Mikhail G. Abramzon*, Nikolai I. Sudarev**

*Magnitogorsk State Technical University, Russia (abramzon-m@mail.ru)
** Institute of Archaeology RAS, Moscow, Russia (sudarev@list.ru)

Key words: Bosporus Cimmerian, Hermonassa, Taman’ 16, coin hoards, Thothorses, Radamsades, Rheskuporis VI, Sarmatians, Alans, Goths.

The authors publish a small hoard of Late Bosporan staters found near the base of a public building (a temple or sanctuary?) in the Taman 16 settlement located in the nearest outskirts of Hermonassa in 2016. The hoard contains 31 staters of three Bosporan Kings: Thothorses (13), Rhadamsades (3), Rheskuporis VI (15). The latest coin in the hoard is the stater dating from 625 year of the Bosporan era (AD 328/329), which actually provides the date for its concealment. Apart from the hoard, 12 isolated staters minted with the same dies of obverses and reverses that the coins from the hoard were uncovered on the f loor of the building. The hoard and coins found inside the building form a single complex. The hoard is associated with a subgroup of 7 hoards concealed in AD 327/328–328/329, containing the coins of the above-mentioned kings. It seems likely that their mass deposit was triggered by the Sarmatian, Alan and Goth incursions into the Bosporan kingdom in AD 328–329. The settlement Taman 16 situated at the chora was destroyed by a major conflagration during the raid of the Maeotians to Hermonassa in September-October AD 328. The numismatic material from the temple (?) is of great importance in studying the currency, economy and military-political situation in the Bosporus in the very beginning of the second quarter of the 4th century AD.