Two Hoards of Coins and Jewellery Items from the Time of the Roman-Bosporan War of AD 45–49 from the Site of Artezian

Abstract

Abstract This article is the publication of two hoards found in 2009 during excavations of the fortified settlement of Artezian in the Eastern Crimea, which met its end at the very beginning of the Roman-Bosporan war of AD 45–49. The assemblages contain 244 bronze Bosporan coins from the end of the 1st century BC to the first half of the 1st century AD (Caesarea, Agrippia, Aspurgus, Gepaepyris, Mithridates VIII), 10 silver denarii of the Roman emperors Augustus and Tiberius, and also various items of gold, silver and bronze jewellery and glass vessels. The discovery of these hoards not only provides further archaeological confirmation of the historical events of the mid-1st century BC, but also makes it possible to establish, with more precision, the chronology of certain categories of jewellery items and glass vessels, which in a number of cases had only been represented by rare specimens of Bosporan, Eastern-Mediterranean and Roman workmanship of a high level. Deserving of special attention is the find, in the context of hoards, of a well-preserved gladius of the Mainz type. For the first time it has proved possible reliably to record the initial phase of the Bosporan-Roman War of AD 45–49 at an archaeological site, situated within the territory of the European Bosporus. The unique nature of the materials from Artezian lies in their diversity and the narrow chronological range of their hoarding, linked to important events of not only Bosporan but also Mediterranean history, which had a considerable influence on the military-political situation in the Pontic region.