Abstract
The problem put up in the paper is that of identifying images presented on Theodosian silver coins dating back to the early 4th century BC. The recent tendency of Russian numismatic studies favours the version that interprets all obverse pictures of the helmeted headform as a representation of Ares. Arguments differ: written sources (including Greek archaic poetry) and methods of art criticism may get equally involved (according to the latter approach, for instance, it was once argued that those pictures might have “rather male than female” features); still, the detailed analysis refutes the hypothesis. So, one should get back to the previous attribution and identify the helmeted beardless headform as the head of Athena. Another issue is a detailed study of some unique Theodosian coins that could be identifi ed as a separate coin series. These coins, because of their extraordinary design, can be considered a type of the so-called “triumphal mint”; the fi nal victorious episode of the fi rst part of Bosporan-Theodosian War and the death of the king Satyr I might have been the reason for that. If so, this coin series is very probable to be dated back to 391 or 388 BC.
Keywords
Ancient numismatics; Cimmerian Bosporus; Theodosia, coinage.
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