Abstract
The coinage of Chersonesus was formed from the beginning, regardless of the metropolis. Some silver coins of Chersonesian fi rst series have features characteristic of the brilliant Greek coins of the 5th century BC. Coins of the second quarter of the 4th century BC are characterized by constant changes in coin types. In general, the artistic brilliance of the coins of that time is obvious. Silver and copper coins of the second half of the 4th century BC overall were issued in the highest artistic level, sometimes reaching high classical perfection. Silver and copper coinage of the 3rd century BC continued the best traditions of the coinage of the previous century. In the 360s BC in Chersonesus there was a remarkable master, who engraved artistic dies for silver coin type with the wreathed Maid’ head / the Maid spearing a deer. These coins were the highest achievement of the Chersonesian numismatic art. In the 2nd century BC the repertoire of Chersonesian coin types and style of images on the coins dramatically changed. Portraits and images on most coins are static and do not shows small details. In the fi rst half of the 1st century BC Chersonesus actually was a part of the Pontic Kingdom. The coins have much in common stylistically with coins of other cities of the Pontus and the Bosporus. After the death of Mithridates VI, the Chersonesian obols bear the portrait of the king Pharnaces II. This is the fi rst image of the historical character in the coinage of the city. In the 1st century AD, the common obverse type is an allegorical image of the Roman Emperor without a portrait likeness. The general type of the reverse is the Maid standing with the bow and spear. Most of the coins are made in the local quite primitive art style and only at the last stage of coinage in Chersonesus, there is a master whose dies realistically convey the features of the Roman rulers and resemble the typical quasi-autonomous editions of the Greek cities in the Roman Empire.
Keywords
Chersonesus, coinage, numismatic art
Anokhin, V.A. 1977: Monetnoe delo Khersonesa (IV v. do n.e. – XII v. n.e.) [The Coinage of Chersonesus (4th century BC –12th Сentury AD)]. Kiev.
Anokhin, V.A. 1986: Monetnoe delo Bospora [Coinage of the Bosporus]. Kiev.
Bert’e-Delagard, A.L. 1906: Neskol’ko novykh ili maloizvestnykh monet Khersonesa [Several New or Little-Known Coins of Chersonesus]. Zapiski Odesskogo obshestva istorii i drevnostey [Notes of the Odessa Society of History and Antiquities] XXVI, 215–276.
Bert’e-Delagard, A.L. 1912: Monetnye novosti drevnikh gorodov Tavridy [Monetary News of the Ancient Cities of Taurida]. Zapiski Odesskogo obshestva istorii i drevnostey [Notes of the Odessa Society of History and Antiquities] XXX, 39–54.
Bibikov, S.I. 1976: Antichnaya skul’ptura Khersonesa [Antique Sculpture of Chersonesus]. Kiev.
Buiskikh, A.V. 2006: Khersones Tavricheskiy v VI v. do n.e.: real’nost’ istoricheskaya ili arkheologicheskaya [Tauric Chersonesus in the 6th Century BC: Reality Historical or Archaeological]. Antichnyy mir i arkheologiya [Classical Antiquity and Archeology] 12, 263–277.
Vinogradov, Yu.G., Zolotarev, M.I. 1998: God rozhdeniya Khersonesa Tavricheskogo [Year of Birth of Tauric Chersonesus]. Khersonesskiy sbornik [Chersonesus Collection] IX, 36–46.
Zograf, A.N. 1922: Statuarnye izobrazheniya Devy v Khersonese po dannym numizmatiki. [Statuary Images of the Virgin in Chersonesus According to Numismatics]. Izvestiya Rossiiskoy akademii istorii material’noy kul’tury [News of the Russian Academy of History of Material Culture] 2, 337–397.
Zograf, A.N. Antichnye monety [Ancient Coins]. Materialy i issledovaniya po arkheologii SSSR. [Materials and Researches on Archeology of the USSR] 16. Moscow.
Kovalenko, S.A. 2004: K khronologii dvukh grupp monet Khersonesa Tavricheskogo [To Chronology of Two Groups of Coins of Tauric Chersonesus]. In: Monety i medali [Coins and Medals] II, 56–69.
Rogov, E.Ya. 2005: Problema osnovaniya Khersonesa [Problem of the Basis of Chersonesus]. Greki i varvary Severnogo Prichernomor’ya v skifskuyu epokhu [Greeks and barbarians of Northern Black Sea Coast during a Scythian era]. Saint-Petersburg, 146–148.
Rostovcev, M.I. 1917: Cezar’ i Khersones [Caesar and Chersonesus]. Izvestiya Imperatorskoy Arkheologicheskoy komissii [News of the Imperial Archaeological commission] 63, 1–12.
Sidorenko, V.A. 2001: Zolotaya monetnaya chekanka Khersonesa I–II vv. n.e. [Gold Monetary Stamping of Chersonesus of the 1st – 2nd centuries AD]. Materialy po Arkheologii, Istorii i Etnografi i Tavrii [Materials on Archeology, History and Tavriya’s Ethnography] VIII, 436–453.
Turovskiy, E.Ya., Gorbatov, V.M. 2013: Monety antichnogo i srednevekovogo Khersonesa/katalog- opredelitel’ [Coins of Antique and Medieval Chersonesus]. Simferopol.
Tyumenev, A.I. 1938: Khersonesskie etyudy [Chersonesus Etudes]. I. Vestnik Drevney Istorii [Journal of Ancient History] 2, 245–259.
Frolova, N.A. 1997: Monetnoe delo Bospora [Coinage of the Bosporus]. Ch.I. Moscow.
Schneiderwirth, J.Н. 1882: Das Pontische Herakleia. Bericht uber das Schuljahr 1881–1882 des Kather. Heiligenstadt.