Byzantium, Eastern Roman Empire, Nanbeichao, Sui, Tang, House of Hulagu, Great Silk Road, solidi, bracteates, Yuan empire, Azak

Abstract

In the early 2011, an antique silver coin was found on the day surface south of the town of Zuya (Belogorsky district, Crimea), on the way to the village of Krasnogorskoe (Neizats). It is minted on a badly annealed rectangular plate. On its obverse, a very grotesque but still recognizable image is imprinted of a lion’s head with a lush mane turned to the left. The reverse displays a bow with an arrow put on it and a carelessly made legend “ΠΑΤΗ”. Judging by the manufacture style, the coin is a replica issued in a barbarian emission center, an imitation of the tetrobol of Nymphaion, minted on behalf of the community of Samos. Moreover, the replica could be minted during the period of circulation of the original, with taking into account the fact of the short duration of its issue. The legend of the reverse may contain the name of the Scythian ruler Patiy, who authorized the release of replicas. There is every reason to believe that Patiy could have had his nomad camps here, in Eastern Taurica, since the coins of Nymphaion, issued by immigrants from Samos, have not yet been identified in other regions of the antique world. The very fact of the discovery of the studied coin testifies to the existence of monetary circulation among the Tauride Scythians already in the 5th c. BCE.

Keywords

• archaeology
• history
• numismatics
• taurica
• barbaric imitations