Coin Legends Research Articles

Тамга «Гуюка» и Джучиды дома Ордуидов (история одной ошибки)

Research objectives: The purpose of this study is to attribute unusual tamghas found on silver dirhams to the representatives of the House of Chingizids and establish their chronological attribution. Research materials: We have examined silver coins with unusual tamghas discovered in Kazakhstan. One tamgha is depicted as two circles connected by a line. Our focus is on a type of dirhams that has been known since the early 20th century. These dirhams lacked attribution but were published by N.P. Likhachev due to the presence of an unusual tamgha. The weight of these coins is approximately 1 gram, and the coin legends do not provide conclusive information for dating. We have identified three types of dirhams. One type of dirhams can be dated to 685 AH/1286 CE. It bears an inscription, yet there are challenges in interpreting these legends, including reading the name of the mint. The tamga was previously attributed as the property mark of Ogedei Khan. Two types of coins remain anonymous. We have identified three types of tamghas on these coins. Results and novelty of the research: We have identified a region with a significant number of discovered coins, primarily located in the vicinity of the medieval towns of Barchanlig-Ashnas-Jend in the Aral Sea region. It has been determined that some coins were minted on silver dirhams of Khwarazm during 681–690 AH. One dirham retains the original year of issue, 688 AH/1289 CE. These coins are not associated with the minting of Ogedei, and the tamgha on them does not match either. These dirhams were minted under the authority of Konichi, the ruler of the Ordu ulus. This research has opened up a new avenue in the field of Juchid numismatics. The exploration in this direction holds promise for shaping new insights into specific historical events within the Orduid’s ulus.

Вірменія та Месопотамія в римській східній політиці та ідеології доби Антонінів: проблеми термінології латиномовної традиції

The article is devoted to the analysis of the terminology used by the Latin Roman tradition of the 2nd century CE. The texts associated with coin legends represented the policy of the Roman Empire in the East, in particular in the context of the eastern campaign of Marcus Ulpius Trajan, which ended with the short-term transformation of the territory of Armenia and Northern Mesopotamia into Roman provinces. Not only large texts by Roman authors such as Tacitus, but also small inscriptions on coins were used to characterize the transformation of the territories of Armenia and Northern Mesopotamia into Roman territories. The author offers an original approach to the interpretation of some of the legends found on the issues of Roman coins of the Trajan era and which were associated with attempts to incorporate Armenia and Northern Mesopotamia into the Roman Empire. The formula “IN POTESTATEM P R REDACTAE” finds certain analogies in the texts of the Late Roman Republican era and the time of the Early Empire, which were connected, in particular, with the transformation of Ptolemaic Egypt into a Roman province. In the 2nd century CE the formula was already used to represent the accession of Armenia and Mesopotamia to Rome.The author, unlike A. Kefelian, who proposed to connect the relevant terminology with legal analogies and property rights in the texts of Roman lawyers, offers his own interpretation. The used terms, in his opinion, were connected with the concept of “deditio in potestatem”, which had close ties with the foreign policy aspect of Roman activity, in particular in the East. Coin legends and inscriptions combine two main trends – we can see an appeal both to the victories of the Romans in the East and to the creation of new provinces in the context of the activity of the ruler, in particular through the category of delegated “power of the Roman people” along with “surrender” and “transfer” of certain territories and states under the “power of the people”, the symbolic and actual expression of which in the 1st–2nd centuries CE was connected with the Emperor. The corresponding study of terminological problems is one of the components of the study of the East image in the Western tradition, in particular in the Classical period.

Same Language, Different Diet

This study uses faunal and epigraphic evidence from the valley of Cabrera de Mar in present-day Catalonia (Spain) as proxies for understanding complex processes and dynamics of cultural change between the late Iron Age and early Roman times. The faunal remains indicate significant dietary change, although the epigraphic evidence implies that language—in contrast—changed at a slower pace, as shown by the use of indigenous onomastics and the continued use of the Iberian script, coin legends included. To ensure an interdisciplinary analysis, the study also discusses change as perceptible in architectural remains, ceramics and funerary practices. Our study shows that cultural change can take place at different levels and according to different rhythms, not only on regional and settlement planes but also at neighbourhood and household scales. Finally, our results highlight the value of archaeology as a tool for studying and understanding colonial encounters.

THE BURYING OF TREASURES OF «BORYSTHENES» ON THE TERRITORY OF THE OLBIAN CHORA: THE HISTORICAL CONTEXT

THE BURYING OF TREASURES OF «BORYSTHENES» ON THE TERRITORY OF THE OLBIAN CHORA: THE HISTORICAL CONTEXT

CEREREM and IVNONEM. Why the Accusative Case? Two Rare Reverse Legends on Coins of Julia Domna (RIC IV Caracalla 378, 585, 596 and 599)

Among the new coin legends that have appeared on Julia Domna’s bronze and (very rare) silver coins throughout the reign of her son Caracalla (211–217) the most interesting seem to be two rare accusatives: CEREREM (dupondius and As RIC IV Caracalla 596) and IVNONEM (quinarius RIC IV Caracalla 378; sestertius RIC IV Caracalla 585; dupondius and As RIC IV Caracalla 599). This paper aims to place such accusatives in a literary and epigraphical context and argues that the accusatives on the reverses of Julia Domna’s coins should depend on the verb form consecravit or dedicavit being understood, and the legends of the entire coins are to be read as IVLIA PIA FELIX AVG(usta) / CEREREM (or IVNONEM) [consecravit/dedicavit]. In the second part of the article, I discuss iconographic variants of types RIC IV Caracalla 596; BMCRE V Caracalla 220–222 and RIC IV Caracalla 585 and 599; BMCRE V Caracalla 208 and 224.

Arse-Saguntum, la ciudad de los dos nombres

One of the most notable features of ancient Sagunto (Valencia) is its toponymic duality, especially remarkable in coin legends from the 130s BCE onwards, which is an exceptional fact for Hispania Citerior, in both qualitative and quantitative terms. Both toponyms, Arse and Saguntum, are not simultaneously attested in other sources: they are virtually absent in Republican epigraphy and literature only mentions the second one, in diverse variants. This paper analyses the data relative to this double toponymy in order to historically contextualize this phenomenon, linking it with the Latinization of the city and its explicit movements towards Rome during the 2nd and 1st centuries BCE, a process that we propose to articulate in four main milestones, according to the preserved documents. Besides, this paper offers an explanation to the prevalence of the toponym Saguntum (of local origin and possibly referred to the port) regarding Arse (also local and referred to the city), independent from the elaboration of the foundational myth that links the Iberian settlement with the Ionian island of Zacynthos, since it is very likely that this legend was not created until the 1st century BCE

Pers Kökenli Lykia İsmi Miθrapata ve Değişik Yazım Şekilleri

In this paper, the new coin legends of the dynast Miθrapata with a spelling variant mizrapata are analyzed, particularly regarding its possible connection to another variant form, mizrp-pata, whose existence can now be questioned. As for the double spelling mizrapata/miθrapata, it can be interpreted as the result of spelling traditions linked to chronological or dialectal factors. In this paper, the new coin legends of the dynast Miθrapata with a spelling variant mizrapata are analyzed, particularly regarding its possible connection to another variant form, mizrp-pata, whose existence can now be questioned. As for the double spelling mizrapata/miθrapata, it can be interpreted as the result of spelling traditions linked to chronological or dialectal factors.

The Υ/ζ distribution in Sidetic coin legends

Abstract The aim of this paper is to present strong evidence that confirms the different but related value of the Sidetic letters Υ and ζ in the light of the testimony of a singular Sidetic coin legend. We draw attention to certain variants of coin legends that may help to determine the proper value of both signs. The evidence also establishes that the Sidetic inventory distinguished between the five vowels a, e, i, o, u and the two semivowels j, w.

La elección lingüística en la moneda, ¿un marcador de identidades? Casos de incoherencia entre las leyendas monetarias y el registro epigráfico

En este artículo se analizan los criterios que llevaron a determinadas comunidades a grabar sus leyendas monetarias en una lengua diferente de la que registra la epigrafía coetánea, y se valora en qué casos esta elección lingüística responde a la necesidad de una construcción de la identidad y en cuáles esta decisión se debe a otro tipo de causas, vinculadas estrechamente con el cambio lingüístico que se produjo a lo largo de los dos últimos siglos a. C. y el primero d. C. en el occidente mediterráneo.

Просопографическая реконструкция сокращенных и фрагментированных имен исторических лиц (на примере Ольвии)

В процессе восстановления летоисчисления Ольвии IV-I вв. до н.э. получены просопографические сведения о высшей элите. Это позволяет обосновать просопографическую реконструкцию – восстановление некоторых фрагментов и сокращений в лапидарной, керамической, магической и нумизматической эпиграфике именами реальных исторических лиц. Выполненная автором десять лет назад по двум литерам имени просопографическая реконструкция фрагмента посвящения эпонима Ольвии 195 г. до н.э. Пантакла Клеомбротова подверглась жесткой и безобразной критике В.П. Яйленко с традиционных (ономастических) позиций. В статье на 100% преодолена критика и доказана истинность выполненной ранее реконструкции путем воссоединения фрагмента посвящения с известной ранее надписью.

El signo T de las leyendas monetales vasconas

In this work we propose the identification of the T sign of the Vasconic coin legends uTanbaate and oTtikez with a dental affricate, so that uTanbaate could correspond to *Utzama Ate, i.e., the Celtiberian city name Uxama adapted to the Basque phonetics, followed by a Basque determinant meaning a mountain pass, perhaps the Puerto de Velate, near Ulzama (Navarra). With less certainty, oTtikez could be identified with the nearby village Ostiz. The possible sources of the sign T, the tau gallicum among them, are analysed, together with the possible role of the Etruscan commerce in Languedoc in its adoption.

Apollo as a Precedent to the Coinage of Sol Invictus

Summary The purpose of this paper is to produce an approach to Sol through Numismatics. I intend to point out the possible correspondences existing between the god Sol, referred to as Sol Invictus in historiography,1 and Apollo. While the solar facet of Phoebus Apollo is well known, to what extent he exerted an influence over Sol Invictus has yet to be elucidated. Comparing types and chronologies plus describing correspondences between the two gods in an homogeneous process may actually constitute a different approach. Three aspects will be taken into consideration: iconography exchange, the chronological relationship and the propagandistic function of coin legends. The aim is to incorporate the knowledge thus gained into a critical analysis of Sol in the 3rd century.

The titles of King Artashes I according to the Aramaic inscriptions on boundary stones

The titles of Armenian kings of the Artaxiad (Artashesian) dynasty are known mainly owing to coin legends and rather scanty data of ancient historiographers. Artaxiads were usually represented by a short title of ‘king’ or ‘great king’. We see different variants of short titles in Greek: ‘king’, ‘great king’ and the title ‘king of kings’ on the coins of Tigran II (95-55 BC). The same titles were inherited by his son Artavazd II (55-34 BC). The only exception was the coin of Tigran III (20-8 BC) with the legend reading ‘Great king Tigran, Philhellenos and Philopatoros’. These epithets were adopted by him as a sign of his pro-Parthian orientation and anti-Roman stance.

Reading the legends of Roman Republican coins

Coin classification is one of the main aspects of numismatics. The introduction of an automated image-based coin classification system could assist numismatists in their everyday work and allow hobby numismatists to gain additional information on their coin collection by uploading images to a respective Web site. For Roman Republican coins, the inscription is one of the most significant features, and its recognition is an essential part in the successful research of an image-based coin recognition system. This article presents a novel way for the recognition of ancient Roman Republican coin legends. Traditional optical character recognition (OCR) strategies were designed for printed or handwritten texts and rely on binarization in the course of their recognition process. Since coin legends are simply embossed onto a piece of metal, they are of the same color as the background and binarization becomes error prone and prohibits the use of standard OCR. Therefore, the proposed method is based on state-of-the-art scene text recognition methods that are rooted in object recognition. S ift descriptors are computed for a dense grid of keypoints and are tested using support vector machines trained for each letter of the respective alphabet. Each descriptor receives a score for every letter, and the use of pictorial structures allows one to detect the optimal configuration for the lexicon words within an image; the word causing the lowest costs is recognized. Character and word recognition capabilities of the proposed method are evaluated individually; character recognition is benchmarked on three and word recognition on different datasets. Depending on the S ift configuration, lexicon, and dataset used, the word recognition rates range from 29% to 67%.

El genitivo-ablativo singular del indoeuropeo arcaico: viejas y nuevas continuaciones célticas

State of the art of what has been said in favour of and against the alleged ablatival genitives of the Celtiberian and Lepontic o-stems. The discussion extends to further Celtic forms — Goidelic as well as Gaulish and also Primitive Continental — which could be explained along the same lines, i.e. als continuing the arcaic Indo-European undifferentiated genitive-ablative singular, such as the coin legends RIG-IV-84f., 91, 277 or the inscriptions RIG-G-24 and 250f. and, in particular, G-154 from Villelaure and *L-131 from Vindonissa/ Windisch; the Calendar of Coligny and the Tablet of Chamalières are also discussed.

Sasanian Coins in the Collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow

AbstractThe author here catalogues 295 Sasanian coins according to the classification of Robert Gölbl, giving also a transliteration of coin legends, dates and mint monograms and various other details.