Monede din perioada romană provenite din vechile săpături arheologice de la Romula / Roman coins from the early archaeological excavations at Romula

In this article we present a batch of 58 coins (56 identified) from the Roman Empire period, discovered during the first two decades (1965– 1985) of systematic research at the site of Romula, the capital of Dacia Malvensis. Except for a nummus from the 4 th century, the coins belong to the Principate era. Most of them were discovered during archaeological excavations in the central fortification, and 12 (Roman asses and Greek assaria) were discovered in a funerary context, in the necropolises to the north and southeast of the settlement. Almost half of the coins were seriously affected by burning, with the flan partially melted and sometimes covered by various organic or mineral deposits. Apart from those that suffered the effects of the fires, those found in cremation graves were, very likely, burned together with the bodies of the deceased. As for the structure of the batch, the imperial coins, among which the denarii are the most numerous, far exceed, in number and value, the provincial coins, the latter usually serving to facilitate small transactions, as funeral offerings, etc. The issues date chronologically from the reign of Vespasian to that of Philip I. The best documented is the period of the Antonines, but from the point of view of the ratio between the number of coins entering the city market and the number of years, the most prolific period is 235–249, the last years of prosperity before the destruction caused by the “Scythian War”. As numismatic rarities, we mention, in particular, the coin from Tabae, Caria (Trajan), but also those from Antioch of Pisidia (Geta) and Amphipolis (Macrinus). On this occasion, we present new information that completes the statistical data provided by more recent research.