[gothic-l] Re: Gothic Coins: Was Runic Influences

[Tore Gannholm]

Hello Dirk,
It is fantastic with internet. Here we can share all your knowledge. Of
course there was no minting in Hungary. But as you suggest it was payments
made, in this case probably to the Heruls living in presentday Hungary at
that time. When these people after the defeat about 505 moved to
Scandinavia they brought these coins with them. Some of them we find in the
soil.
What is your opion of the analyses made by Fagerlie? Up till now I have
understood this as a good book. Fagerlie, Joan M., Late Roman and Byzantine
solidi, 1967.

No doubt Gotland had very close contacts with the Goths both when they were
in the Vistula area, when they moved to the Black Sea and when they were in
Italy.
We can find this connection in the Museum.

cheers Tore


>--- In gothic-l at y..., Tore Gannholm <tore.gannholm at s...> wrote:
>> Hello Dirk,
>> Very interesting.
>> I have not got your deep knowledge in the subject. I only qouted
>Peter Heather.
>>
>> In Scandinavia there are quite a few Solidi found.
>>
>> On Öland where we think the Heruls passed on their way to th Lake
>Mälare
>> area lots of Solidi have been found. They are from the Hungary area
>where
>> the Heruls had a kingdom before they were beaten about 505.
>
>
>Hello Tore,
>
>I don't want to be difficult, but there was no known mint in the
>'Hungary area' that could have produced these solidi. The only mint in
>the wider area was Sirmium which  had stopped producing gold coins in
>the late 4th century and - as far as we know - only minted silver
>denominations under Ostrogothic and probably Gepidic rule (I have 2
>Ostogothic and one Gepidic (?) quarter-siliquae in my own collection).
> Sirmium was under Ostrogothic rule from about 504AD to about the
>mid-530sAD when the Ostrogoths had to relinguish Sirmium to the Gepids
>in the Gothic-Byzantine war.
>
>Those gold denominations were no small change and not used used for
>day-to-day purchases. Solidi were mainly used for tax-paying,
>gift-giving and far-distance trade (Roman gold coins have been found
>in India and China!). It was probably the latter which brought the
>solidi that you mentioned to the Oeland area.
>
>The composition of hoards often tell something about the
>purpose/origin of the money and the reason why it was burried. Thus,
>Scandinavian hoards of late Roman gold coins are best described as
>'storages of wealth', compiled over a longer period of time
>(inclusion of coins of different Emperors).
>
>There are other rarer types of hoards, such as the Langobardic hoard
>of Alderanz in Austria, which comprises a round amount of money  and
>was most likely intended as were-geld or ransom to free prisoners.
>
>There is also the Ostogothic coin hoard of Mengen in South Germany,
>which consisted only of silver coins which is very unusual and always
>indicates a much closer and more immediate connection to the source,
>as silver was used in day-to-day trade and regular payments of wages
>e.g. for soldiers. Barbarians prefered gold to silver, as silver
>didn't have the same status as gold and to spend the money the owner
>would have to return to Ostrogothic markets.
>
>
>
>
>> In Gotland on the other hand we can find many Solidis linked to
>Theoderiks
>> time.
>
>
>
>Yes, but they are invariably minted in Constantinopel or another
>Byzantine mint, under Zeno, Anastasius and Justinus I, and
>probably indicate that Gotland was linked to long-distance trade. No
>Ostogothic or Visigothic coins have been found  on Gotland or any
>other place in Scandinavia (in any significant numbers anyway).
>
>cheers
>Dirk


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