PURSES OF MITHRIDATES’ MERCENARIES FROM THE CIMMERIAN BOSPORUS

Year 2024, , 111 - 132, 28.03.2024

Mikhail Abramzon

https://doi.org/10.56170/propontica.1392117

Abstract

This article examines the numismatic sources from the Cimmerian Bosporus: hoards representing soldiers’ purses, cases of cash payments for rations, as well as the coinages minted to make these payments during the Mithridatic Wars. Several hoards of a military context came from this time, consisting of coins, which were precisely used for the allowances of soldiers. On the one hand, these hoards provide evidence of the payment made to Mithridates’ mercenaries who served in garrisons in cities and in their chora to protect the grain-producing areas that supplied the king’s army with bread. Such hoards consist of silver or bronze coinages specially minted for military payments in Bosporus. However, except for two cases of wage payment made to the garrison in silver (CH XI, 137, 138), using bronze coins for military payments is characteristic of the Bosporus in the Late Hellenistic period. On the other hand, at least five garrisons in Bosporus, whose existence has been attested due to finds of soldiers’ purses, are in Tyritace (IGCH 1145 = СΗ ΧΙ, 140), Myrmecium (CH XI, 116, 141), Patraeus (CH XI, 142), Phanagoria (CH XI, 145A-B) and the Vyshesteblievskaya 3 settlement, located in the grain-producing area subordinate to Phanagoria. These purses show that during the Mithridatic Wars, mercenaries were paid in Bosporan and Pontic bronze coins of significant denominations, which apparently amounted to less than an obol per day. The purses of mercenaries containing the same amount indicate the approximate level of their pay, equal to 22(?) obols per month. The case of Bosporus demonstrates the success of one of the major innovations of the Hellenistic period – the systematic use of bronze for military payment.

Keywords

Numismatic, Cimmerian Bosporus, Mithridates VI, Mercenaries, Coin Hoards

Project Number

No

MİTHRİDATES’İN KİMMER BOSPORUSLU PARALI ASKERLERİNİN PARA KESELERİ

Abstract

Bu makale, askerlerin keselerini temsil eden defineler, tayınlar için nakit ödeme kutuları ve Mithridates Savaşları sırasında bu ödemeleri yapmak için basılan sikkeleri içeren Kimmer Boğazı’ndan gelen numismatik kaynakları incelemektedir. Bu döneme ait, askerlerin harcırahı için kullanılan sikkelerden oluşan, askeri içerikli birkaç define ortaya çıkmıştır. Bir yandan bu defineler, Mithridates’in şehirlerdeki garnizonlarda ve kralın ordusuna ekmek sağlayan tahıl üretim alanlarını korumak için choralarında görev yapan paralı askerlerine yapılan ödemenin kanıtlarını sunmaktadır. Bu defineler, Bosporus’ta askeri ödemeler için özel olarak basılmış gümüş ya da bronz sikkelerden oluşmaktadır. Ancak, garnizona gümüş olarak yapılan iki ücret ödemesi örneği dışında (CH XI, 137, 138), askeri ödemeler için bronz sikkelerin kullanılması Geç Hellenistik Dönem Bosporusu’nun karakteristik özelliğidir. Öte yandan, Bosporus’ta varlığı asker keseleri buluntularıyla kanıtlanan en az beş garnizon Tyritace (IGCH 1145 = СΗ ΧΙ, 140), Myrmecium (CH XI, 116, 141), Patraeus (CH XI, 142), Phanagoria (CH XI, 145A-B) ve Phanagoria’ya bağlı tahıl üretim bölgesinde yer alan Vyshesteblievskaya 3 yerleşimidir. Bu keseler, Mithridates Savaşları sırasında paralı askerlere Bosporus ve Pontus bronz sikkeleri ile ödeme yapıldığını göstermektedir ki bu da görünüşe göre günlük bir obolden daha az bir miktara tekabül etmektedir. Paralı askerlerin aynı miktarı içeren keseleri, aylık 22(?) obol’e eşit olan ücretlerinin yaklaşık seviyesini göstermektedir. Bosporus örneği, Hellenistik dönemin en önemli yeniliklerinden biri olan bronzun askeri ödemelerde sistematik olarak kullanılmasının başarısını göstermektedir.

Keywords

Numismatik, Kimmer Boğazı, Mithridates VI, Paralı Askerler, Sikke Defineleri

Project Number

No

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