Third-Century Hoards of Roman Provincial Coins from Moesia Inferior

Chapter 8 focuses on the distribution of civic coinage in Moesia Inferior using the largest database of civic coins ever collected for the province—147 hoards with a total of over 22,728 coins. The distribution of civic coinage is significant because such coins may reflect the movement of people, allowing tracing of the movement of the coin from their being struck at a mint to the place of deposition or loss. Under the Severan dynasty, Moesia Inferior reached its economic peak, and then declined rapidly during the Gothic raids from the middle of the century. There are 96 civic coin hoards with a terminus post quem of AD 238–49. This chapter analyses the relationship between numismatics, history, and economy, examining the coin hoards according to content, condition, and context, and discussing whether their burial was a direct response to military conflict or related to the monetary reforms and economic changes of the period.