Speaker
Description
Successively attributed to mints belonging to the Black Sea Greek cities of Olbia, Istrianon Limen and Istros, the so-called ‘wheel coins’ are considered the earliest copper alloy issues of the latter city. The dating, metrology and function of these cast coins have been studies on more than one occasion since the early 19th century. The fact that these coins must have been produced in very large numbers is indicated by the finds from Histria itself, where coins of this type outnumber all of the other copper alloy types issued by this city prior to the Roman period. This paper will consider the metrology of the cast coins with the depiction of a wheel on the obverse, and propose a new classification based on the analysis of their metrology.
