Hoard of Roman era coins from Amphipolis found in Romania

A hoard of sixty-eight ancient coins was discovered by a retired policeman near the commune of Radomirești in Olt County, Romania. The discovery was made using a metal detector - the report posted by the police on Facebook said that the detector is owned legally and the man has authorisation to use it.  The find spot is pictured below. 

Photo: Atenție Poliția Iași Facebook page 

The discovery was reported to the Dăneasa Rural Police and the coins are being handed over to the authorities to establish their authenticity. The police statement also said that the coins are silver and are inscribed with 'MAKEDON'.  

Photo: Atenție Poliția Iași Facebook page 

One of the coins is pictured shortly after discovery (above). The coin shown is a tetradrachm (four drachma piece) minted in Amphipolis between 158 and 149 BCE. Following the defeat of King Perseus by the Romans at the battle of Pydna in 168 Macedonia was divided into four Regiones, but the Roman Senate did not grant it the right to mint silver coins until ten years later in 158. These four divisions were dissolved in 148 when the country was made a Roman Province. The capitals of the four Regions of were Amphipolis (first), Thessalonike (second), Pella (third), and Pelagonia (fourth).  

 

The photograph shows the reverse of the coin, which has the inscription ΜΑΚΕΔΟΝΩΝ ΠΡΩΤΗΣ for the first region of Macedonia (Amphipolis), a club across the middle, three monograms, and a symbol in the margin. The obverse should show the head of the goddess Artemis with an elaborate hairstyle and her bow and quiver visible behind her, depicted in the centre of a Macedonian style shield. The example shown here (below) is from the Art Institute Chicago.  

It is to be hoped that the Romanian authorities will now investigate not only the coins themselves to establish authenticity, but also the find spot to ensure that any other archaeological remains are preserved and protected. It may be though, that that coins are a ‘hoard’ buried in haste by someone who, for whatever reason, did not come back for them.  

Thank you to @Sarah404BC for alerting me to this discovery. 

 

Sources 

 

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1046913319166375&id=261270291064019 

 

https://www.artic.edu/artworks/141557/tetradrachm-coin-depicting-a-macedonian-shield-with-the-goddess-artemis 

 

http://snible.org/coins/hn/macedon.html#239