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
main aim in developing the collection was, to add such pieces which were not represented yet. Thus the non-duplicate impressions of hoards found their way into this collection, breaking up the unit of the find. There came a break-through though after the Second World War when an archaeological view and concept penetrated numismatics, which, among others, definitely kept the hoards together. The result of the previous view, for instance, was the breaking up of Find No. V. It seems that the curators were guided only to obtain type variations and missing impressions. The provenance of the coins was of very minor importance in developing the collection. In spite of all this, even the collection of Roman coins of the Numismatic Department show generally the same proportions as the scattered coins of Brigetio for the late 4th century A. D. emperors. 1^ As we mentioned before, under certain conditions coins of excavations can be considered the most spontaneous, furthermore the collections of country museums. Here the coin collections did not develop systematically, but accidentally. Most of the time the scattered coins of the neighbouring countryside enriched the museums, thus the spontaneous proportions are less biased. Evaluating the graphs, another problem arises. Their data cannot be used mechanically, because when drafting them we were compelled to use the full duration of an emperor's rule occasionally, where closer dating for year, or a few years was impossible. In some cases where not even the emperor was identifiable the reverse type formed the base for dating. This is especially true for the 4th century and for the beginning of the 5th centruy A. D. material. Thus we could move only between these rather wide time limits . There is no such monograph for the end of the 4th century and the beginning of the 5th centruy A. D. , which could give a close chronology for the coins, as the volumes of RIC. The values of the graphs must definitely be checked against the historical and archaeological data, and even against the local peculiarities. Even so, we can only give a very cautious evaluation. Here again we return to the examples of the P galian coins. Tear 260 A.D, (Figs. XIV and XVII) shows exceptional values on both graphs. Since Regalian struck coins in Carnuntum, these impressions came to close-by Brigetio. Thus the high quantity of coins does not reflect an economic boom for Pannónia for this year, but a special event. This fact warns us, that the prominent years on the graphs could be the result of historical events and not necessarily the rise of currency. HISTORY OF BRIGETIO AND THE COMPARISON BETWEEN SCATTERED COINS AND HOARDS Pannónia was occupied during the reign of Augustus. The military bases were at first at the southwestern part of the province^, and later when these were transferred to the limes, the temporary and permanent camps were built there. Brigetio gets a temporary legion around 87 A. D. According to the opinion of others, only around 9o or 92 A. D. , this legion is the Leg. I. Adiutrix 1 8. By the end of the first century A. D. the most important Danubian province is Pannónia. By the end of the 90s A. D. legionary camps are established along the Danube, including Brigetio too. At the same time Aquincum and Vindobona become legionary camp base also. The left bank counter castle of Celemantia, opposite to Brigetio, was built at the same time. 7
