Colonia Ulpia Traiana (CUT) emerged from the settlement connected to the legionary fortress (Castra Vetera) that was constructed by Drusus in 13/12 b.c. as the base camp for Augustan expansion east of the Rhine. The settlement received the status of a colony under Trajan and was finally abandoned in the first half of the fourth century. It is now one of the most important Roman sites in Germany. K.’s book lists and discusses all coins found at CUT up to 2012.
This book was initially conceived as part of the now defunct series Die Fundmünzen der römischen Zeit in Deutschland (FMRD) in which coins from CUT should have been published in section 3, vol. 3.3. K. follows the FMRD format, in which the coins from CUT were already assigned the prefix number 3003. His description of the format, including abbreviations and site-specific bibliography (pp. 11–30), is essential reading for the dense presentation of data that follows. The coins are arranged by the category of find (single finds, hoards, graves etc.), which is represented by the second part of the catalogue number. The last digit of each catalogue number represents the coin.
The largest group of coins (3003,1) consists of the single finds (‘Einzelfunde’), some 4,601 coins. Einzelfunde are sometimes referred to in German numismatic literature as ‘settlement finds’ (Siedlungsfunde), implying that they literally fell out of the pockets of the ancient city's inhabitants. In fact, these are simply individual finds from CUT (either found on the surface or in excavation) that are not from hoards, burials or part of a votive deposit or recognisable group, and that may have been lost for any number of reasons. With this caveat aside, these coins are the largest part of the numismatic fingerprint of CUT, and allow it to be compared with the coin finds from other sites.
The first half of the catalogue gives basic entries for the coins in chronological order. Read horizontally, it begins with catalogue numbers (nos 3003,1,1 to 3003,1,4601), followed by denomination, date, mint city, references, mint marks and comments. The final column provides museum inventory numbers or excavation find numbers of coins. The second half of the catalogue consists of footnotes corresponding to each of these entries. These notes contain further information about the coin itself, alternative references, condition, weight and, if known, the location at CUT where the coin was found.
The Einzelfunde begin with three Greek coins (3003,1,1–3), 39 Celtic coins (3003,1,4–43), 125 Roman Republican coins (3003,1,44–163) and then lists Roman imperial coins by emperor from Augustus up to the first Tetrarchy (3003,1,164–3961). Coins from the first tetrarchy onwards are listed by issuing period and mint city, with the name of the emperor abbreviated in the fourth column. This system allows for the inclusion of worn coins where the emperor is uncertain but other information is still discernible. For example, coin 3003,1,4147 is a follis with the reverse legend GLORIA EXERCITVS that was struck at Lyon between 335 and 340, but is described as ‘C/CS’ indicating that the ruler on the obverse is either Constantine the Great or one of his sons.
This same two-part format is employed for coins found in other types of context. Coins 3003,2,1–49 are all from graves, while 3003,3,1 is a single coin from a possible grave. This is followed by hoards and groups of coins found together (3003,4–17), such as six coins found underneath the plaster wall covering of a temple on insula 20. The coins in groups 3003,18–20 consist of early modern finds that are assumed to have been made at CUT, or where the nature of the find category is uncertain.
Of the hoards, two are exceptional. The first (3003,5) consists of sixteen gold aurei from Tiberius to Vespasian that was found in 1977 in a small wooden box in a house near the port gate. The second (3003,15) is a hoard of 390 silver denarii and antoninianii of Marcus Aurelius to Postumus, as well as gold and silver jewellery, a silver bowl and spoons, as well as scraps of silver and bronze, that was found in 1964 inside the temenos of a temple of the Matrones.
The catalogue ends with useful indexes and lists. Two short indexes list coins of different types, such as imitations (Barbarisierungen) or medallions, and coins with modifications, such as halved or holed coins. Five tables provide a concordance of the new catalogue numbers along with excavation information such as trench numbers and related literature.
This a thorough and competent catalogue, but the die axes of coins are not given. While most Roman coins have a die axis of either 0 or 180 degrees, die axis is sometimes of interest in the case of imitative issues, such as the bronze coins of Postumus, some of which can hardly be distinguished from official issues of the Treveran mint except that their die axes are wrong. K. has opted to illustrate none of the coins, which is realistic if disappointing.
The second part of the volume consists of a very preliminary commentary on the data assembled, with its own bibliography. As with any recent study of coin finds, K. begins by identifying eighteen sites, from the mouth of the Rhine to Cologne, with which CUT may be compared. Of these, Nijmegen is of particular importance, as the site also dates back to the early Augustan period and has recently been studied by F. Kemmers (Coins for a Legion [2006]). Each of the issuing periods is then discussed in detail (pp. 512–58) along with specific issues and topics relevant to each of these periods. The discussion is supported by 49 tables of data that allow various statistics to be taken in at a glance. These observations are followed by a similar commentary on coin hoards and collective finds.
The structure and observations for each period are too numerous to discuss in detail here, but we may consider the coins of Augustus (3003,1,158–974, pp. 517–24) as an example. K. divides the period with subheadings for the silver coins, then bronze coins struck at Rome, Spain, at Nîmes and Lyon. A final section deals with the issue of imitative bronze coins of Augustus, in which one learns that of the 799 bronze coins of the Augustan period found at CUT, some 174 are imitations. The tradition of countermarking bronze coins that was common in this period is also briefly discussed (p. 518). The 165 countermarks from CUT are listed in tables 2–3 (pp. 633–4) and are all illustrated in two colour plates (pls 1–2).
Part 2 concludes with a summary of the finds from CUT in three basic periods, up to a.d. 192, a.d. 192–294 and a.d. 294–403. This summary is supplemented by a series of histograms (pls 6–19) in which CUT is again compared with other sites in the region, occasionally discussing historical events. For example, K. considers the impact of the Batavian revolt on the coin finds at these sites (pp. 584–5). Surprisingly, the proportions of coins from sites damaged or destroyed in the revolt, such as CUT and Neuss, seem to be no different from those that were not, such as Cologne.
The commentary, like the first part of his book, is really a set of observations rather than deductions drawn from the data found in Part 1. But the presentation of a massive amount of data, rather than broad conclusions, was clearly the main goal of this undertaking. The track record of books as a means of storing information is still far superior to that of websites, CDs or the long-forgotten microfiche sometimes used for works like this. The coin finds of CUT are now laudably secured for posterity in this sturdy tome. But this does leave a real problem in terms of accessing K.’s data. Should anyone wish to use the coin finds from CUT in a later work, it would have been very useful to have access to this information in a digital format. This point aside, K. has provided a significant service for those who wish to conduct more specific studies of coins, monetary policy and the Roman economy that are based on sound collections of data.
