SMALL COIN HOARDS LIKE EVIDENCE FOR UNREST. THE CASE OF PHILIPPOPOLIS, ROMAN PROVINCE OF THRACE

Abstract

The coin hoards from the Roman Age are divided by different characters. They can be divided on the following types: 1) accidental losses; 2) emergency hoards; 3) savings hoards; 4) abandoned ones and 5) purse hoards/ daily money.There is no precise definition of the small hoards and the number of coins in them. The data for the small coin hoards on the territory of Lower Moesia and Thrace that were most probably lost, have been recently summarized. To the group assigned are from 6 to 8% of all known hoards in the period I-III century. To determine the reasons why the daily money / purse hoard remain in the ground, their archaeological context of discovery plays a significant role. In the most of our known hoards from the territory of the present-day Bulgaria, it remains unknown. This is slightly different for the hoards from Plovdiv - the ancient Philippopolis. While in other major military or urban centers in Lower Moesia and Thrace there are a few known roman coin hoards, for the territory of Philippopolis they are 15. Of them, only one can be considered to the savings hoards group. The rest contain a relatively small number of coins and can be considered to the daily money category. They are associated with the Gothic invasion of 250-251 AD.

Keywords

• small coin hoards
• lower moesia and thrace
• philippopolis
• gothic invasion