ON IBERIAN IMITATIONS OF GRECO-ROMAN MONEY

Abstract

The present article examines locally produced imitations of Greek-Roman coins discovered on the territory of ancient Georgia, which are preserved in the Georgian National Museum.

The study focuses on three types of imitations: staters of Alexander the Great (336-323 BC), the staters of Lysimachus (306-282 BC), and the denarii of Octavian Augustus (27 BC - 14 AD) with images of Gaius and Lucius Caesar. Particular attention is devoted to the representation of birds on these imitations – a feature absent from the original prototypes found elsewhere. This unique detail was noted by E. Pakhomov and A. Zograph, while D. Kapanadze dedicated a special study to the subject, considering the bird image as a symbol of power and a characteristic sign of local origin.

Regarding this issue, among archaeological finds, the imitations of Octavian Augustus's denarii are noteworthy, specifically, the image of three birds identified on the emperor's diadem. Also, the imitation of Augustus's denarius (1st century AD) discovered in 2004 and 2013 at the Dedoplis Gora palace complex and a votive offering of 15 coins found at the altar (13 denarii of Augustus and 2 imitations of Alexander the Great's staters made of electrum), which must have been placed in a glass vessel. The imitations of Augustus's denarius discovered at Dedoplis Gora were presumably produced from the second half of the 1st century AD and were in circulation alongside with original denarii. The discovery of Augustus's denarii as hoards has been confirmed in Mtskheta, Bagineti (22 coins), and on the territory of present-day Azerbaijan (12 coins).

According to the conducted research, the bird image on the imitations must have been passed down through hereditary tradition from the early imitations of Alexander the Great's staters (Vani site) to the imitations of Lysimachus's staters and subsequently to the imitations of Augustus's denarii.

Archaeological evidence indicates that from the 2nd century BC throughout the ancient period, Georgia maintained a systematic production of Greek-Roman coin imitations. In the early feudal epoch, this process continues in the production of Georgian-Sasanian money, which is ultimately crowned by the unification of Georgia by the Bagrationi dynasty and the implementation of Georgian currency emission.