Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
Miliaresion - Mstislav Volodimirovich the Brave
| Issuer | Principality of Tmutarakan |
|---|---|
| Year | 990-1024 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Golenko I#1 |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Five lines of pseudo-legend fill the field, imitating the columnar inscription format of Byzantine miliaresia but rendered in meaningless or garbled characters that do not form legible Greek text. An ornamental device appears above the inscription. The lettering is crudely executed in high relief on the irregular silver flan, reflecting the local workshop's imitation of Byzantine prototypes without direct access to a literate Greek die-cutter. The overall composition closely follows the reverse layout of contemporary Byzantine miliaresia. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | ND (990-1024) |
| Additional information |
Tmutarakan was a detached Rus' enclave on the Taman Peninsula, hemmed between the Black and Azov Seas, and its coinage reflects the awkward political position of a semi-autonomous prince trying to assert legitimacy far from Kyiv. Mstislav Volodimirovich — son of Vladimir the Great — ruled the principality from around 990 and defeated the Kasog prince Rededya in single combat in 1022, an episode recorded in the Primary Chronicle and remarkable enough that later princes referenced it as a dynastic boast.
The miliaresion format was borrowed directly from Byzantine practice, which is unsurprising given Tmutarakan's proximity to Cherson and the broader Byzantine commercial network in the northern Black Sea.