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Stater - Alexander III Kolchis imitation
| Issuer | Bastarnae Celto-Scythians |
|---|---|
| Year | 100 BC - 100 AD |
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| Composition | Gold |
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| Obverse description | Highly stylized and abstracted effigy of Athena facing right, rendered in the characteristic barbarous Celto-Scythian manner derived from the Kolchis imitations of Alexander III staters. The helmet is suggested by sweeping curved lines and pellet-tipped crests at the crown, while the facial features are reduced to schematic relief elements including a circular eye and linear mouth. Five pellets are distributed around the portrait in the field, a distinctive feature of this emission series. The overall design reflects a progressive stylistic degeneration from the original Macedonian prototype, consistent with peripheral tribal coinage of the Black Sea steppe region. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Highly stylized frontal figure of Nike standing, rendered in a bold, schematic barbarian style derived from the Alexander III stater prototype. The figure is depicted with outspread wings indicated by radiating linear strokes rising from the shoulders, and the body is represented by a columnar arrangement of vertical and diagonal relief lines suggesting drapery. Ten pellets are arranged around the figure in the field, flanking the effigy on both sides in roughly symmetrical groups. No legend or inscription is present, consistent with the purely pictorial conventions of this Celto-Scythian emission. The composition fills the flan and displays the characteristic linear abstraction typical of late barbarian imitative coinage from the northern Black Sea region. |
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| Additional information |
The Bastarnae occupied a politically ambiguous zone between the Celtic and Iranian worlds, and their gold staters imitating Alexander III's coinage reflect a monetary pragmatism common to groups operating on Rome's northeastern frontier — trusted metal in a recognizable form, regardless of who actually struck it. The Kolchis-type imitation is notably more schematized than western Celtic derivatives, with progressive abstraction that accumulated across generations of die-copying rather than any deliberate artistic program.
The Bastarnae allied with Mithridates VI of Pontus during his wars against Rome in the early first century BC, and bullion coinage of this kind likely moved through those networks.