Ancients - Black Sea Challenge

Bosporan Kingdom - Боспорское Царство:



The Bosporan Kingdom was a client state of the Roman Empire that existed in what is now southern Ukraine and the Crimean peninsula. Sauromates I succeeded his father as king in 90 AD and ruled until his death in 123 AD. This coin is a 48 nummiae, noted by the Roman numerals on the reverse of the coin. Curiously the legend on the obverse with the King's title is read from the outside of the coin and counterclockwise, a very unusual rendering of the legend.

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

Phanagoria - Фанагория:



Phanagoria was founded in the 6th century BC by colonists fleeing Asia Minor in the wake of the expansion of the Persian Empire. The city was located on what is now the Taman Peninsula in Russia, directly across and east from the Crimean Peninsula in what is now Ukraine. Phanagoria was a strategically located centre of trade and commerce and had a long lineage of rulers that continued to reign until ca. 108 BC when the ruler Paerisades V lost his kingdom to the Skythians.

This coin was one of the last issued under the original kingdom that flourished in that region, the King Paerisades V and is a dimunitive AE11 that has a portrait of a bearded Satyr on the obverse and a bow and arrow and the legend "ФА". In the first century Phanagoria became part of a client state of the Roman Empire under their Bosporan Kingdom.

 

Pantikapaion:

 

Sweet coins, fellas ... very nice

Bosporian Kings, Sauromates I
- Implements of Battle –
Æ 48 Units
Date: circa 98-104 AD
Size: 27.94 mm
Weight: 9.49 grams
Obverse: TIBEPIOC IOYΛIOC BACIΛEYC CAYPOMATHC, Sauromates seated right on curule chair, holding sceptre tipped with the head of Trajan
Reverse: TEIMAI BACIΛEωC CAYPOMATOY, Round shield with spear, surrounded by battle axe, horse head, helmet, and sword in scabbard, mark of denomination (MH) below
Attribution: MacDonald 417

 

BOSPORAN KINGDOM. Sauromates I
AD 93/4-123/4
AE 48 units (29mm, 10.84 gm, 12h)
Obv: diademed, draped bust of Sauromates left
Rev: nike advancing left, holding wreath, flanked by mark of value M-H, all within wreath
Ref: MacDonald 397/2

 

Olbia - Олбия


Some of the world's earliest coinage may have in fact had it's origins as amulets or offerings to a god. However they began to be issued, with eventuality they soon saw service as a medium of exchange. The curious aspect of the Delfin, or Dolphin money from the city state of Olbia in Southern Ukraine is of course the shape of the pieces, which were modelled on the Black Sea dolphins. Inasmuch as dolphins were rather prominent on later ancient coinages from Syracuse and Calabria, these pieces are unique for their shape.



The earliest pieces seem to have had a bit more detail to the designs, as dorsal fins and eyes are featured. Later pieces were produced perhaps in a bit more of a mass production scenario, and lost some of the details. Later pieces also featured some alphabetic characters, most notably OY.

 

Amazing detail from a coin of that era.

 

Skythian spearpoints



Another form of currency were small spearpoints, these of course had a very utilitarian purpose for anybody during that time and as such they possibly were used as a form of money in trade. The number of them found in archaeological digs in Ukraine suggests that perhaps they were also used as a primitive form of money. The smaller of these two points is 18mm long, the larger of the two is 22mm long. They appear to have been cast in some form of a mold, then any spurs etc. were filed off during the manufacturing process. The longer of the two appears to have been filed for smooth edges, whilst the other one is a bit more aerodynamic.

 

wow => the great coins keep on comin' ... *sweet*

Here is another one of my examples (cool counter-mark, eh?)

Kings of the Bosporus Sauromates II Æ26 Athena
Date: 174-210 AD
Size: 26.6 mm
Weight: 9.55 grams
Obverse: Diademed bust right
Reverse: Athena seated left on throne, holding patera in right hand. Counterstamp of the bust of Septimius Severus
Reference: SNG 67-68

 

=> as Doug has pointed-out several times => there is certainly "typical" tooling & smoothing with this variety (but thanks ... yah, I love that coin)

 

Olbia - Олбия:



Beginning ca. 400 BC Olbia began minting coinage in the more traditional form familiar to the rest of the world, this being an AE20 with the horned head of the river god, Borysthenes. Olbia was situated on what is now the Dnipro(Ua) or Dnepr(Ru) river in Ukraine. The reverse of the coin has a battle axe and a bow in case, and the legend Olbio in Greek.

 

That is the biggest problem especially with bronze coins, harshly cleaned and then tooled and smoothed. The soil in Crimea is part of the problem.

 

Beautiful examples ... nice thread you've got goin' here, my coin-friend ...

Oh, here is my favourite coin of this type (winna, winna, chicken dinna!!)

KINGS of BOSPOROS
Sauromates II Æ 144 Units
Circa AD 174/5-210/1
Dameter: 25 mm
Weight: 9.64 grams
Obverse: Diademed and draped bust right; rosette before
Reverse: Eagle standing left, head right, holding wreath in beak; c/m: laureate head of Septimius Severus right, within circular incuse
Reference: MacDonald 544/2; Anokhin 618a; for c/m: Howgego 63
Other: 12h … tan-brown surfaces

 

Pantikapeum - Пантикапеум:



The city state of Pantikapeum was quite possibly founded by Greeks from Miletos in Asia Minor, they possibly settled the Cimmerian Bosporus beginning in the 7th century BC. This city is located roughly near modern Kerch in Ukraine. Coinage with the satyr, Pan and the bull reverse with the legend PAN was issued beginning in the 3rd century BC.



A similar example with a curious feature of having a spur which was subsequently pushed back into the flan of the coin, this piece is also slightly off of centre.



This AE20 from ca. 300-180 BC portrays an image of Dionysus wreathed in ivy facing right, and a thyrus leaning against a ceremonial tripod on the reverse with the legend Pantika in Greek.



This coin was issued ca. 250 BC and has the then typical ceremonial tripod stand which was common on coinage from this region. Curiously the reverse has an eight pointed star with the legend Pantika interposed betwixt the points of the star. This coin is rather similar in appearance to contemporary Alexander Jannaeus Prutahs from the Judean Kingdom.

 

Tyra - Тира:



Tyra is in the SE corner of what is now Ukraine - near the city of Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi, and is one of the oldest known continously occupied cities in the world. It is believed that the original settlement of the area at the mouth of the Dnestr river began in the 6th century BC, it's prominence at the end of the river where it empties into the Black Sea gives it an advantage in trade. Coins from Tyra date into the 3rd century BC, but curiously they are difficult to find as they are never found in any quantity. As the Roman Empire expanded eastward and absorbed Thrace their client states in the region began minting coins in the names of the Roman Emperors.

This coin was minted in the reign of Antoninus Pius(138-161 AD) and bears his portrait and name. The reverse of the coin has Hercules standing with a club and lion skin and the legend "TYPANWN" for the city name. Even during the Roman era there doesn't appear to have been a large output of coinage from Tyra, and this example is only the third one I have seen in ten years of searching for one.

The city of Bilhorod-Dnestrovskyi is one of those places that has changed hands many many times over the years, it has been a part of the Greek Empire, then Roman, Byzantine Empire, the Kingdom of Bulgaria, then the Ottoman Empire, part of Moldavia in the 18th century, then absorbed into the Russian Empire, then in 1918 was awarded to Romania and became "Cetatae Alba" - literally meaning White City, then in 1940 was taken by the USSR and became a part of Ukraine. There are historical excavations going on in the vicinity of the Fortress of Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi - a fortress that dates into Byzantine times.

 

Cimmerian Bosporus, Pantikapaion Æ20 / GriffinDate: 4th Century BC
Weight: 6.85 grs.
Diameter:: 20.06 mm
Obverse: Head of Pan right
Reverse: Π-A-N, Forepart of griffin left, sturgeon below
Attribution: MacDonald 69

 

Very nice!

 

This region certainly seems to have produced a fantastic bunch of coins. Excellent thread!

 

Although not Crimea, Amisos was on the Black Sea in what is now Turkey

AMISOS, PONTOS Æ17
OBVERSE: Head of Dionysos with ivy-wreath right
REVERSE: AM-ISOS, Thyrsos; monogram to right
Struck at Amisos 85-65 BC
4.0g, 17mm
SNG BM 1192-1195


AMISOS, PONTOS AE 20
OBVERSE: Head of youthful Dionysos right, wreathed with ivy
REVERSE: Thyrsos leaning against cista mystica draped with panther skin; AMISOU below
Struck at Amisos 85-65 BC
8.8g, 21mm
SNG BM Black Sea 1199-1200; HGC 7, 243