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New lnsights into the Early-Medieval Coins Discovered in Southern Croatia
Tomislav Šeparović
; Muzej hrvatskih arheoloških spomenika
Sažetak
The paper publishes '0 far unknown infannation on the earlymedieval COilJS discovered in southem Croatia. Afragment ofa silver denarius ofCharlemagne ofBribir near Skradin is kept in the numismatic coilection ofthe Croatian Archaeological.Wonuments Museum of Split, an imitation of golden solidus of Constantine V Copronymus and Leo IV found at Klis is in a private collection, wbereas the hoard with coins at the island of Maslinovik near Primošten and some individual finds of gak/en hislamenoi of Romanos /Il Argyros are being discussed agailJSt archive information.
Tbe Charlemagne~ denarius belongs to the coin type featured by combinations of cross at the obverse and monogram at the reverse, or the other way round. Such denarii were produced by Frank mints west ofthe Alps and in the northern Italy,from 793 to
812. Carolingian coins are rarely found at the eastern Adriatic coasts. Only one denarius has been found in the south Croatian tenitories sofar, the one ofLotar Ifrom the Grace no. 620fŽdrijac in !lin, minted in Mediolanum. Given the circumstances of this find, the denarius was most probably a grave contribution, pracliced very often in this period of still strong pagan customs. Asomewhat later example comes from Rose near Herceg Novi. This is probabl)' a so called anonymous denarius, mint in the mid 9th century, most prohahly in Venice. ln Istria there are known only two pieces of Carolingian coins, which sU1prises, having in mind that this penilJSula, witb Furlania, made part of the Aquileian mark, thaI is, directly under the Frank administration. To us tbe most interesting is certainly the onefrom tbe Brijuni castIUm, kept in tbe Archaeological Museum of Pula, since it is typologicallJ identical to the one ofBrihir. The second piece is the coin of Lotar J, fOit1ld in a grave of the old-Croatian cemetery at Mala Vrata near Buzet. The discovery ofthe Charlemagne~ denarius at Bribir is ill!portant since it, at least a bit, adds to the insight into tbe money circulation at this important old-Croatian locality in the early Middle Ages lt tcstifies not only ofthe contacts that the Croats madewilh the Franks in tbe beginning of the 9& centwy, but also confirms the exceptional importance of Bribir as a centloe of the early medieval Croatian slate.
The coin of Constantine VCopronymlls has been aCCidentally found near the Klis F01tresj. This is an imitation ofgold soNdus. The obverse depicts the husts of Constantine Vand his son Leo IV, en face,. whereas the reverse depicts the bust of Leo III, the Constantine's father. By its features, the coin belongs to Ihe coin type mint in the mint of Syracuse, particularly actively in the second half of the 8th century. The period of time when such coins were circulated was from the year 760 tili the Copronimus death in 775. Dalmatian museums keep numerous coins of this type, and their finds are presented in the attached map. Their multitude in the area between the Zrmanja and the Cetina rivers, the lime and reasons of their arrival here and their function as grave contributions, especially as rela/ed to dating of graves at the important old-Croatian site of Biskupija near Knin, made them topics of scientijic discussions over a long period of time. It appears tbat tbeir presence in tbe soutbem Croatia may be explained by tbe common polilica! situatiun prevailing in the second half of tbe Btb century. This IS the time follOWing the fall of the exarchate of Ravenna, when Dalmatian towns remained tbe scarce Byzantine strongholds at the Adriatic, besides Venice, wherefore Byzant tried to secure them by giving large quantities ofgold coins 10 the Croats in their back, for the case that Byzant is to employ militarily against the strengthening Frank state. The Croatian mling strattIIn, not
fa miliar with monetary economy and still undergoing Christianisation, for several decades utilised the received gold coins as valuabies only. Some oftbe coins were placed, with other objects, into graves, and some have probab!y been cast into jewellery.
lt is interesting that finds ofCopronymus' gold coins by tbe very coast and in its immediate vicinity are very felO. Actually, there is only one piece found -Ihe one of Nin. However, having in mind the area of activities of tbe Archaeological Museum of Split, that keeps most ofthese coins, althaugb lacking any infannation on the place and circumstances of their discovery, it may be concluded that suchgold wins came into possession ofseniol~ ofthe Croatian familws in the vicinity of Split. 77Jis makes the discovelY of the Copronymus' coin at Klis, which confirms this theory, only euen more impD/tant.
Thanks to the archive data, new infannation have been obtained on discoveries of golden nomisma hista/nenoj of the Byzantine emperor R01nanos III Agryros. lt is about the 70 gold COi17$ discovered 011 the island of Maslinovik near Prim01ten, and individual disCQveries at Bage/ić near Dmiš and Biskupija near Knin. ln Dalmatia and Herzegovina, six herds conlaining this emperor~ COillS are knoum 0/ but also nlllnerous individual diswveries that can be seen al the attached map. All oft hem prove significant inflow of Byzantine money to the eastem Adriatic coast in the 11th century. Their frequency is to be related to thegeneral economic and cultural progress, both in Dalmatian towns under the Byzantine administration and those in the territory of the Croatian state at the eve of the Romanesque style
Ključne riječi
Hrčak ID:
83085
URI
Datum izdavanja:
24.10.2003.
Posjeta: 2.122 *