ISTROS Thrace 500BC Wheel Money Authentic Ancient Greek Coin BLACK SEA i46831

Item: i46831

Authentic Ancient

Coin of:

Greek city of

Thrace
Cast wheel money 13mm (1.08 grams) Struck circa 500 B.C.
Reference: SNG BMC 221.
Wheel of four spokes around central dot.
IΣT.

 A Milesian colony, its large output of silver coiange in the first half of
the 4th Century suggests that it was a palce of commercial importance.

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Guarantee of Authenticity.

Ancient Histria or Istros (Ιστριη, Thracian
river god
,
Danube
), was a Greek colony or polis (πολις,
city) on the Black Sea
coast, established by
Milesian
settlers to trade with the native
Getae
. It became the first
Greek
town on the present day
Romanian
territory.
Scymnus
of
Chios
(ca 110 BC), the Greek geographer and
poet, dated it to 630 BC.
Eusebius of Caesarea
, some centuries later,
dated its founding to 657 – 656 BC, at the time of the 33rd
Olympic Games
. The earliest documented currency
on Romanian
territory was an 8-gram
silver
drachma
, issued in Histria in the year 480 BC.

Archaeological evidence seems to confirm that all trade with the interior
followed the foundation of Histria. Traders reached the interior via Histria and
the Danube
valley, demonstrated by finds of Attic
black-figure pottery
, coins, ornamental
objects, an Ionian

lebes
and many fragments of
amphoras
.
Amphoras
have been found in great quantity at
Histria, some imported but some local. Local pottery was produced following
establishment of the colony and certainly before mid-6th century. During the
archaic and classical periods, when Histria flourished, it was situated near
fertile arable land. It served as a port of trade soon after its establishment,
with fishing and agriculture as additional sources of income. By 100 AD,
however, fishing was almost the sole remaining source of Istrian revenue.

Around 30 AD, Histria became a
Roman
town. During the Roman period from the
1st to 3rd centuries AD, temples were built for the Roman gods, besides a public
bath and houses for the wealthy. Altogether, it was in continuous existence for
some 14 centuries, starting with the Greek period up to the Roman-Byzantine
period. The Halmyris
bay where was the city founded was
closed by sand deposits and access to the
Black Sea
gradually was cut. Trade continued
until the 6th century AD. The invasion of the
Avars
and the
Slavs
in the 7th century AD almost entirely
destroyed the fortress, and the Istrians dispersed; the name and the city
disappeared.

 Geographic
setting

Ancient Histria was situated on a peninsula, about 5 kilometres (3 mi) east
of the modern Romanian
commune of
Istria
, on the
Dobruja
coast. The ancient seashore has since
been transformed into the western shore of
Sinoe Lake
, as the Danube’s silt deposits
formed a shoal
which closed off the ancient coastline.
The current
Sinoe Lake
was at the time the open northern
bay, while another bay on the southern shore served as the port. The acropolis
with sanctuaries was established on the highest point of the coastal plain. The
settlement itself, erected in the 6th century, was 1/2 mile (800 meters) to the
west of the acropolis. The settlement had stone paved streets and was protected
by strong wall. Water was collected along 12.5 mile (20 km) long aqueducts.

 Archaeology

The ruins of the settlement were first identified in 1868 by French
archaeologist Ernest Desjardins. Archaeological
excavations
were started by
Vasile Pârvan
in 1914, and continued after his
death in 1927 by teams of archaeologists led successively by Scarlat and
Marcelle Lambrino (1928–1943), Emil Condurachi (1949–1970), Dionisie Pippidi,
Petre Alexandrescu and Alexandru Suceveanu. The Histria Museum, founded in 1982,
exhibits some of these finds. The excavation project and site also features
prominently in the film
The Ister
.