Collection overview

The numismatic materials of the Archaeological Museum in Split were separated from the Archaeological Section into the Numismatic Cabinet under Charter of 1978, which was renamed the Numismatic Collection in 1984. The Collection’s first curator was Ivan Marović, followed by Maja Bonačić Mandinić. The Numismatic Collection contains about 70,000 coins from the historical periods that left their mark on the Eastern Adriatic seaboard and its hinterland, as well as medals, mostly from more modern periods. The currency ranges from ancient, through medieval to modern coins made of gold, silver and bronze, and the collection also encompasses paper currency.

Ancient currency is represented by Greek and Roman coins. The Late Antique, early Byzantine and barbarian coins are a transitional group between the ancient and medieval coins, while the latter consist of Byzantine coins, medieval coins from the Dalmatian cities and Venice, as well as other cities in Italy, and, to a lesser extent, coins issued by other European cities and rulers. The Early Modern currency includes coins from the end of the 15^th century to the present. Noteworthy among the Greek currency is a set of Greco-Illyrian coins specific to Dalmatia. It consists of the coins issued by the Greek colonies and Illyrian tribes, i.e., the rulers of the Eastern Adriatic seaboard with the adjacent islands. Roman coinage consists of Republican coins and Imperial coins.

These coins were mostly found in archaeological excavations in Dalmatia, although a significant portion of the Numismatic Collection was gathered through purchases or donations from individuals who inherited or unintentionally discovered coins or by the acquisition of large private collections of enthusiast collectors. These latter collections were compiled from coins gathered in the wider territory of Dalmatia, and are particularly associated with the ancient cities at the site of today’s town of Vis on the eponymous island, Stari Grad and the Stari Grad Plain on the island of Hvar, Korčula, Solin, Trogir, the Split-Solin-Kaštela Plain, Vid near Metković and other settlements in Dalmatia that had existed since Antiquity. The most renowned are the Stockert, Zanella, Doimi, Bučić, Machiedo, Kalođera, Marun, Lukanović, Danielov, Fanfogna, Vidović and Posinković Collections.

Coin hoards are an invaluable component of the Numismatic Collection. The earliest is the hoard with 44 Pharos bronze coins from the turn of the 3^rd into the 2^nd centuries BC, found in Vrbanje on the island of Hvar. A hoard of 114 Roman Republican coins from Zasiok near Sinj dates to the 2^nd century BC, while another from Dol on the island of Vis consisting of five hemidrachms, the silver coinage of the Lycian League, dates to the 1^st century BC. The Roman Empire’s currency is represented by a hoard of over 200 bronze coins from the 1^st/2^nd centuries, most of them sesterces, a hoard of approximately 140 antoninianii dated to the 3^rd century from the Dugopolje area, and a hoard with 78 Roman denarii and antoninianii from Vis. The most notable Byzantine hoards are one consisting of over 60 Byzantine gold coins and jewellery from Vid near Metković (ancient Narona), dated to the 6^th century and another with 168 Byzantine bronze coins from the Solin mint found in Čiovo, also dated to the 6^th century. The medieval hoards include one consisting of 23 Byzantine gold coins issued by Romanos III Argyros in the 11^th century, a hoard from Klobuk near Ljubuški, and a hoard consisting of 154 Spalatine denars together with several coins from Venice and Verona, found in Turska Cave on the southern slope of Mosor and dating from the 12^th to 14^th centuries. Moreover, a hoard of 17^th century Spanish thalers was found buried in a wall in Jelsa on the island of Hvar.

The Numismatic Collection of the Archaeological Museum in Split consolidates in a single place examples of numerous coin types in circulation in Dalmatia from the beginnings of currency use to the present day. These coins in general, but especially those with a precisely identified find-site, constitute a part of the historical tangible heritage. As such, they enhance our insight into specific historical figures and historical moments, political and economic events, and generally bear witness to the way of life in this region.

Permanent display

Greek currency

The Greek coins on display are divided into geographical units: the Greek mainland, islands, the Greek cities on the Black Sea and in Asia Minor and Macedonia; Magna Graecia and Sicily; the Greek colonies in the Eastern Adriatic seaboard and Illyria. The coins are further arranged chronologically inside each geographic unit.

The oldest coins on display are the drachmas of Aegina, which were minted from 650 to 550 BC and are among the earliest coins ever used. These are followed by coinage from the late Archaic and the early Classical eras of ancient Greece, i.e., the close of the 6^th and beginning of the 5^th centuries BC, such as tetradrachms and drachmas minted in Athens and Argos, a tetradrachm from Abdera and a stater minted by the city of Kroton (modern Crotone) in Magna Graecia (southern Italy). The Kroton stater in the Split collection is particularly valuable because it was discovered in Vičja luka on the island of Brač, thus testifying to the links between the Greek cities and Eastern Adriatic in the early 5^th century BC. The Greek Classical period, meaning the 5^th and first half of the 4^th centuries BC is represented by coins minted by Athens, Corinth and Argos, as well as a stater of the city of Metapontum in Lucania (Magna Graecia), triobols minted by the Thracian Chersonesus, and a stater from the island of Korkyra (Corfu), which lies on the boundary between the Ionian and Adriatic Seas. The most numerous coins on display hail from the Hellenistic era, the period extending from the 4th to the 3^rd and 2^nd centuries BC, such as the coins of Syracuse on Sicily and cities on the Italian mainland, Neapolis, Tarentum, Metapontum, Velia and Thurii. Among the cities on the Greek mainland and islands, the coins of Korkyra and Athens are again represented, as well as those minted by Thebes in Boeotia, Sicyon, Rhodes, an island once in the province of Caria in Asia Minor, drachmas minted by the Black Sea city of Istros (Histria), the coins of Philip II, as well as the posthumous issues of Alexander the Great. This was a period characterized by Greek colonies in the Eastern Adriatic seaboard and strong links between the Greek cities, either on the Greek mainland or in southern Italy and Sicily, and the Adriatic coast. In the 3^rd and 2^nd centuries BC, the drachmas of Apollonia and Dyrrhachium were particularly valued as a means of payment in this area for trade and probably also to pay armies. The Adriatic colonies of Issa, Pharos and Heraclea minted a bronze coin intended for local use from the 4^th to approximately the first half of the 2^nd centuries BC. Pharos also minted silver coins in a very small issue. The display also includes a coin of Korkyra Melaina, a colony on Korčula founded by the Issaeans at the end of the 3^rd century BC. Coins issued by the Illyrian ruler Ballaios, made of bronze and to a lesser extent silver, were in circulation in central and southern Dalmatia at the turn of the 3^rd into the 2^nd century BC. Several examples of Illyrian coins, which were more often found in southern Dalmatia and on the Montenegrin coast, are also on display. These include the coins of the Daorsi tribe, which lived in the territory of Herzegovina, the coins of King Gentius, and coins minted by the cities of Rhizon (modern Risan) in Boka Kotorska and Scodra and Lissos (modern Shkadër and Lezhë in Albania).

Roman Republican coinage

The earliest currency used on the Italian Peninsula in roughly the 4^th century BC consisted of large, heavy cast-bronze coins. At the beginning of the 3^rd century BC, the Romans began minting silver didrachms and slightly lighter bronze coins, the litra. From about 225 AD to 213 BC, the silver quadrigatus was minted, which derived its name from the depiction of Jupiter driving a quadriga on the reverse. The coin’s obverse features a so-called janiform head, depicted as the two-faced god Janus. After the end of the Second Punic War in 211, the Romans began minting of the silver denarius and its half denomination, the quinarius, as well as bronze coins with reduced weights. The helmeted head of the goddess Roma was most often depicted on the silver coins, with the Dioscuri on horseback, the goddess Luna, or Victory driving a biga on the reverse. Moreover, on occasion these depictions featured persons or deities significant to the city of Rome or episodes from Roman history. The denominations of the bronze coins were the as, featuring the head of the god Janus; the semis with head of the god Saturn; the triens with the head of Minerva; the quadrans with the head of Hercules; the sextans with the head of Mercury, and the uncia with the head of the Roman war goddess Bellona. As a rule, the bow of a ship was shown on the reverse of bronze coins. These denominations remained valid virtually until the end of the Republic, and they continued to be minted, with certain changes, in the initial Imperial period.

Examples of silver and, to a lesser extent, bronze Republican coins are on display. The oldest on display is a didrachm from 265-242 BC, and the most recent are denarii of Mark Antony from 32-31 BC.

Roman Imperial coinage

The coins minted in the first two centuries of the Roman Empire were the gold aureus and its half-denomination, the quinarius; the silver denarius and its half, the quinarius; the bronze or brass sestertius, dupondius, as and quadrans. At the beginning of the 3^rd century, Emperor Caracalla began minting the silver antoninianus with a value of two denarii. Over time, its value declined due to inflation and the proportion of silver in it decreased, so that it ultimately became a pure bronze coin; the latter is known by the designation radiate due to the radial crown worn by the emperors depicted on the coin’s obverse. Emperor Diocletian, who ruled from 284 to 304 and implemented monetary reforms, issued the gold aureus, the silver coin argenteus and the bronze nummus, sometimes referred to as the follis. Emperor Constantine I, who ruled from 307 to 337, implemented yet another monetary system reform: he reduced the weight of the bronze nummus, and instead of the gold aureus introduced the heavier solidus and its subordinate denominations, the semis and scripulum. The silver coin was called siliqua. In 346, Constantine’s sons, Constans and Constantius, introduced the large bronze centenionalis, which was issued for about a decade. The imperial coin’s obverse featured a portrait of the emperor or portraits of his family members, while the reverse had images of deities, personifications of virtues, certain buildings or scenes that could be associated with imperial propaganda. Mostly silver and bronze coins of almost all emperors up to the 4^th century, from Augustus to Romulus Augustulus, are exhibited in the permanent display. Some emperors are also represented by gold coins, such as Augustus, Tiberius, Claudius, Vespasian, Trajan, Hadrian, Marcus Aurelius, Gallienus, Aurelian and Diocletian. The emperors of Late Antiquity, the 4^th and 5^th centuries, are quite well represented on gold coins: Constantine I., Constantius II, Magnentius, Valentinian I, Valens, Gratian, Valentinian II, Theodosius, Magnus Maximus, Flavius Victor, Arcadius, Honorius, Constantius II, John, Theodosius II, Valentinian III, Marcian, Avitus, Leo I, Libius Severus, Anthemius, Julius Nepos, Zeno, Basiliscus and Romulus Augustulus.

Byzantine currency

After the death of Emperor Theodosius I in 395, the Roman Empire was divided into Eastern and Western halves. The emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire was Arcadius, the son of Theodosius, while his younger brother Honorius ruled the Western Roman Empire. The Western Roman Empire collapsed in 476 under the onslaught of barbarian invasions, while the Eastern Roman or Byzantine Empire survived until 1453. In numismatics, the term Byzantine currency refers to the coinage minted from the reigns of Emperors Anastasius to Constantine XI Palaiologos. The Museum exhibits examples of coins from Emperor Anastasius to Emperor Romanus III Argyros, i.e., up to the 11^th century, because that period roughly coincides with the dating of the remaining archaeological materials on display. The 6^th century is represented by the coins of Emperors Anastasius, Justin I, Justinian I, Justin II and Tiberius II, the turn of the 6^th into the 7^th century by a coin of Mauritius Tiberius, the 7^th century by coins of Phocas, Heraclius, Constans II, Constantine IV and Justinian II, the 8^th century by coins of Tiberius III, Leo III, and Constantine V, the 9th century by coins of Theophilos, Michael III and Basil I, the 10^th century by coins of Constantine VII and John I Tzimiskes, the turn of 10^th to 11^th century by the coins of Basil II, and finally the 11^th century by a coin of Romanus III Argyros. Furthermore, four coin hoards from this period are on display: a hoard from Čiovo with 168 bronze coins issued by the Solin mint dated to the reign Justinian; a hoard found in Solin containing 51 bronze coins issued by the emperors from Justinian to Heraclius; the so-called Urbika hoard from Narona containing gold jewellery and 60 gold coins issued by the emperors from Justinian to Mauritius Tiberius; and hoard of 23 gold coins of Argyros III from Klobuk.