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6 - Putting the Danube into Perspective: Money, Bullion, and Prestige in Avaria and Transcaucasia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 October 2018

Andrei Gandila
Affiliation:
University of Alabama, Huntsville
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Summary

This chapter expands the analysis of the numismatic evidence through an exploration of the Byzantine coin flow to the Carpathian Basin and the Transcaucasus, two other important frontier regions in the sixth and seventh centuries. Gold is most abundant in the Carpathian Basin where the Avars, just like the Huns in the previous century, received millions of gold solidi in the form of annual tribute; this immediately developed into the most potent symbol of the Khagan’s power and the main instrument for maintaining the loyalty of the peoples under his suzerainty. Warfare in Italy and the conquest of Dalmatia provided additional channels for the distribution of Byzantine coinage in Central Europe. Silver predominates in Transcaucasia where ceremonial silver coins were used to buy the loyalty of Caucasian tribes. Heavy spending of gold and silver was required to keep Lazica in the Byzantine political orbit in the context of renewed hostilities with Persia. Later, the silver hexagram became the main unit of payment for the troops fighting against Persia in the seventh century, particularly in Armenia and Iberia where the Sasanian silver drachm had been for a long time the dominant coinage.
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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2018

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