Aktualności

Tytuł:

Pairing Antagonists: Pisanello’s Medals of Niccolò Piccinino and Francesco Sforza

DOI
https://doi.org/10.52800/ajst.1.a.14

Abstrakt: Among the early medals made by Pisanello (Antonio Pisano, c. 1395–c. 1455), considered as the “inventor of the modern medal”, there are two of mercenary captains, Niccolò Piccinino and Francesco Sforza (the future duke of Milan). At the alleged moment of the medals’ execution both condottieri were in the service of Filippo Maria Visconti, Duke of Milan, who appears to have been the most probable commissioner. The pairing of these two captains was not coincidental – they were successors to the leaders of the two greatest Italian military companies, the bracceschi (led by Braccio da Montone) and the sforzeschi (of Muzio Attendolo Sforza), whose juxtaposition soon became a topos among contemporary chroniclers and biographers. The article outlines the political background of the commission and discusses the content and iconography of the two medals.

Tytuł:

Recent Finds of Islamic Coins from the Old Town and Zawodzie Districts in Kalisz

DOI
https://doi.org/10.52800/ajst.1.a.12

Abstrakt: A settlement cluster around Kalisz first emerged in the Roman Period on a route leading from the south towards the Baltic coast. In the Early Middle Ages, a settlement centre connected with the Kalisz-Zawodzie stronghold developed at the crossroads of trade routes linking Wielkopolska with Silesia, Mazowsze, and Małopolska, with the earliest traces of early medieval occupation dating back to the 8th century. In the 10th century, oriental silver in the form of silver dirhams started to flow into the discussed region. These coins were part of deposits discovered in the sites of Kalisz-Szałe and Kalisz-Rajsków. Many years of research on artisanal settlement Kalisz-Stare Miasto produced a few fragments of Sāmānid dirhams minted between AH 279–343 (892–954). In 2018, during research at the Church of St. Adalbert located within the Kalisz-Zawodzie settlement accompanying the stronghold, a part of what was probably a larger silver deposit was found. In total, 13 dirham fragments were recovered, among which Sāmānid emissions dated to the first half of the 10th century were identified (8 pcs), as well as five pieces of undetermined dynastic attribution. As demonstrated by the stratigraphic analysis, the early medieval hoard had been discovered and dispersed at some point during the period when the church cemetery was used, between the 17th century and second half of the 18th century.

Tytuł:

Regulated Roman Coins and Their Imitations from India: Did Roman Coins Circulate as Money in the Subcontinent?

DOI
https://doi.org/10.52800/ajst.1.a.11

Abstrakt: This paper focuses on a relatively unknown group of published and unpublished Roman gold coins and their imitations from India with a large gold plug placed behind the head of an emperor. This phenomenon was briefly discussed by Peter Berghaus, who rightly noticed that the size of the filling on those coins suggests that the purpose for placing such material into the hole was different than simply the repair of a piercing made previously for a piece of jewellery. He considers the possibility that the holes were made in order to check whether those coins were plated or not and were later refilled with gold so that the coins could return to the money market. I would like to present a different explanation of this phenomenon. I would argue that those coins were perforated and plugged in order to adjust their weight. Such an adjustment let them be used as money in the Subcontinent. Similar phenomena from various parts of the world and time periods constitute the key to understand the purpose of plugging those coins and those analogies are examined in this paper as well.

Tytuł:

Some Remarks on the Problem of Occurrence of Denarii Subaerati in Barbaricum

DOI
https://doi.org/10.52800/ajst.1.a.10

Abstrakt: The rapid increase in the corpus of finds of denarii subaerati in the territory of Barbaricum in the last two decades has allowed us to expand our knowledge about the occurrence of these coins in this area. To date, only subaerati have been recorded in finds while recently previously unnoticed categories of non-silver denarii from unofficial issues have been noticed. Furthermore, it is possible to state with a very high probability that denarii subaerati were manufactured in eastern areas of Barbaricum at least since the end of the 3rd century. This of course does not mean that all subaerati that were found in Barbaricum were made there. On the other hand, it is still a very surprising conclusion, due to the fact that until recently it has been considered obvious that all subaerati found in Barbaricum are imports from the territory of the Empire. Thanks to new finds research on subaerati (and on denarii from irregular issues in general) which are situated within a broader context of examinations of finds of Roman coins and their imitations and copies in Barbaricum turn out to be more and more crucial for understanding of the role of Roman Imperial denarii (and Roman money in general) among the Barbarians in the Roman Period and the Migration Period.