The Aes Coinage of Emporion 9780904531701, 9781407339740

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The Aes Coinage of Emporion

Leandre Villaronga translated from the Spanish by Elisabeth Weeks

BAR Supplementary Series 23 1 977

British Archaeological Reports 122, Banbury Road, Oxford OX2 7BP, England

GENERAL EDITORS A. C. C. Brodribb, M.A. Mrs. Y. M. Hands

A. R. Hands, B.Sc., M.A., D.Phil. D. R. Walker, M.A.

B.A.R. Supplementary Series 23, 1977: © Leandre Villaronga, 1977

"The Aes Coinage of Emporion"

The author’s moral rights under the 1988 UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act are hereby expressly asserted. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be copied, reproduced, stored, sold, distributed, scanned, saved in any form of digital format or transmitted in any form digitally, without the written permission of the Publisher. ISBN 9780904531701 paperback ISBN 9781407339740 e-book DOI https://doi.org/10.30861/9780904531701 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library This book is available at www.barpublishing.com

CONTENTS Page Preface Abbreviations Historical Background

1

Silver Coinage

2

The Literature

4

Inscriptions

5

Foundation of the Municipium of Emporia

6

Typology

6

Symbols

8

Epigraphy

9

Value Marks

10

Graffito

11

Magistrates

12

Countermarks

16

Weight standards/Metrology

17

Finds of coins

22

Classification Criteria

24

Chronology

28

Catalogue

32

Note on use of the catalogue Table of Iberian inscriptions with transcription Key to catalogue Catalogue Plates

32 35 37

42 85

PREFACE

A f ter p ub l ish ing s o me p rel im inary work o n t he s ub ject o f t he p resen t monograph , we a re r eturn ing t o t h is t op ic w ith a l arger b ody o f mater ial , wh ich h as e nab led u s t o r each f ir mer c onclus ions o n c er ta in p o in ts , a lthough i n g enera l , t he r esults o bta ined a re n ot a s d ef in it ive a s we s hou ld h ave l iked. However , we a re g lad t o b e a b le t o p rov ide a c a talogue o f 2 000 c o ins , a nd a f u l l a ccoun t o f t he p rob le ms e ncoun tered i n t he n um is mat ics o f Empor ion. We w ish t o t hank a l l t he museu ms , t he ir d irectors a nd c ura tors, a nd a l l t he c o llectors who a ppear i n t he c ata logue , f or t he ir v a luab le a ss istance, w ithout wh ich t he p resen t work wou ld n ot h ave b een p oss ib le.

ABBREVIATIONS CRAWF.

M. H. Crawford, Roman Republican Coinage, Cambridge 1974.

ELH

Enciclopedia Lingiiistica Hispana, Madrid 1960.

LMPER

A. M. de Guadan, Las monedas de plata de Emporion y Rhode, Barcelona 1968-70.

RIC

H. Mattingly and E. A. Sydenham, Roman Imperial Coinage, London 1923ff.

MLH

J. Untermann, Monumenta Linguarum Hispanicarum, Weisbaden 1975.

V.64

L. Villaronga, Los magistrados en las amonedaciones latinas de Emporiae, in Estudios de Numisn:atica Romana, Barcelona 1964.

V .72

L. Villaronga, Sistematizacion del bronce iberico emporitano, in Acta Numismatica II, 1972.

V

A. Vives Escudero, La Moneda Hispanica, Madrid 1926.

IITSTORICAL BACKGROUND In the extreme north-east of the Iberian Peninsula and in the north-east corner of Catalonia, on a plain at the foot of Mount Canigou, which rises at the eastern end of the Pyrenees and forms a background to the Bay of Rosas, lies the site of the ancient city of Emporion, which gave this region its name, L'Emporda. It belongs to the municipality of L'Escala, in the province of Gerona, and its ruins lie between this town and Sant Marti' d'Empuries. Excavations were begun in 1 9 08 and the finds are shared between museums in Barcelona and Gerona and a museum set up on the site. The city was founded in 5 7 5 B.C. by Greek colonists from Phocea, in Asia Minor, who had already founded colonies at Alalia and Messalia. The importance of Emporion in antiquity is shown by references to the city by Scylax of Caria.nda writing about 490 B. C., and by Skymnos, although they mention it only briefly when describing this part of the Iberian Peninsula.! The friendship of the Greek colonists for the Romans led to an alliance with them against the Carthaginian invaders, 2 and Emporion was the place chosen for the Roman landing in 218 B. C., 3 and became the first Roman military base at the start of the Second Punic War. Livy4 records the arrival of M. Porcius Cato at Emporion in 19 7 B.C., and says that the city was made up of two towns 5 separated by a wall, one inhabited by Greeks who came originally from Phocea, and the other by natives. Later, he adds, they were united in a Roman colony founded by Caesar after his victory over the sons of Pompey. Livy gives an account of Cato's campaign of pacification, and mentions Emporion as being near his camp.6 After the pacification of Catalonia was completed the Romans set up their base of operations at Tarraco, and the colony disappears from the literature. The native inhabitants of the region of Emporion are referred to as indigetes by two ancient historians, Sallust7 and Pliny.8 Strabo9 also men­ tions them, saying that Emporion was founded from Messalia, and describing the city as consisting of two towns, one inhabited by the Greek colonists and the other by the indiketai, adding that in time the two parts came to form a single city. The final mention in the literature is by Stephen of Byzantium, 10 the geo­ grapher who lived around 500 A.D., who is the only writer to refer to indike as a city. In our opinion this is a mistake made by a writer who lived at a great distance from Emporion both in time and space.

1

SILVER COINAGE The first coins to be minted in Spain were struck at Emporion, as can be seen from an examination of the hoard of coins known as the treasure of Auriol.11 This treasure of Auriol, found near Marseilles, was hidden in about 470 B.C., and is made up of many different types of coins which are derived from Greek models, particularly from Phocea. One of them, de­ picting the head of a sheep, also occurs in Catalonian finds, but its style is barbaric. From these first coins are derived others, occurring only in Catalonian hoards found at Pont de Molins, Morella and Emporion. The earliest of these coins have no inscriptions, but later they are inscribed with the letters E and M, the first letters of Emporion, and so can be attributed with certainty to this city.1 2 These small silver coins, earlier than drachmas, span the whole of the fourth century B.C., and it is only at the beginning of the third century that the first drachmas of Emporion make their appearance. These were minted13 under the economic influence of the Carthaginians, as can be seen from the designs used, the obverse depicting Persephone, recognisable by the ear of wheat in her head-dress, like the Carthaginian Tanit-Persephone, and the reverse depicting a standing horse.14 Carthaginian defeat at the end of the First Punic War, in 24 1 B.C., brought to a close the minting of this type of drachma at Emporion. The Persephone was replaced by the Sicilian Arethusa, surrounded by three dolphins, and the standing horse was replaced by a Pegasus. During the whole of the second half of the third century Emporion continued to mint drachmas and their fractions, 1 5 and towards the beginning of the Second Punic War a notable change took place in their typology, the head of the Pegasus being replaced by a small man grasping his toes, known as Kabeirus. In 2 1 8 B.C., when the Romans landed, large numbers of drachmas were minted at Emporion, all with a Kabeirus in place of the head of the Pegasus. Their weight, which was originally 4.70 g, was reduced to 4.50 g, the same weight as the Roman denarius, which was introduced at that time. The native Iberians, fighting first against the Carthaginians and later against the Romans, needed money to finance their wars, and minted coins in imitation of those minted at Emporion; this was the "argentum oscense" of the Roman triumphs. The last drachmas were minted at Emporion in 1 95 B.C., at the time of Cato's pacification, and these have many symbols, in Roman style. However, when the weight of the Roman denarius was reduced their production ceased. 2

This period, the beginning ?f the second century B.C., saw the end of the production of silver coins at Emporion. and the introduction of bronze coins, with the Iberian inscription UNTIKESKEN, 16 which is the name of the native inhabitants of the city and its hinterland.

3

THE LITERATURE The first attempt to classify the bronze coins of Emporion was made by Pujol y Camps.1 7 Although simple, this first system of classification was most valuable for reference and the identification of new varieties. Later, Pujol y Camps made some improvements to his system. 18 Shortly afterwards, Zobel19 dealt with the coins of Emporion in a more general work, but introduced no new material. Vives20 was the first to attempt a complete classification of coins from Emporion, although this section is one of the weakest in his important work. He does not give a complete list of magistrates for the Latin coins. Although his commentaries are valuable, Hill21 adds nothing new to the material on the Iberian coinage of Emporion. As regards the Latin, he con­ siders that there were two mints, one of which at first produced coins with the inscription MUNICI, and later coins without the names of magistrates, and the other which changed over from Iberian types to coins inscribed with names of magistrates, whereupon the first mint ceased production and the coins without names of magistrates were c