Mikhail G. Abramzon^1,2,*, Sergei I. Bezuglov^3,**, Olga L. Gunchina^4,***, Elmira R. Ustaeva^5,****

¹Institute of Archaeology RAS, Moscow, Russia
² Nosov Magnitogorsk State Technical University, Russia
³South Federal University, Rostov-on-Don, Russia
⁴“Phanagoria” State Historical and Archaeological Museum-Reserve, Sennoy, Russia
⁵Taman Museum Complex – Branch of the Krasnodar E.D. Felitsyn State Historical and Archaeological Museum-Reserve

*E-mail: abramzon-m@mail.ru
**E-mail: sergbez@mail.ru
***E-mail: gunchino@mail.ru
****E-mail: ustaeva2005@mail.ru

Keywords: the Cimmerian Bosporus, the Volna 1 settlement, coin hoards, Cotys III, Sauromates III, currency circulation.

The paper is a publication of a hoard of electrum and silver Bosporan staters of the 3rd century AD found inside a burned structure in the ancient settlement of Volna 1 (Taman Peninsula) in 2014. The assemblage includes 99 staters of the Bosporan kings Cotys III (81) and Sauromates III (18). The earliest among the coins are the staters of Cotys III issued in memory of his father Rhescuporis III in AD 228/229. The latest in the hoard are the staters dating from 529 of the Bosporan era (AD 232/233), which actually provide the date for its concealment and the death of the building. The hoard joins a subgroup of hoards concealed in the 220s–230s AD. Their concealment is explained with instability in the Bosporus caused by barbarian invasions and campaigns of the Bosporan kings against them. Another reason for the concealment of hoards under Cotys III (and his successors) was undoubtedly the catastrophic debasement of the stater during his reign. The published hoard clearly reflects this process. The unique homogeneous assemblage of staters of Cotys III and Sauromates III is of decisive importance for the study of currency, the economic and military-political situation on the Bosporus at the end of the first third of the 3rd century AD.

DOI: 10.31857/S086960630008955-9