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
The distribution of mints brings no surprise either, in the find: Londinum I, Treveri 3, Lugdunum 9, Arelate 35, Gallia 8, Mediolanum I, Ticinum 3, Rome 79, Aquileia 172, Siscia 855, Sirmium 71, Thessaloniki 113, Heraclea 2o, Constantinople 57, Nikomedia 26, Kyzikos 41, Antioch 6, Alexandria 6. Unfortunately, due to bad condition, the mint marks cannot be read on two thirds of the find. The latest coins of the find are the one of Arcadius (174 /2689) with ACS mark, AE 4, and one of Honorius (174/2692) with AQP mark, AE 4. They were struck between 388 and 4o2 A. D. and 393 and 4o8 A. D. respectively. The majority of the coins of the find struck after 375 A. D. were struck until 395 A. D. , thus the date for the striking of these two coins, mentioned above, of Arcadius and Honorius must have been around 395 A. D. This must also be the date for the hiding of the treasure. CELAMANTIA There is a close connection between the currency of Brigetio and that of her counter-fortres s . Archaeological evidence shows, that there is a layer for the time of Domitian, representing the earliest period.® 3 The fortress was rebuilt in stone around loo A. D. Celamantia's fate is similar to that of Brigetio, it gets destroyed during the Markoman wars and under Diocletian, although they give it up earlier th^^ Brigetio. The name of this counter-fortress does not appear in the Notitia Dignitatum in the 4th century. The coins from Celamantia and surroundings show, ®® that there are some scattered coins from the beginning of the 1st century A. D. , but considerable coinage begins only from Vespasian. The distribution of coins by centuries is as follows: 1st century 77 pieces 2nd " 73 " 3rd " 252 " 4th " 241 Valentinian (19 coins) and Valens (ll ccifs) of the end of the 4th century are represented only by a few coins, similarly to the gathered scattered material in the Barbaricum. The latest coins date to Valentinian II and Theodosius I. The fact itself, that the number of 4th century coins are less than their number in the 3rd century A. D. indicates the caesure Gf regular Roman currency for the 4th century. This is not true for Brigetio yet. CONTEMPORARY IMITATIONS Unfortunately the greater part of the reported material was lost during the Second World War ( 98-I06 /i-3o4). The inventory items are quoted verbatim in our description. On the basis of this, we can only report, but cannot evaluate.®® A few general remarks can be made though. There are only a very few imitations until Trajan ( 98 /i-io). From this time on though, the number of imitations increases. One third of the material represent the coins of Septimius Severus ( 99 /69-lo4), Julia Domna ( loo /io5-l28), Caracalla ( lol /129-I51), and Geta (lo2 /152-169). The imitations of Alexander Severus ( lo2 /l79-219), Julia Mammaea ( io3 /224-246), and Gordian III ( Io4 /247-27o) represent a high figure also. They become rarer by the middle of the 3rd century A. D. ; the last with imitations is Claudius II ( io4 /271-296). There are only a very few imitations from the 4th century A.D., those of Galéria Valeria ( lo5/297), Constantius II (lo5/298) and Julian (i 05 /299). 17
