Pages: 17-62

The relevance of a consolidated publication on the chronology of the Bosporan coins of archaic and classical time stems from the apparent dissatisfaction of most modern authors with the monographs on numismatics by A. N. Zograph, D. B. Shelov, V. A. Anokhin and D. MacDonald. Over the past quarter century, many diverse articles have appeared, the authors of which are trying to fill in the gaps in the works of the mentioned authors and correct them. However, the divergence of these opinions deprives the reader of a holistic chronological perception on the stated topic. The newly edited chronicle of Bosporan rulers compiled by Diodorus of Sicily makes it possible to date certain coins of the Bosporus with an accuracy of up to a year. The dates thus obtained, supplemented by the dates from other historical sources, are crucial for establishing a general chronological scheme of Bosporan coins between 479 and 284 BC. We correlated Diodorus’s chronicle with the dating of the third group of gold staters of Panticapaeus, which allowed us to confirm 352 BC as the year when Philip II started minting gold coins.

Keywords: Bosporan Kingdom, 5th—3rd cc. BC, Diodorus Sicilian, Philip II, gold, silver, bronze coins, numismatics

Information about author:

Oleg Melnikov (Kerch, Crimea)
E-mail: [email protected]