I was wondering and have a specific question about Byzantine coinage that only some few can answer. Or maybe there will be none. As you know the main Byzantine mint-cities in 500s were like this: Now I am wondering: Most coins circulating in Israel/Lebanon/Syria, were they “Theupo”-minted? - Or was it more like 45% “Theupo”-minted and 45% “Con”-minted and 10% from other mints? And how about Carthage in Tunesia? Most coins circulating there were “Car”-minted? Or was it like 45% “Car”-minted and 45% “Con”-minted? Do we have an idea how the distribution was in each area? When we find a hoard of 100 Byzantine coins in Tunis or Istanbul, what tend the distributions of the coins to be? I hope people understand my question. In case one has a definitive answer, I would be glad to hear it. Thanks.
A friend showed me part of a hoard of Byzantine large folles. There were 477 coins, and they represented 50 or 60% of the complete hoard, which may have contained 900 to 1000 coins. This hoard has been found in Rafah (Palestinian Territories). The coins were minted from 512 to 537, under Anastasius, Justin I and Justinian. Here is the distribution by mints: Constantinople : 382 (Anastasius 86, Justin I 149, Justin I and Justinian 3, Justinian 97, Justin or Justinian 47) Antioch: 44 (Anastasius 2, Justin I 8, Justinian 31, Justin or Justinian 3) Nicomedia : 26 (Justin I 13, Justinian 9, Justin or Justinian 4) Cyzicus: 3 (Justin I 3) Thessalonica : 1 (Justin I 1) mint illegible. : 21 Constantinople : 80% Antioch : 9.2% Nicomedia : 5.4% ... These are raw figures from a single hoard. You should look for other Byzantine hoards of the same kind... Look also for A. Spaer, "The Rafah Hoard: Byzantine Sixth-Century Folles" NC 18 (138) (1978), p. 66-70 This hoard found in Rafah is so similar to the hoard my friend showed me that I suspect it is the other half of the same hoard. There were 327 coins, of which 319 could be attributed. (they were also 4 Justin II folles, like in the hoard of my friend which contained also 2 Justin II folles and 1 ptolemaic coin : I think they were intrusions). Constantinople : 258 (Anastasius 49, Justin I 131, Justin I and Justinian 1, Justinian 77) Antioch : 29 (Anastasius 1, Justin I 2, Justinian 26) Nicomedia : 14 (Justin I 11, Justinian 3) Cyzicus : 4 (Justin I 3, Justin I and Justinian 1) Thessalonica : 1 (Justin I 1) and also Paul Beliën, "A hoard of Byzantine folles from Beirut", NC 165 (2005) p.314-322 This hoard contained 34 folles of Anastasius to Justinian : Constantinople : 32 (Anastasius 22, Justin I 4, Justinian 5, emperor unidentifable 1) mint illegible : 2 thus Constantinople : 94.1% You can already draw some conclusions... Mery Xmas!
