Objective Methods in the Research of Coinages of Byzantine Cherson and the Crimea

Abstract

This paper considers the coin-die method of numismatic research, which, by A. N. Zograf’s definition, is an “objective scientific method.” The need to turn to this description is related to the fact that not all authors of publications are familiar with the principles of this method. The technical features of the use of mechanically connected pairs of dies in coinage, which became widespread in ancient times and were applied in the coinages of Bosporos and Chersonese (mediaeval Cherson) from the Roman Period on, are highlighted. The transition to the coin production not interconnected by dies under the Golden Horde creates more complex intersections of die connections in the method of research of coins. This paper publishes two folles of Justin II (565–578) of the mint of Constantinople produced by the same obverse die and reverse with different numeric marks (Г and Є) interpreted as the signs of the 3rd and 5th officinae. One can infer a special value of the fifth officina differing from those of the marks 1–4 to explain the appearance of its mark on the coins of Leo I and Verina of military issues in Cherson before the organization of its polis coinage. The study of the coins of mediaeval Cherson by die and analytical methods detects the continuity of issues from 549 on, allows the one to determine the coins of Justine II (565–578) and Tiberios II Constantine (578–582), Maurice Tiberios (582–602), Phokas (602–610), Herakleios (610–641) and Constans II (641–668). The end of the coinage of Cherson under the Emperor Constans II corresponded to the economic crisis described by Pope Martin in his letters, when he was exiled to that city in 655 as an avid opponent of the Monothelitism.