Commentaria archaeologica et historica (V). 1. About the Legionary Fort at Sarmizegetusa in AD 102–205 (Cassius Dio 68.9.7). 2. The Destiny of the “Dacian Gold”. About a Koson Type Coin Reused in the 16th Century in a Christian (Renaissance) Context

Abstract

"1. About the legionary fort at Sarmizegetusa in AD 102–105 (Cassius Dio 68.9.7). Cassius Dio (68.9.7) writes that after the end of the first Dacian war of Trajan, in 102 AD, the emperor left a legion in Dacia at Sarmizegetusa and auxiliary troops in other locations. Over time, the fragmentary accounts of Cassius Dio have been interpreted in two main ways. On one hand, the presence of a legionary fort was presumed in Hațeg Country, on the territory of future Colonia Ulpia Traiana Dacica Sarmizegetusa. On the other hand, this fort (stratopedon) was presumed to have functioned in the Orăștie Mountains, in or next to the Dacian fortress at Grădiștea de Munte, the residence of King Decebalus. The debate has recently been reopened by F. Matei-Popescu and O. Țentea. They place this Roman fort in the Orăștie Mountains, in the close vicinity of the former residence of King Decebalus. Their arguments are based mostly on the recently acquired LiDAR images of the area in question. On these images appears an almost rectangular earthen structure which preceded the stone enclosure and was also ascribed to a Roman fort built after the conquest of Dacia. F. Matei-Popescu and O. Țentea consider that, if the stone enclosure belongs to the period after the second Dacian war of Trajan, the enclosure having an earthen wall must be older, belonging to the period between the two Dacian wars, that is, between AD 102 and 105, this being the fort mentioned in the fragmentary accounts of Cassius Dio. Analysing the available information, the author concluding that the earthen fort from Grădiștea de Munte was more likely built in the context of the second Dacian war, in 105/106 AD. The stratopedon mentioned by Cassius Dio was more likely located on the future place of Colonia Ulpia Traiana Dacica Sarmizegetusa. Finally, the name of the royal residence of Decebalus, it is less likely to be Sarmizegetusa. This was more likely the indigenous toponym of the place where Colonia Ulpia Traiana Dacica was later established. The possible identification with Ranisstorum, the place where Tiberius Claudius Maximus brought the severed head and right hand of King Decebalus to Trajan to be shown to the army, can be perhaps taken into the consideration as a working hypothesis. 2. The destiny of the “Dacian gold”. About a Koson-type coin reused in the 16th century in a Christian (Renaissance) context. The “Dacian gold” fired the imagination of many people each time a hoard emerged in the mountains hosting the ruins of the royal residence of King Decebalus. One of the largest hoards was discovered in 1543 (containing coins of Lysimachus and perhaps Koson-types). Before this great hoard, a document from 1494 mentions the discovery in 1491 of a hoard consisting of “small and big” gold coins by some gold panners in the vicinity of Sebeș. There was already a number of Koson-type coins “in circulation” among the Renaissance collectors of antiquities at the end of the 15th century or the beginning of the 16th century. In 1520 Erasmus of Rotterdam describes and tries to identify a Koson-type coin, an issue which have also caused difficulties to other scholars. In this context, the author is analysing a liturgical chalice of the first half of the 16th century, which was once in Alba Iulia and is now preserved in the collections of the Catholic Cathedral of Nitra, Slovakia. The chalice is decorated with ancient gold coins. Among them is a Koson-type coin. Both the manufacturing and the biography of the chalice are relevant from the perspective of the destiny of “Dacian gold” during the late Renaissance. The vessel was first mentioned in an inventory from 1531 of the treasury of the Catholic Cathedral at Alba Iulia. The chalice was donated by a certain Udalricus of Buda, who was the prebendary of a cathedral chapel between 1504 and 1523. At a later date, the chalice was owned by Paul Bornemisza, who was Bishop of Alba Iulia in 1553–1556. He had to leave Transylvania, becoming Bishop of Nitra in 1557. On this occasion he brought over the chalice decorated with ancient gold coins. Udalricus of Buda was a member of the Renaissance humanist circle from Alba Iulia, which included a number of scholars, publishers of ancient texts, epigraphists and antiquities collectors. It might be presumed that the Koson-type coin which Erasmus of Rotterdam attempted to analyse was received through the connections with the humanist scholars from Alba Iulia. This coin, as well as the one inserted into the chalice of Udalricus, could have belonged to a hoard which was perhaps discovered a few decades before the one from 1543. Perhaps the coins in question were found in 1491 by the gold panners from Sebeș. It is however certain that the interest of the Transylvanian and European humanist scholars in this kind of “exotic” discoveries arose during this period, alongside the interest in other types of antiquities of the pre-Roman and Roman Dacia. The chalice from Nitra includes probably the oldest discovery of a Koson-type coin for which we have so far the physical evidence."