DOI Artikel:
Dyczek, Piotr: Preliminary remarks on the archaeological context of the discovery of the "great hoard" of 4656 coins of King Ballaios in Risan (Rhizon/Risinium)
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.41950#0049
Piotr Dyczek
PRELIMINARY REMARKS ON THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL
CONTEXT OF THE DISCOVERY OF THE “G RE AT HOARD” OF
4656 COINS OF KING BALLAIOS IN RISAN (RHIZON/RISINIUM)
Abstract: Preliminary description of archaeological context and stratigraphic situation in which
a hoard of coins was found.
Key words: Rhizon, hoard of coins. Ballaios
The expedition of the University of Warsaw working at Risan in Montenegro for the past
ten years has uncovered the remains of an ancient town, Rhizon, which was at one time
the Capital of Queen Teuta [Fig. 1]. Like other towns in lllyria, the Rhizon of Teuta was
divided into insulae which were occupied by typical Hellenistic houses with numerous
smali courtyards, passages and corridors. Some houses were raised of mud brick on stone
foundations. Low buildings with only one floor and mostly inclined roofs predominated.
Particular rooms were identified with regards to their function by the finds discovered in-
side them. There were among them smali kitchens and sleeping rooms filled with good,
sometimes even elaborate furniture, if the preserved variety of bronze nails is anything to
go by.
The main continuous archaeological structure cleared in trench C VII, which stretches
across two insulae, was a 3-m wide Street aligned north-south and running to the riverbank
[Fig. 2]. There may have been a bridge at this point, Crossing to the other side. Buildings
of evidently different function were situated on both sides of this Street. On one side there
was a series of rectangular storerooms, on the other a large Greek-Hellenistic house. The
house consisted of two complexes of rooms separated by a narrow cul-de-sac. One com-
plex was clearly domestic in character. Finds included fragments of ąuerns, needles of
bonę and bronze for making nets, ceramic and lead net-weights, fishing hooks, fishbones
and shells of oysters and murex. The other complex was residential and it was in one of
the rooms of this part, on 8 June 2010, that a truły incredible discovery was madę. A hydria
fuli of coins of a little known Illyrian king called Ballaios was found under the floor of
this room.
The chamber, which was 4.80 by 3.00 m, was entered from the norththrough a doorway
1.10 m wide. The jar with the coins lay on its side on a bedding of Stones [Fig. 3] attributed
to an earlier occupational level. A Gnathia cup was placed over it. The hydria occupied
PRELIMINARY REMARKS ON THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL
CONTEXT OF THE DISCOVERY OF THE “G RE AT HOARD” OF
4656 COINS OF KING BALLAIOS IN RISAN (RHIZON/RISINIUM)
Abstract: Preliminary description of archaeological context and stratigraphic situation in which
a hoard of coins was found.
Key words: Rhizon, hoard of coins. Ballaios
The expedition of the University of Warsaw working at Risan in Montenegro for the past
ten years has uncovered the remains of an ancient town, Rhizon, which was at one time
the Capital of Queen Teuta [Fig. 1]. Like other towns in lllyria, the Rhizon of Teuta was
divided into insulae which were occupied by typical Hellenistic houses with numerous
smali courtyards, passages and corridors. Some houses were raised of mud brick on stone
foundations. Low buildings with only one floor and mostly inclined roofs predominated.
Particular rooms were identified with regards to their function by the finds discovered in-
side them. There were among them smali kitchens and sleeping rooms filled with good,
sometimes even elaborate furniture, if the preserved variety of bronze nails is anything to
go by.
The main continuous archaeological structure cleared in trench C VII, which stretches
across two insulae, was a 3-m wide Street aligned north-south and running to the riverbank
[Fig. 2]. There may have been a bridge at this point, Crossing to the other side. Buildings
of evidently different function were situated on both sides of this Street. On one side there
was a series of rectangular storerooms, on the other a large Greek-Hellenistic house. The
house consisted of two complexes of rooms separated by a narrow cul-de-sac. One com-
plex was clearly domestic in character. Finds included fragments of ąuerns, needles of
bonę and bronze for making nets, ceramic and lead net-weights, fishing hooks, fishbones
and shells of oysters and murex. The other complex was residential and it was in one of
the rooms of this part, on 8 June 2010, that a truły incredible discovery was madę. A hydria
fuli of coins of a little known Illyrian king called Ballaios was found under the floor of
this room.
The chamber, which was 4.80 by 3.00 m, was entered from the norththrough a doorway
1.10 m wide. The jar with the coins lay on its side on a bedding of Stones [Fig. 3] attributed
to an earlier occupational level. A Gnathia cup was placed over it. The hydria occupied