A Small Hoard of Nicaean Coins discovered in Moesia Inferior

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18072097

Keywords:

Hoard, Nicaean coins, ‘military’ design, Moesia Inferior, Durostorum.

Abstract

Our work presents a hoard of Roman coins discovered in the early 2000s with the help of a metal detector, approximately 3.5 km northeast of the village of Ostrov (Constanța County, Romania), where a part of the site from Durostorum is located. The small hoard contains ten bronze coins minted in Nicaea (Bithynia) by Severus Alexander (nine pcs.) and Gordianus III (one pc.). All issues feature ‘military’ designs (three and four standards) on the reverse. Among these, we managed to identify four new reverse motifs (var. 3b; var. 7b; var. 18d; var. 23f). The analysis of coin discoveries from Nicaea, both isolated and in hoards, revealed that these bronze issues did not play a significant role in the monetary circulation in Moesia Inferior. Exceptionally, only at the site of Durostorum were discovered 65 coins from Nicaea (51 genuine issues and 14 cast imitations) bearing the effigies of the emperors Severus Alexander and Gordianus III and featuring ‘military’ standards on the reverse. The hoard may have represented the ‘pocket money’ of a person who lived in the hypothetical villa rustica near Ostrov and who was closely connected to the centre of Durostorum.

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Published

31-12-2025

How to Cite

Munteanu, L. ., & Talmațchi, G.-M. . (2025). A Small Hoard of Nicaean Coins discovered in Moesia Inferior. Bulgarian Numismatic Journal, 1, 150–164. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18072097

Issue

2025: Proceedings of the 10th Joint Meeting of ECFN and Nomisma.org & 2nd BulgNR TOGETHER International Conference Sofia, 19–23 June 2023, BulgNJ Suppl. vol.1 (ISBN 978-619-92562-8-2)

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