[gothic-l] Crimean coins

[george knysh]

--- faltin2001 <dirk at smra.co.uk> wrote:
> Very interesting, although the question remains why
> they made this
> coinage when they a fully developed Bosporan coinage
> was in
> circulation. And why this coinage appears separated
> from the Bosporan
> pieces.

*****GK:Yes this is a problem that needs to be solved.
The only idea that comes to mind at the moment is that
some of the Late Alanic groups who moved into the area
of the Bosporan Kingdom at the end of the 1rst and
beginning of the 2nd c. enjoyed a form of
autonomy.*****
>
>
>
>
>
> >  (D)A large number of single
> > > finds have also
> > > been made in the north Caucasus.
> >
> > *****GK: This also points to an "Alanic"
> > connection.****
>
>
>(D) Somehow I picture Alans as a nomadic people that
> lived mostly in the
> steppe. Do you think that they would have had the
> social complexity
> to have need for a 'commercial' coinage between
> 260AD and 360AD?

*****GK: Absolutely. Archaeologists have long known
and talked about a process they call "the
Sarmatization" of the Bosporan Kingdom, which began
after the fall of Mithradates and intensified
constantly, becoming a lavina of sorts by the 3rd c.
AD. While Greek remained the state's official
language, it would appear that more than half (and
sometimes even more, as in Sugdeia) of the major
cities' population was made up of recently urbanized
ex-Nomads, primarily Iranic (all this judging by the
epigraphic materials recovered). Actually the process
somewhat resembles the earlier one of "Scythian"
urbanization, which led to the emergence of the Lower
Dnipro cities (some were mentioned by Ptolemeus). The
Alans entered Europe as nomadic herdsmen. Many of them
relatively quickly became peasants, landowners, and
urban craftsmen and artisans. Many, of course,
retained their traditional mode of life.******
I
> would
> > doubt the Gothic connection. I don't rule it out,
> but
> > at the moment Alans connected to the Bosporan
> Kingdom
> > seem a safer bet. They were important enough to
> rename
> > Theodosia (Feodosia) into ARTABDA ("City of the
> Seven
> > (immortals)", in line with their Zoroastrian
> > beliefs.****
> >  Cheers,
> > George
>
>
>(D) Again, that is extremely interesting and in a way
> confirms my own
> suspicion. I could imagine that Wielbark/Chernyakhov
> people might
> have been responsible for the introduction of Roman
> imitations to the
> broad area, but the specific find concentration,
> perhaps as well as
> the rather early dating, would fit better with
> Alanic groups. Did the
> Alans have a centralised leadership during that
> period?

*****GK:We should probably think of them as a
congeries of groups, each pretty well going its own
way. The Alans of the southeast Crimea would have been
a formation distinct from those of the Don or North
Caucasus, but also distinct from those who fully
acculturated into the various hierarchies and classes
of the Bosporan Kingdom's central core.******

 (D)Where they
> known as traders? As I said most of these coins are
> of low intrinsic
> value and can only have been used for small trade.
> All in all, this
> is really fascinating, because it would challenge a
> 120 year old
> attribution.
>
> thanks again
> Dirk
>
>
>
>
>
>


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