Two imitations
of this type - thus far the only ones that have been found in the area of interest to
us here - were found in Sarbinowo (Cat. nos. 37-38), a few kilometers to the east
of the Oder in its lower reaches, which marks the present border between Poland
and Germany (Map 1). Both coins are characterized by the large degree to which
their images and legends have been barbarized. The coins were struck with different
pairs of dies, and these dies have different styles of workmanship. The finds from
Sarbinowo can be treated as a variation of a situation that has been observed within
the area of present-day Germany and the lands immediately bordering Germany.
This is because imitations of Augustinian denarii of the type C.L.CAESARES appear
in great numbers in the lands immediately to the east of the old Rhine limes and
in the Elbe river basin.8 Using the hypotheses raised in the first decades of the last
century,9 it is the area on the Middle Danube that is most often pointed to as probably
having been the center of production of these coins. These hypotheses, however, only
slightly correspond to our present knowledge concerning the territorial distribution of
these finds. There is no doubt that denarii of the type C.L.CAESARES were imitated
in great numbers in the Caucasus region - above all, in the lands of present-day
Georgia.10 However, it is rather unlikely that we can tie these imitations to the coins
discovered in Germany, if for no other reason than the fact that practically no denarii
of the type C.L.CAESARES have been noted in the area between the Caucasus and
the eastern frontiers, where these coins have been found.11 No doubt an explanation
5 RUDNICKI and DYMOWSKI 2015: 265.
6 DULĘBA and WYSOCKI 2017: 51-63.
7 DYMOWSKI 2016: 131.
8 See FMRD, NUMIS, MILITKY 2013: 261, no. 709.
9 See, e.g. JÓNAS 1935: 262.
10 KROPOTKIN 1961: 16; BERGHAUS 1984: 310.
11 Only one such coin has been found - in an unknown area in Sumy Oblast - in all the lands of present-
day Ukraine. ANOKHIN 2015: 146, no. 601.