Living by the Coins

After a forty-year gap following the excavations of the 1950s (and even earlier), large archaeological campaigns have been carried out since the 1990s in a quarter (also known as "Spaziergarten", "insula VI"and "Open-Air Museum") of the former "civilian" Roman town of Carnuntum. These new excavations have produced a large quantity of coins. Some of these findings have been published in the monumental volume Numismata Carnuntina - FMRÖ III.2 together with the rest of the coins found at Carnuntum in older collections. The new excavations were carried out according to new methodologies, as nowadays it is a desideratum to create numismatic corpora that should gather as much information as possible about each coin, not only from a numismatic point of view but also from an archaeological one. The aim is to provide more details about both general and specific patterns of the Roman economy, society and history of a residential quarter in a Roman town. Thus, the style of publication of coins - with a large scale of archaeological units (e.g. Roman streets, dwellings public edifices) and their stratigraphy - was chosen in this book in order to provide as much information as possible about each coin; in doing so we try to provide scholars with material and evidence that may help them to obtain a realistic picture of monetary circulation. Similarly, the coin as seen through an archaeological context may serve for a better understanding of the dating of archaeological phases, especially to illustrate when the coin may be useful within an archaeological context, as well as to highlight the pitfalls that one may come across if this artefact is misunderstood within the archaeological picture. We hope that this book will be a useful tool for numismatists, archaeologists, historians and any reader interested in understanding Roman life through coinage.

Introduction Carnuntum – the Reborn City of Emperors Numismatic Comments Abbreviations and Bibliography Technical Abbreviations Photo credits Tables Tab. 1. North Street – Site finds by issuers Tab. 2. North Street – Site finds by periods Tab. 3. South Street – Site finds by issuers Tab. 4. South Street – Site finds by periods Tab. 5. West Street – Site finds by issuers Tab. 6. West Street – Site finds by periods Tab. 7. Baths – Site finds by issuers Tab. 8. Baths – Site finds by periods Tab. 9. “Valetudinarium?” – Site finds by issuers Tab. 10. “Valetudinarium?” – Site finds by periods Tab. 11. Villa urbana – Site finds by issuers Tab. 12. Villa urbana – Site finds by periods Tab. 13. House I – Site finds by issuers Tab. 14. House I – Site finds by periods Tab. 15. House II – Site finds by issuers Tab. 16. House II – Site finds by periods Tab. 17. House III – Site finds by issuers Tab. 18. House III – Site finds by periods Tab. 19. House IV – Site finds by issuers Tab. 20. House IV – Site finds by periods Tab. 21. House V – Site finds by issuers Tab. 22. House V – Site finds by periods Tab. 23. Coin supply in the 4th century AD in the quarter of the “civilian” town of Carnuntum Tab. 24. The quarter of the “civilian” town Carnuntum – Site finds by issuers Tab. 25. The quarter of the “civilian” town Carnuntum – Site finds by periods Tab. 26. Coins by phases Graphs Fig. 1. Graph of the coins from North Street by issuers Fig. 2. Graph of finds/period of the coins from North Street Fig. 3. Graph of the coins from South Street Fig. 4. Graph of finds/period of the coins from South Street Fig. 5. Graph of the coins from West Street Fig. 6. Graph of finds/period of the coins from West Street Fig. 7. Graph of the coins from baths Fig. 8. Graph of finds/period of reign of the coins from baths Fig. 9. Graph of the coins from “valetudinarium?” Fig. 10. Graph of finds/period of the coins from “valetudinarium?” Fig. 11. Graph of the coins from villa urbana Fig. 12. Graph of finds/period of the coins from villa urbana Fig. 13. Graph of the coins from House I (the hoard is not included) Fig. 14. Graph of finds/period of the coins from House I (the hoard is not included) Fig. 15. The hoard from House I – issuers and mints Fig. 16. Graph of the coins from House II Fig. 17. Graph of finds/period of the coins from House II Fig. 18. Graph of the coins from House IV Fig. 19. Graph of finds/period of the coins from House IV Fig. 20. Graph of the coins from House V Fig. 21. Graph of finds/period of the coins from House Fig. 22. Graph of the coins from the quarter of the “civilian” town Carnuntum Fig. 23. Graph of finds/period of the coins from the quarter of the “civilian” town Carnuntum Fig. 24. Graph of the 4th century AD coin supply within a quarter of the “civilian” town Carnuntum Fig. 25. Graph of the coin denominations within the quarter of the “civilian” town Carnuntum (Republic to AD 238) Fig. 26. Graph of the coin denominations within the quarter of the “civilian” town Carnuntum (AD 238 to AD 284) Fig. 27. Graph of the coin denominations within the quarter of the “civilian” town Carnuntum (AD 284 to AD 435) Fig. 28. Pie-chart of 4th century AD mint distribution within a quarter of the “civilian” town Carnuntum Fig. 29. Graph of the 4th century AD coin supply within a quarter of the “civilian” town Carnuntum Fig. 30. Coins by phases: House I Fig. 31. Coins by phases: House II Fig. 32. Coins by phases: House III Maps Map 1. The Roman Empire pointing out the location of Carnuntum Map 2. The virtual Carnuntum Map 3. The plan of the “civilian” town Carnuntum Map 4. The plan of the quarter under study of the “civilian” town Carnuntum Map 5. A detailed plan of the rooms within the edifices of the quarter under study Map 6. The quarter of the “civilian” town of Carnuntum, nowadays Map 7. House I Map 8. The spot of hoard from the House I Map 9. House II Map 10. The profile through room D of the House II pointing the coin offering Map 11. The Mediterranean World in the mid-5th century AD Catalogues North Street South Street East Street West Street Portico Baths “Valetudinarium?” Building east of the “valetudinarium?” Villa urbana House I House II House III House IV House V Former information centre – today the restaurant Forum Culinarium Stray finds Plates Plate 1. South Street Plate 2. South Street: 1–4; West Street: 5–12 Plate 3. West Street Plate 4. West Street Plate 5. Baths: 1–8 the coin deposit; 9 –12 coins found in the same layer with the coin deposit Plate 6. Baths: 1–5 coins found in the same layer with the coin deposit; 6 –12 single finds Plate 7. Baths Plate 8. Baths: 1 – 6; “Valetudinarium?”: 7 – 10; Villa urbana: 11 – 12 Plate 9. Villa urbana Plate 10. Villa urbana Plate 11. Villa urbana Plate 12. The hoard from “House I” Plate 13. House I: the hoard Plate 14. House I: the hoard Plate 15. House I: the hoard Plate 16. House I: the hoard Plate 17. House I: 1 – 2 hoards; 3 –12 single finds Plate 18. House I Plate 19. House II Plate 20. House II Plate 21. House II: 1 – 6; House III: 7 – 8; House IV: 9 – 12 Plate 22. House IV: 1– 4; House V: 5 – 8