Byzantine coins in Estonia

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Estonia

So far, 215 Byzantine coins have been found in Estonia . With one exception (bronze), they are silver coins . The majority date from 945 to 989 AD, especially from the time of Basil II (976-1025). The influx of coins to the Baltic Sea corresponds to the influx of Islamic coins ( dirhems of the Abbasids , Büjids and Hamdanids ) to Constantinople . In Estonia, the Byzantine coins are only an admixture with the Arabic silver coins, especially from Mesopotamia .

Coin of Michael I , Byzantine emperor from 811 to 813

Byzantine coins form a small but characteristic part of Viking Age coins in the Baltic region. They are extremely common in Sweden (especially on Gotland ), but the coin depots in Germany, Denmark, Finland, Latvia, Poland and Russia also contain Byzantine coins.

Apart from a few earlier and later coins, the Byzantine coins found in the Baltic Sea area are almost exclusively silver miliareses , which (with exceptions) are never numerous in the treasures. The bulk of them date from the period beginning with Constantine VII and Romanos II (945–959) and ending with Basil II and Constantine VIII (977–989). About 60% of the coins belong to the reign of Basil II. Their inflow to the north must have lasted about 45 years. The only difference is the “Ochsarve Treasure” with 112 coins from Constantine IX. (1042-1055).

The largest find of Byzantine coins in the north comes from Estonia , the find of Wella, which contained at least 143 miliaresions (originally up to 300), most of which belong to the time of Basil II. The situation in Estonia corresponds to the pattern found in the Baltic Sea region.

literature

  • Christian Martin Fraehn: The oriental coin find from Essemeggi in Estonia. A supplement to the topographical overview of the excavations of ancient Arab money in Russia. 1848.
  • Hendrik Mäkeler: Viking Age Money Circulation in the Baltic Sea Region - New Perspectives. In: Quaestiones Medii Aevi Novae 10, 2005, pp. 121-149. ( Digital version , PDF 2.1 MB)
  • Ivar Leimus: Finds of Byzantine coins in Estonia . In: M. Wołoszyn (Ed.): Byzantine Coins in Central Europe between the 5th and 10th Century . Krakau 2008, pp. 1–17 ( digitized version ).

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Inger Hammarberg, Brita Malmer, Torun Zachrisson: Byzantine coins found in Sweden. Stockholm 1989, ISBN 91-7192-790-5 .