Marisia - Maros Megyei Múzeum Évkönyve 1. (2019)

Aurora Peţan: News ont he Discovery of the Ruins from Grădiştea Muncelului int he International and Local Press from the Beginning of the 19th Century

News on the Discovery of the Ruins from Gradi^tea Muncelului... 51

The text starts with a disambiguation: "There has been for some time much talk about treasures found and about an antique city or fortress discovered in our country. The rumors spread about this topic are so different and even contradictory that it is our duty to set the truth in its own right, according to the official reports".

There follows the presentation of three important events. The first is the discovery of a monetary treasure in the month of March of the same year, by two Romanians, Ieremia Toma and Zaharia Andrei, in the woods around Ocoli§ul Mic. The former found 214 pieces, the latter 66, and all the 280 pieces were handed over to the mint of Alba Iulia, hence they were sent to the Treasuriate of Sibiu which, in turn sent them to Vienna. The treasure consisted of Lysimachostype gold coins, just two pieces belonging to Pharnakes and Asander.

Undoubtedly, it is the treasure of Arimie Popa, investigated by Török in June 1803. Probably, the real name was Ieremia Toma, as mentioned by the Treasuriate, but in the investigations, it appears as Arimie, while "Popa" ["priest" in Romanian] must be related to his office as a priest. The number of pieces is the same both in the witnesses’ declarations and in the report, but the place of discovery is different: the press release mentioned the woods around Ocoli^ul Mic, while the investigation pointed at the Ceata Hill, on the Anine§ Valley. As to Zaharia Andrei, the person who seemingly accompanied Arimie/Ieremia, he was mentioned only in the press release.

The second item of information is related to the discovery of the ruins of an old city of considerable size, in the woods of Hunedoara

County, up the Gradi§tea Mountains. No inscriptions had been found yet, to enable us establish the old name of this city. A single piece of brick was found, engraved with the letters PERSCO Rilo.

These items of information, even if scarce, were taken from Török’s report of 4 July, which also mentioned the discovery of the famous pot fragment carrying the embossed inscription PER SCORILO, discovered on 1 July 1803.6

The third event is represented by the discovery of a gold koson-type coin hoard, by another Romanian priest. The discovery was made in the neighborhood of Godeanu Mountain (spelled Gottiano or Gattano in different publications that published the news). The pieces, 400 in number, very well preserved, were purchased by the Treasury of Sibiu at the price of 4217 florins. There follows a description of this monetary type and a few opinions on the origin of kosons. It is acknowledged that they are 2000 years old and it is pointed out that the opinions of the numismatists are divergent: these coins are either supposed to have been issued in the Etruscan city of COSAE, or assigned to Marcus Iunius Brutus. The legend KOZQN was misspelled in Wiener Zeitung, as Ko(qv, but it was corrected by the editors of other publications, who drew the attention upon this mistake.

We are certainly talking about the treasure found by the priest from Válcelele Bűne near a spring in the vicinity of the fortress, on the 16th of June 1803.

Finally, the press release states in the end that the state took steps towards continuing the diggings and investigations at the ruins discovered and around them.

THE REACTION OF THE INTERNATIONAL PRESS

The first publications that reported on the press release and published it entirely, without alterations, was the German daily Allgemeine Zeitung,

issued in Munich, ten days after its publication in Vienna.7 From here, at the beginning of September, the news reached Italy, where it was

6 Jakó 1968, 435; Pejan 2018, 354 sqq.

7 Allgemeine Zeitung, no 242, 30 August 1803, p. 968, München. Five days earlier, another newspaper from Munich published an incomplete version of this press release: Kurpfalzbaierische Münchner Staatszeitung, No 200, 25 August 1803, 981-982, München.