The Mercenaries’ Salary in the Mithridatic Wars: Fontalovskaia Hoard (IGCH 1143)

A hoard of didrachmae from the Cossack village of Fontalovskaia (Krasnodar Region) is a unique homogeneous assemblage of the largest denomination of Bosporan silver coins from the Age of Mithridates VI. The results of X-ray fluorescent investigation of 480 didrachmae presented here suggest that the alloy contained only about 30–40% of the precious metal. From the find-spot of the hoard next to one of the main strategic roads controlled by the large settlement of Fontalovskaia 1, 6, the unprecedented size of the amount and the peculiarities of the hoard composition (the homogeneity of the coins represented only by the largest denomination and the absence of traces of circulation on most of them) there are reasons to be consider with a high degree of confidence that this money was intended to provide a salary for the contingent of Mithridates’ mercenaries defending this important area of grain production on the Fontalovskii Peninsula.