A HOARD FOR CHARON? THE ROMAN IMPERIAL HOARD FROM DESA (DOLJ COUNTY, ROMANIA)

Abstract

In 1988, 122 silver denarii ranking from Nero to Commodus were confiscated by authorities from a person who was trying to sale these coins illegally at a local market. Following the study of the message on the coin reverse, the comparative analysis, the author suggests a deliberate selection for hoarding of coins that may have had an eschatological meaning for the individual that had assembled the hoard. Such a hypothesis may suggest that this hoard was not intended to have an economic purpose (e.g. savings, emergency hoard) but a funerary/votive one.

Keywords

• funerary hoard, coin types, roman dacia