Pergamon, Stadt und Festung unter Michael VIII. Palaiologos

Untersuchungen zu einem Münzschatz aus der Zeit der Paläologen

Abstract

In this paper, a Late Byzantine coin hoard from the 1987 and 1989 ›Stadtgrabung‹ in Pergamon, which was scattered over one room, will be presented for the first time. The ensemble consists of 81 coins dating from the periods of Manuel I Comnenus (1143–1152) to Michael VIII Palaiologos (1259–1282), with a focus lying on the reign of Michael VIII (one silver and 67 copper trachea). In addition, there are four indeterminable Late Byzantine coin fragments and six coin-like tin fragments, which might have circulated in the Late Middle Ages as local small change alongside cut copper trachea (see e.g. catalogue no. 20. 21). In the same room there were also 15 ancient or Early Byzantine coins, 29 metal objects which were mostly fragmented and some other artefacts made of bone and terra cotta in the same fill layer, but which did not belong to the Late Byzantine hoard. Given the extreme rarity of coin hoards from the time of Michael VIII, Pergamon with Anaia (Kadıkalesi) is one of the few sites to have unearthed coin hoards (including the incompletely known coin hoard from Bergama 1967) and a considerable number of single finds of copper coins of Michael VIII. The coin finds and the finds of two lead seals of Michael VIII and the Empress Theodora Doukaina show the city hill to be a densely populated city and fortress until the late 13th century, which experienced its cultural acme under Michael VIII. It is possible that Pergamon was only one base within the broader defence concept of Anatolia, which cannot be grasped in its entirety at the present state of research.