PLOVDIV 1964

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Location

City

Plovdiv [Пловдив]

Address

L. Dimitrova street (1964)

County

Plovdiv

Region

Country

Bulgaria

Ancient place

Philippopolis/Trimontium

Lat/Long/Alt

42.135 / 24.745 / 165.86 view

Location details

Centred on village/city

Find spot comment

In 342 BC Philip II of Macedon conquered the Thracian town of Eumolpias and gave it his name. Later, Philippopolis became part of the Roman Empire and capital of the Roman province Thracia. According to Ammianus Marcellinus, Philippopolis had a population of 100,000 people in the Roman period. The city was originally a Thracian settlement, later being invaded by Persians, Greeks, Celts, Romans, Goths, Huns, Bulgarians, Slav-Vikings, Crusaders and Turks. (Wikipedia)

Information

5296

Permalink

https://chre.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/hoard/5296

Hoard name

PLOVDIV 1964

Alternative names

PHILIPPOPOLIS III; Пловдив III

Data type

Hoard

Date of discovery (from)

15 Jul 1964

Total number of coins

Summary

25 coins found in small ceramic pitcher: 2 denarii, 18 antoniniani, 4 provincial bronze medallions, 1 provincial bronze coin: Severus Alexander - Trajan Decius (AD 249-251).

Details
Coins Summary
Coins
Rating
Archaeological context
Containers
Objects
References
Reports
Images
Credit

Discovery method

Building work
Land Use

Built over
Disposition

National Archaeological Museum, Plovdiv, Bulgaria (inv.no. 2328)
Finder(s)

Workers
Comment

While building a foundation.
Closing reign (earliest)

Trajan Decius
Terminal year (earliest)

251
Closing reign (latest)

Trajan Decius
Terminal year (latest)

251
Opening year (earliest)

231
Opening year (latest)

235
Coin-level data

Entered

Fetching coin data

Numismatic rating

Good
Context rating

Poor
Findspot rating

Good

Site comment

The earliest signs of habitation on the territory of Philippopolis date as far back as the 6th millennium BC when the first settlements were established. Archaeologists have discovered fine pottery and objects of everyday life on Nebet Tepe from as early as the Chalcolithic, showing that at the end of the 4th millennium BC, there already was an established settlement there. Thracian necropolises dating back to the 2nd-3rd millennium BC have been discovered, while the Thracian town Eumolpias was established between the 2nd and the 1st millennium BC. The town was a fort of the independent local Thracian tribe Bessi. In 516 BC during the rule of Darius the Great, Thrace was included in the Persian empire. In 492 BC the Persian general Mardonius subjected Thrace again, and it became nominally a vassal of Persia until 479 BC and the early rule of Xerxes I. The town was included in the Odrysian kingdom (460 BC-46 AD), a Thracian tribal union. The town was conquered by Philip II of Macedon and the Odrysian king was deposed in 342 BC. Ten years after the Macedonian invasion the Thracian kings started to exercise power again after the Odrysian Seuthes III had re-established their kingdom under Macedonian suzerainty as a result of a somehow successful revolt against Alexander the Great's rule resulting in neither victory, nor defeat, but stalemate. The Odrysian kingdom gradually overcome the Macedonian suzerainty, while the city was destroyed by the Celts as part of the Celtic settlement of Eastern Europe, most likely in the 270s BC. In 183 BC Philip V of Macedon conquered the city, but shortly after the Thracians re-conquered it. In 72 BC the city was seized by the Roman general Marcus Lucullus but was soon restored to Thracian control. In AD 46 the city was finally incorporated into the Roman Empire by emperor Claudius; it served as metropolis (capital) of the province of Thrace and gained a city status in the late 1st century. Trimontium was an important crossroad for the Roman Empire and was called "the largest and most beautiful of all cities" by Lucian. Although it was not the capital of the Province of Thrace, the city was the largest and most important centre in the province. As such the city was the seat of the Union of Thracians. In those times, the Via Militaris (or Via Diagonalis), the most important military road in the Balkans, passed through the city. The Roman times were a period of growth and cultural excellence.[26] The ancient ruins tell a story of a vibrant, growing city with numerous public buildings, shrines, baths, theatres, a stadium and the only developed ancient water supply system in Bulgaria. The city had an advanced water system and sewerage. In 179 a second wall was built to encompass Trimontium which had already extended out of the Three hills into the valley. Many of those are still preserved and can be seen by tourists. Today only a small part of the ancient city has been excavated. In 250 AD the whole city was burned down by the Goths, led by their ruler Cniva, and many of its citizens, according to Ammianus Marcellinus numbering 100,000, died or were taken captive. It took a century and hard work to recover the city. However, it was destroyed again by Attila's Huns in 441-442 and by the Goths of Teodoric in 471. (Wikipedia)
Site class

Urban

Context

Uncertain

Period

Prehistoric
End period

Modern

Containers belonging to this hoard

Ceramic pitcher

The vessel is of a pale red color, flat bottom, pear-shaped, narrow and short neck, horizontal mouth with an outward extension. It is decorated with nine horizontal concave circles. Height: 83 mm, diameter at the bottom: 34mm, at the mouth 44 mm, and at the most prominent part of the body 6 cm, thickness of the walls 0.4 cm. Instead of a lid, its mouth was covered with four bronze medallions minted in Philippopolis.

References

Reference

Kolev, K. - 1972 - Trésor monétaire et médaillons de Plovdiv. (Bulg. with French summary)

Ref

195-202

Reference

Gerov, B. - 1977 - Die Einfälle der Nordvölker in den Ostbalkanraum im Lichte der Münzschatzfunde. I. Das 2. und 3. Jahrhundert (101-284)

Ref

167, no. 252

Reference

Gushterakliev, R. - 2014 - Kolektivni nahodki, namereni v Yuzhna Balgariya, sadarzhashti bronzovi moneti na gradskite upravi (І-ІІІ v.) (chast I)

Ref

W. E. Metcalf dataset (2014); V. Varbanov dataset (2017); updated by C. Gazdac (Feb. 2018). Coin data level entered C. Gazdac (Feb. 2024).

Coin Hoards
of the Roman Empire

PLOVDIV 1964

Data not added to the map

Containers belonging to this hoard

Ceramic pitcher

References

Coin Hoardsof the Roman Empire

PLOVDIV 1964

Data not added to the map

Containers belonging to this hoard

Ceramic pitcher

References

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Coin Hoards
of the Roman Empire