Catalog
Tetradrachm B-reiter Type
| Issuer | Dacians of Transylvania |
|---|---|
| Year | 200 BC - 101 BC |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
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| Reverse description | Highly stylized horseman (the so-called B-reiter) advancing to the right, rendered in the distinctive Dacian-Celtic abstract idiom derived from Macedonian tetradrachm prototypes. The rider and horse are reduced to bold, schematized forms, with the rider's body composed of globular pellet and arc elements, and a dotted torque or collar visible across the chest. A large feather or palm branch motif occupies the right field behind the horse, serving as a characteristic diagnostic element of this type. The entire design is enclosed within a border of raised dots, with additional pellets scattered in the lower field. No legend or inscription is present. |
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
The Dacian imitations of Macedonian tetradrachms evolved through successive generations of copying until the original Philippic prototype became almost unrecognizable — horses dissolved into abstract lines, riders into geometric suggestion. This progressive stylization was not incompetence but a deliberate regional aesthetic that accelerated over the second century BC as Transylvanian workshops drifted further from the source material.
The B-reiter designation groups a specific typological branch within this degeneration sequence, distinguished by how the horseman figure was rendered across successive die generations. Kostial's cataloguing remains the essential reference, though attribution of individual specimens to precise workshops is rarely possible given the decentralized nature of Dacian minting before the consolidation under Burebista around 60 BC.