AGAIN ABOUT THE COINS OF MOSKON – AN ENIGMATIC RULER FROM DOBRUDJA IN THE HELLENISTIC PERIOD
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14795/jaha.13.1.2026.1508Keywords:
silver coins, Moskon, ruler, Getae, Dobrudja, BastarnaeAbstract
In the lands of today’s Northern Dobrudja in Romania – south of the Danube River around the Delta, several single silver coins have been found, as well as three coins found as included in a mixed coin hoard – all of the coins with the title basileus and the name Moskon on the reverse. After all such finds, discussions about the dating of these coins, as well as about the ethnic identification of this ruler, have not subsided. Moskon has been identified as the ruler of the Getae from the lands of Dobrudja, but his identification is still disputed. The date of these coins has so far varied widely from ca. the middle of the 4th century BC until the end of the 2nd century BC/beginning of the 1st century BC.
Here are presented completely new observations on the silver coins of the ruler Moskon. The two known denominations of this ruler’s coins have been previously defined as follows – the larger denomination – didrachm, the smaller denomination – hemidrachm. It was found that the denomination presented as a hemidrachm was incorrect, as it was a drachm in weight. It has been established that there is a third denomination of coins of this ruler, previously unknown, which is represented here as a tetrobol, minted by different pair of dies. Moskon was probably a ruler of the Bastarnae around the middle of the 2nd century BC.
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