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

Abstract

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.