General Question on Roman Provincials

[lawrence c]

This question may have been dealt elsewhere already; if so, my apologies. Is there any historical or archaeological (hoard) evidence to indicate how far from the minting cities that provincial coins may have spread? In other words, other than the Alexandrian coins, were provincial coins accepted in other areas? One reason I bring this up is the apparent ubiquity of a lot of the provincial coins, which would suggest some major amount of minting beyond the needs of a smaller province or colony. Thanks much for any insights.

[OldMoney]

I cannot answer this question in detail, but I am aware that a significant
number of coins struck at various Peloponnesian mints have been found in
a number of areas of the Middle East.
Someone with greater knowledge of these coins and where they have been
found will have to offer an explanation as to why this may be so.

Walter

[Mark Fox]

Dear Lawrence C., Walter, and Board,

There is a fair amount of evidence to suggest that certain Roman provincial issues did in fact circulate (in antiquity) long distances from their place of issue.  The reasons seem to differ in many cases.  

Walter indicated one famously perplexing example that has popularly been attributed to some of the soldiers that Caracalla brought with him during his Eastern campaigns.  Peloponnesian provincials, for instance,  have been found in eastern Turkey, Syria, Israel, Jordan, etc.  Even so, I find the eastern campaign explanation unsatisfactory and am currently exploring an alternative possibility.

Then there is the intriguing Sardis series of countermarks applied to a bewildering amount of Roman provincial coins issued far from Sardis.  Here is my countermarked example:

https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pos=-49985

I believe Ann Johnston provided some coverage on these marks in her magnum opus, Greek Imperial Denominations, ca.200-275: A Study of the Roman Provincial Bronze Coinages of Asia Minor (2007).  Even so, I feel the implications of this whole monetary situation have gone largely underappreciated by researchers.  

Lawrence's post seems to suggest that he is already aware of the wide distribution of certain Alexandrian coins struck during the Roman period.  In any case, this phenomenon is real, with late potin issues occasionally turning up in places as far away from Egypt as Britain.  Again, I have a theory about what happened, but had thought at some point that Michel Amandry already came to the same tentative conclusion in a paper he wrote, one which I cannot seem to find right now...  Maybe I was mistaken.  In any event, I feel that during the complete changeover to Roman imperial coin production in the Roman provinces, Alexandrian potins were allowed to circulate as Roman imperial issues also.  

Hope some of this helps.

      
Best regards,

Mark Fox
Michigan

[lawrence c]

Thank you very much for the info. As with a lot of issues surrounding Romans, I suspect that there will always be some "hmms." Thanks again.
Best,
Larry

[Ante A]

I have found in Dalmatia(Croatia) Roman provincial from Alexandria. So probably they circulated through empire.

[Britannicus]

Whether Roman AE Provincials sometimes circulated far beyond their place of minting is an interesting question. But some coins probably just found their way by being carried unknowingly in some traveller's purse or luggage. Among my own coins are one of Ilerda in Spain, found by a farmer in Sicily; of Italica, also in Spain, found in the Jordanian desert; and of Sparta, found by a metal detectorist in Yorkshire. And I have come across a coin of Antioch in Syria that was fished out of the river Elbe in Germany.