BÍRÓ-SEY KATALIN: COINS FROM IDENTIFIED SITES OF BRIGETIO AND THE QUESTION OF LOCAL CURRENCY / Régészeti Füzetek II/18. (Magyar Nemzeti Múzeum Budapest, 1977)
I. INTRODUCTION
According to Barkóczi and Kerényi the medailons most likely represented military awards given by the emperor after the wars at festivals. 4 8 A medailon of Septimius Severus came to light, with other objects as well, from a grave, south of the camp. The impressions of this can be dated to 194 or 196 A. D. , because the emperor organized the cj; 12cTetcp £2oc games in one of these years. 4 7 Currency shoes a decreasing tendency during the first decade of the 3rd century A. D. The yearly average of 6, for the year 2io A. D. drops to 3, then to 2 by the middle of the decade. By the end, a slight increase shows. The number of impressions of Elagabulus rises suddenly (53/522-552). The beginning of the reign of Alexander Severus (54/553-556) shows the same picture. The ratio moves towards the denarii under both emperors. Elagabalus has a colonial Thes salonican coin (54/541) and Alexander Severus has three Nicaean ones, and one from Juliopolis of Bithynia. There are no antoniniani among the scattered coins. At the beginning of the years 23o A. D. , the number of coins decrease. There is a new increase under Maximinus Thrax (56/657-663) and Gordian III .(56/664-715) toward the end of the decade. The ratio was half and half between denarii and bronzes under Maximinus Thrax. During Gordian III, silver coins, except one denarius, are the antoniniani. He has only a few bronzes, mainly of the mint of Viminacium and less from the city of Rome ( 56/675-68o, 683-692, 7oo-7o3, 7ll) which can be well dated. 4 8 A few bronze impressions of the Bithynian Nicaea appear in the material, similarly to Intercisa. ^ There is subaeratus antoninianus among the coins of Gordian III (56/694). The mints outside Rome show their existence from the time of Septimius Severus on. There are more and more coins of the Antiochan mint, but the mint of Rome keeps its first place for a long time. The yearly average number of coins increases between 24o and 25o A. D. We find that the last colonial bronze, an impression of the Phrygian Hieropolis (57/759) among the coins of Philip I (57/716-76o). Viminacium is represented by eighteen bronzes among the coins of Philip I, which means that only half ot the currency has been silver. The coin of Trajan Decius (57 761-777) show the same proportions, there are more coins of the mint of Viminacium. There is again unrest in the provinces under Trebonianus Gallus (58 778-795). 5° After the death of Alexander Severus the ever changing caesars tried to keep the provinces calm, but the migration of the Goths now pressed the tribes of the Carpathian basin, those of Pannónia, from the Lower Danube. Under Philip I, in 247 A. D. the Carpians devastate Dacia, and this can be felt on the limes section between Aquincum and Brigetio. The hiding of the Bakony s zombat coin hoard 8*, and the temporary ceasure of funerals in Brigetio can be brought into connection with this. By the end of the years of 24o A. D. the number of coins decreases. During the first years of the 25os the unrest increases. The coin hoard closing in 251 A. D, , found in Brigetio, points to military activity on the northern limes (Find. No. III). Its latest impressions are of Trebonianus Gallus with PIETAS AVGG reverse inscription, which must have been struck after November 251 A. D. , after Voiusian was nominated augustus. Thus the hiding of the find can be dated to the beginning of 252 A. D. Other finds closing at the same time (Bajót, Pilisszántó, and an unknown location) 8 8 point to the fact that the province must have been attached on the Aquincum Brigetio line at this time. 11
