A Hoard of Late Bosporan Staters from the Sixth-Century Fire Layer in Phanagoria

Abstract

The paper discusses a hoard of Late Bosporan staters found in the sixth-century fire layer in Phanagoria. A purse with 82 coins was hidden in the neck of a Pontic Opaiţ B–1b amphora. The hoard contains staters of Thothorses, Rhadamsades, and Rhescuporis VI, as well as a Panticapaean tetrachalkos of Asander’s time. The conflagration layer is associated with the report of Procopius of Caesarea (Procop. Caes. De bell. VIII.5.28) on the destruction of Phanagoria and Kepoi. The date of the disaster in Phanagoria and the concealment of the hoard is determined by two main circumstances. The first one is the discovery of Justinian I’s solidus of the 545–565 Group together with Late Bosporan staters in a nearby building which met its end in the same fire. The second circumstance is the date of Procopius’ completing Book VIII of his ‘History of the Wars’, i.e. 554 AD. Therefore, Phanagoria and Kepoi were destroyed neither before 545, nor after 554 AD. Accordingly, the hoard’s concealment dates between 545 and 554 AD.