Musei Archaeologici Zagrabiensis Catalogi et Monographiae

Catalogues and monographs of the Archaeological Museum in Zagreb

Volume XVI

Ivan Mirnik
Sylloge Nummorum Graecorum Croatia. Zagreb. The Archaeological Museum Numismatic Collection
Volume VIII. Aegyptus. Ptolemaei – Roman Provincial Coinage.

Publisher:
Archaeological Museum in Zagreb

For the publisher:

Sanjin Mihelić

Editor:
Tomislav Bilić

Reviewers:
Catharine Lorber
Andrew Burnett
Proof reading:
Anda Bukvić

Photographs:
Igor Krajcar

Graphic design:
Svjetlana Šegović

Printed by:
Tiskara Zelina d.d.

Printed in 500 copies

Izdavanje ovog rada financijski su poduprli Gradski ured za obrazovanje, kulturu i sport Grada Zagreba, Ministarstvo kulture
Republike Hrvatske i Ministarstvo znanosti, obrazovanja i sporta Republike Hrvatske.
This work was financially supported by the City of Zagreb City Office for Education, Culture and Sports, Ministry of Culture
of the Republic of Croatia and Ministry of Science, Education and Spots of the Republic of Croatia

Ovaj rad je sufinancirala Hrvatska zaklada za znanost projektom br. 1549.

This work has been supported in part by Croatian science foundation under the project no. 1549.

CIP zapis je dostupan u računalnome katalogu Nacionalne i sveučilišne knjižnice u Zagrebu pod brojem 000926614.
ISBN: 978-953-6789-99-3
 SYLLOGE
NUMMORUM GRAECORUM
CROATIA

ZAGREB

THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL MUSEUM NUMISMATIC COLLECTION

Volume VIII. Aegyptus

Ptolemaei – Roman Provincial Coinage

IVAN MIRNIK

Zagreb 2015
 CONTENTS

PREFACE (Andrew Burnett) ....................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION.....................................................................................................................................................9
BIBLIOGRAPHY....................................................................................................................................................13
THE CATALOGUE ................................................................................................................................................19
REGES AEGYPTI (PTOLEMAEI)...........................................................................................................................20
CYRENE ..................................................................................................................................................................20
TYRUS .....................................................................................................................................................................30
SICILIA ....................................................................................................................................................................30
CORINTHUS ...........................................................................................................................................................32
SALAMIS ................................................................................................................................................................32
CYPRUS...................................................................................................................................................................32
PAPHUS ...................................................................................................................................................................36
ALEXANDRIA ........................................................................................................................................................36
IOPPE ......................................................................................................................................................................86
PTOLEMAIS ...........................................................................................................................................................88
SYRIA, NORTHERN ..............................................................................................................................................88
AEGYPTUS ROMANUS ........................................................................................................................................90
ALEXANDRIA ........................................................................................................................................................90
THE NOMES ..........................................................................................................................................................320
BOUSIRITES NOMOS .........................................................................................................................................320
BUSIRITES ...........................................................................................................................................................320
OMBITES NOMOS ...............................................................................................................................................320
OMBITES ..............................................................................................................................................................320
OXYRYNCHITES NOMOS .................................................................................................................................320
OXYRYNCHITES .................................................................................................................................................320
UNKNOWN NOME ..............................................................................................................................................320
FORGERIES .........................................................................................................................................................320
PLATES .................................................................................................................................................................327
1. MONOGRAMS ..................................................................................................................................................327
2. COUNTERMARKS AND GRAFFITTI .............................................................................................................327
INDEXES ...............................................................................................................................................................329
 INTRODUCTION

The first of the Zagreb, and also Croatian, volumes of the Sylloge Nummorum Graecorum series presents all the
ancient Egyptian coins preserved at the Numismatic Department of the Zagreb Archaeological Museum. The reason
why this section of the Greek collection was selected is that quite a few of these coins, both Ptolemaic and Roman
provincial coins have been found in Croatia. Some of the Ptolemaic bronze coins of various denominations came
from the hoards of the so-called Mazin type, named after the large hoard found at Mazin in Lika in 1896, published
by Josip Brunšmid (1896-7 – 1906).
The known hoards of the Mazin type (DUKAT - MIRNIK 1971: 197-200; MIRNIK 1987) are as follows: Bosan-
ska Krupa (c. 1932); Bosanski Petrovac (parts of it purchased by the Split Archaeological Museum in 1946), which
in fact might be identical with the Donji Unac hoard; Donji Unac (c. 1894); Gračac (1926); Izačić (before 1907);
Krupa (c. 1891); the largest of all, Mazin hoard (1896); Obrovac (between 1958 and 1959); Široka Kula (1846, Šti-
kada), 1976 and finally the Vrankamen hoard (1887). All these hoards had something in common: Punic, Numidian
and occasionally Egyptian and other Greek and Roman bronze currency and bullion. Ptolemaic bronze was undug
in the hoards of Donji Unac, Gračac, Izačić, Mazin, Široka Kula, Vrankamen and possibly at Zvonigrad.
In the Zagreb Collection there are Egyptian Ptolemaic coins from three known hoards: Gračac 1926 (9 speci-
mens), Mazin 1896 (34 specimens), Štikada 1976 (one specimen). Individual finds came from the island of Hvar,
from Novi Banovci (Burgenae), Osijek (Mursa), Sisak (Siscia) and the Kupa (Colapis), also at Sisak.
Individual Egyptian Ptolemaic bronze coins have also been found on the following Illyrian sites: Bosnia (5
spec.); Bosnia ? (6 spec.); Bosnia or Hercegovina (2 spec.); Croatia (c. 70 spec.); Dalmatia (+40 spec.); the island of
Hvar (1 spec.); Istria (13 spec.); Istria or Croatian Coast (32 spec.); the island of Korčula (4 spec.); Košaki; Muta;
Senj; Spodnje Radvanje; Surduk; the island of Vis (5 spec.) etc. (MIRNIK 1987: 371).
In general, the Ptolemaic bronze predominates among sporadic finds and in a few hoards in Albania (Saragi-
nishtë); Austria (Leibnitz, Magdalensberg, Petronell); Bohemia, Moravia and Slovakia (Kamenica/Nové Zámky,
Nitrianska Blatnica, Slovakia); France (Ragis); Germany (Altenburg, Baden-Baden, Bottorp, Brackenheim, Bu-
chau, Ebermannstadt, Esslingen, Giengen, Haina, Karlstein, Meiningen, Milz Quarry, Nadelwitz, Niederherms-
dorf, Preuschitz, Rheinzabern, Reitberg, Rottenburg, Wallbach, Wurgwitz); Greece (Athens, Corinth, Corinth/
Kenchreai, Delos, Kopais, Mykonos, Preveza); Hungary (Reho, Somogy County); Italy (Acitrezza, Adria, Ancona,
Avola, Brondolo, Campana, Este, Giannutri, MonseIice, Montagna di Marzo, Motta d’Este, S. Giorgio in Bosco, S.
Eufemia Vetere); Luxemburg (Tetelbierg); Rumania (Dobrogea, Reho); Switzerland (Avenches, Münchstein) etc.
(MIRNIK 1987: 372). Of course this list ought to be brought up to date. For instance a bronze coin of Ptolemy VI
Philometor was excavated at Beretinova gradina in Dalmatia (ILKIĆ - KOŽUL - ĆURKOVIĆ 2014: 77, 81, Cat No.
3). More pre-Roman coins from the Eastern Adriatic Coast, including Egyptian Ptolemaic, have been registered by
Mato Ilkić of the Zadar University Faculty of Philosophy Department of Archaeology.
Another very interesting find was a hoard of 67 Roman Provincial tetradrachms of the mint of Alexandria, found
in Rovinj in Istria containing coins of Gallienus (1), Claudius II (1), Aurelianus (2), Probus (8), Carus (1), Carinus
(4), Numerianus (2), Diocletianus (23) and Maximianus (21) (ASOLATI 1995).
The Zagreb numismatic collection is an old collection. Due to the general historical situation in this part of
Europe, almost all the material published in this volume was acquired before 1941. Before 1918 Professor Josip
Brunšmid had a carte blanche with the Royal Territorial Government of the Triune Kingdom of Croatia, Slavonia
and Dalmatia’s Department of Religion and Education and could buy whatever he considered of importance for
the coin cabinet. Preserved auction catalogues from all of Europe witness his meticulous and permanent following
of the numismatic market. His successor Professor Viktor Hoffiller was also able to enrich the numismatic cabinet
by acquiring two major coin collections between the two wars – those of Benko Horvat and Richard Schwieger.
Very few specimens of ancient Egyptian coins have arrived since the beginning of the World War Two.

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 In 1904 several bronze coins and aes rude specimens from the Mazin Hoard as well as African coins were pre-
sented as duplicates to the Imperial Collection of Coins and Medals in Vienna, following the instructions given by
the Royal Croatian-Slavonian-Dalmatian Territorial Government (document No. 3.021 of February 25, 1904).
In course of many relocations, reorganizations, changes of personnel etc. of the museum and its numismatic col-
lection since 1828, and prior to the arrival of Josip Brunšmid as the head of the museum in 1892, many of the coins
have lost data about their exact provenance. The badly preserved specimens presented in this Sylloge, even without
particular provenance recorded, must have also been found locally and not purchased.
It is possible that some of the coins published here, for instance those of Aurelianus and Vaballathus, came from
an old collection, considered to be the nucleus of the Zagreb Collection. It was assembled by the canon Baltazar
Adam Krčelić de Corbavia (*Šenkovec nr. Zagreb, February 5, 1715 -+Zagreb, March 29, 1778), which he be-
queathed to the Zagreb Royal Academy, the later Juridical Academy, for the future National Museum (MIRNIK
1972: 42, 45). As Krčelić wrote „Vabalathi numos plures, in his oris effodi oruique plures. Ego ipse plures habui
medii moduli.“ (KERCSELICH 1770: 17; COHEN 6, 1886: 217,1).
About 1892, still under the tenure of Don Šime Ljubić and before the arrival of Josip Brunšmid to the Museum,
there were entries in the general catalogue of the Numismatic Collection such as: No. 544. „Aegyptus Ptolemaeus“
one silver coin, with the remark „the silver coin is suspect“ and 29 bronze coins; under No. 545 there were 67 bronze
coins of Alexandreia in Roman times, und under No. 546 „Aegyptus Nomus incertus“ one coin.
Egyptian coins, included in this publication, derive also from several significant coin collections, both local and
foreign, for instance those once owned by:
Professor Dr. Josip Brunšmid (*Vinkovci, Croatia, February, 10, 1858 – +Zagreb, October 29, 1929), archaeolo-
gist, numismatist, professor of classical archaeology at the Zagreb University, director of the Zagreb Archaeological
Museum. Having taken over the function of the museum director, he presented his entire collection in 1899, as it
was the general rule that no curator was supposed to own any collection of his own.
Prof. Dr. Curtius, Bonn. Several Egyptians from his collection were bought from Leo Hamburger, Frankfurt/
Main, in 1907;
Msgr. Baron Félix de Bethune (*Kortrijk, April 1, 1824 - +Brugge, January 17, 1909) of Belgium, partly bought
from Charlez Dupriez, Bruxelles, in 1909;
Oskar Friml Antunović (*Petrovaradin, January 22, 1871 - +Osijek, November 23, 1934) from Osijek, purchased
in 1912;
Dr. Fran Gundrum Oriovčanin (*Oriovac nr. Brod na Savi, October 9, 1856 - +Križevci, July 24, 1919), a phy-
sician from Križevci, purchased in 1905 (before that he presented or sold individual specimens to the Museum);
Dr. Franjo Ivan Havliček, from Novi Vinodolski, presented by his widow Dragica Havliček in 1971;
Benko Horvat (*Vinkovci, Croatia, September 14, 1873 - +Zagreb, Croatia, February 28, 1955), bank official,
collector, founder and president of the Croatian Numismatic Society. His first coin collection containing 8173 spec-
imens (23 gold coins, 2629 silver coins and 5521 copper/bronze coins) was purchased after a contract was signed
on June 17, 1927 for the amount of 18.000 Swiss Franks, i.e. 197.000 Yugoslav Dinars;
Mr. Jakičić of Kraljevica, purchased in 1897;
Prof. Ivan Kiseljak from Zagreb;
Giuseppe Parodi from Genova, purchased from the firm Rodolfo Ratto, also from Genova in 1898;
Nikola Atanasijev Plavšić (*Bršadin, May 5, 1848 - +Osijek, October 1, 1912), secretary of the Chamber of Com-
merce and Crafts in Osijek. A part of his collection, consisting of 111 gold and 453 silver and bronze/copper coins, was
purchased on June 10, 1915 from his son Dušan Plavšić (*Vinkovci, April 22, 1875 - +Zagreb, December 18, 1965),
director of the Zagreb Branch of the Croatian Territorial Bank, for the amount of 7.183 Austrian Crowns;
Franz (František) Schaurek (+Trieste, 1926), bank cashier of the Czech Živnostenské Bank, from Trieste, since
1915 husband of Eileen Joyce (*Dublin, January 22, 1889 – +Bray, January 27, 1963), the sister of James Joyce –
parts of his coin collection were purchased by Benko Horvat;
Richard Schwieger, Royal Headforester at Grgurevci, purchased from his widow Marija (+1934) of Erdevik. The
contract was signed on November 14, 1930, and the entire collection estimated to the amount of 101.975 Yugoslav

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Dinars. Most of the coins were incorporated into the collection between 1931 and 1932, because the entire sum was
difficult to be obtained from the ministries, but were granted in many rates. Some parts of the sum were paid even
after the demise of Mrs. Schwieger to her heirs until 1936. Still, some money was never obtained, therefore the heirs
and other creditors had parts of the collection seized and auctioned off. This was the most complicated and lengthy
acquisition in the Museum’s history.
Ignjat (Ignac) Simić (*1829 +Zagreb, November 9, 1897), financial councelor in Zagreb, purchased from Her-
mann Lukeschitz in Graz in 1898;
August Šenoa (*Zagreb, November 14, 1838 - + December 13, 1881), Zagreb senator and novelist, purchased
from his family in 1898.
Coins were also presented by or bought from various individuals, some of them well- known collectors: Jacque-
line Balen and Ivan Radman Livaja, Zagreb; Dr. Mato Bišćan, Samobor; Andrija Colussi (*Ossoppo, Udine/Friuli,
Italy, 1848 – + Sisak, February 8, 1929), building contractor of Sisak; Irislav Dolenec (*Vela Luka, the island of
Korčula, Croatia, January 15, 1921 - +Zagreb, October 25, 2009), sportsman, collector, numismatic writer, Zagreb;
Josip Drusani; Vinko (Vincenc) Dušánek (+Rijeka, 1932), friar and pharmacist from Rijeka; Dr. Nikola Gržetić
M.D. (*Dobrinj, the island of Krk, 1838 +Zagreb, February 26, 1909); Dr. Fran Gundrum Oriovčanin of Križevci,
(*Oriovac nr. Brod Otober 9, 1856 - + Križevci, July 24, 1919), physician, who presented or sold coins even be-
fore 1905, when his entire coin collection was acquired for the Zagreb Museum; Josip Brebera (*1862 – Zagreb,
September 21, 1950), Zagreb; the merchant Julio Hoffman (1873 - Zagreb, 3.03.1934), Zagreb; Dr. Petar Karlić
(*Gospić, September 19, 1877 – +Zagreb, April 24, 1940), professor at the classical grammar school in Zadar; Prof.
Robert Koprinski; Prof. Franjo Magdić (*1830 + Zagreb, July 26, 1914), teacher at the Zagreb grammar school;
Rade Pašković, Belgrade; Prof. Mato Segher, grammar school teacher, Mitrovica; Vincenzo Sturolo, photographer,
Rijeka (coins were bought from his widow); Prof. Vladimir Tkalčić, (*Zagreb, September 30, 1883 –+ November
11,1971), director of the Arts and Crafts Museum in Zagreb.
Before 1918 lots of coins, sometimes quite numerous, were selected for the completion of the Egyptian and other
sections of the Zagreb cabinet, at various auctions and from many European dealers, for instance: Etienne Bourgey,
Paris (1908); Adolph E. Cahn, Frankfurt am Main (1913); Leo Hamburger, Frankfurt (1910); Adolf Hess Nachf.,
Frankfurt am Main (1913); Hermann Lukeschitz (Lukešić), Graz (1898); Jacques Schulman, Amsterdam (1910);
Carl Stedtfeld, Cologne (1913); C.G. Thieme, Leipzig (1876-1877); Dr. Franz Walla, Vienna (throughout several
years).
It was in 1890 that Don Šime Ljubić published 61 of the Egyptian coins in his catalogue of ancient coins of the
Archaeological Department of the National Territorial Museum in Zagreb, as it was then called (LJUBIĆ 1890:
33-39, Nos. 282-333), and later on he added quite a considerable number of additional specimens on empty pages,
which were bound together with the printed ones in a special volume, used by him. Most of the coins, described
there according to Mionnet’s standard catalogue, were easily identified (MIONNET 1813; 1838). This was not the
case in Brunšmid’s publication of the Mazin hoard, because he did not describe all the Ptolemaic specimens individ-
ually (Brunšmid 1896-7: 63-64), but sometimes by groups of identical types. Egyptian coins from the Gračac and
Štikada hoards were published much later.
Already the museum curator, director and donor of many of the collections, the Imperial and Royal Major Mijat
Sabljar had the Mionnet series at hand, and so did his successor Don Šime Ljubić, who also classified the Egyptian
coins according to Mionnet’ s catalogue (MIONNET 1813: 1-552; 1838: 1-179), as has alredy been said. The Brit-
ish Museum Catalogues started arriving to the Croatian National Museum’s Archaeological Department during his
tenure. Josip Brunšmid, having taken over the numismatic collection after Ljubić’s retirement, catalogued the entire
collection anew by using Svoronos’ monumental work for the Lagid coins (SVORONOS 1904) and Poole’s BMC
for the Roman provincial coinage of Egypt (BMC 1892). Therefore he also translated the coin descriptions from
the BMC for his files. And because of the beauty of the somewhat antiquated English we are using it in this SNG
volume. Brunšmid also acquired the catalogue of the Hunterian Collection in Glasgow (MACDONALD 1905).
Besides cataloguing all the coins and medals, Brunšmid composed detailed files for most of the material.

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 All the numismatic material has been processed through the computer programme NUMIZ, developed by the
Numismatic Department of the National Museum of Slovenia in Ljubljana: the Zagreb Archaeological Museum
Numismatic Department has acquired it more than a quarter of a century ago. Still, there was much additional work
to be accomplished even after the draft of this catalogue was transformed into the Word format.
Quite a few friends and colleagues have helped the present author in this task with words and deeds: Michel
Amandry, Michele Asolati, Tomislav Bilić, Roger Bland, Andrew Burnett, François de Callataÿ, Thomas Faucher,
Hermine Göricke Lukić, Catharine C. Lorber, Rodolfo Martini, Miroslav Nađ, Branko Ostajmer and Tomislav Por-
tada. The drawings were executed by Miljenka Galić and the photographs were made by Igor Krajcar of the Zagreb
Archaeological Museum. To all go my warmest thanks. Among them my special thanks go to Catharine C. Lorber
who meticulously compared all the Ptolemaic coins, updating their descriptions with the most recent literature and
to Andrew Burnett for having read the second part of the catalogue and also for having kindly written the foreword.

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