Zur Typologie kaiserzeitlicher Prägungen in Moesia inferior: Der Leuchtturm auf Münzen von Istros

Abstract

Under Elagabalus and Severus Alexander, coins were minted at Istrus with the image of a river god and a lighthouse. This paper discusses possible interpretations of this rare and previously neglected reverse type by placing it in a broader numismatic, geographical and cultural-historical context. While the depiction of the river god Istrus with a fish in hand clearly points to the most important industry found in the city of the same name, the commonly held view that the lighthouse represents the urban port of Istrus is not plausible. The geomorphological features of the region, the testimony of ancient writers on navigation, and the archaeological finds, which testify to the dangers one faced when entering the Halmyris lagoon and the southern arms of the Danube, support another explanation: the structure depicted on the coins was probably not located in the city harbour itself, but stood at the mouth of one of the arms of the Danube. Since the western Black Sea coast and the estuary of the Danube are seismically very unstable, the coin type presented may show a lighthouse that was restored in the early 3rd century CE after having suffered (earthquake-related?) damage.