The Gaius/Lucius denarii of Augustus and the intensity of the occurrence the Julio-Claudian dynasty coinage in Moravia

Abstract

The first imperial dynasty significantly reformed the Roman coinage, the production of which was partly moved to the provinces closer to the Germanic regions. Due to the newly emerging settlement structure of the newly established provinces of Noricum and Pannonia as well as the irregular trade relations between them and the Kingdom of Vannius, the representation of coins from the first two thirds of the 1st century in Moravia is minimal (only 86 coins are currently available). Unfortunately, isolated surface finds without an archaeological context do not provide sufficient support for dating their deposition in the ground. Some of them could have been brought later, for example during Roman military operations in Barbaricum in the last third of the 2nd century or in Late Antiquity. Newly, the find collection in the central Danube region was extended by additional denarii of the Gaius/Lucius type (denarius and subaerat around Germanic settlement in Bzenec), which are otherwise mainly concentrated near the Varus’s battle in the Teutoburg Forest and in the Rhineland. What is also noteworthy is the dominance of asses from the Roman mint struck under the supervision of the college of three mint officials (tresviri monetales) among the bronze denominations of Augustus. The gold aurei, silver denarii, billon tetradrachms and aes asses of Nero are also a fairly representative set, whereas the coins of the emperors Tiberius, Caligula and Claudius have a meagre numerical representation.