COINAGE OF THE BARBARIAN INVADERS

In the fourth century, the Eurasian Steppe was a vast sea of grass extending for thousands of miles, from Mongolia in the East to the Danube in the West. Nomadic tribes roamed the steppe, fighting over grazing rights, women and honor. Occasionally a leader would emerge, unite the tribes, and lead them to pillage the farms and sack the cities of their more “civilized” neighbors, who called these nomads “barbarians”.

The Huns
The people we know as Huns were one such confederation. Around 370 CE, they appeared on the horizon of the Roman world (on the steppes north of the Black Sea), setting in motion waves of migration that German historians call the Völkerwanderung – the “wandering of the peoples.”

Coins give us a unique window into this chaotic era. Some were coins barbarian invaders minted themselves. Others were coins they looted or extorted from the Romans.

In the case of the Huns, this might have included the rare solidi issued by Valentinian III in the name of his sister, Honoria.

The Goths
In our day, a Goth is a sensitive young person who favors dark music, attire and makeup. In the waning years of the Roman Empire it meant something different. For centuries, Gothic tribes lived along the Roman frontier, often as enemies, sometimes as allies.

As early as the third century, these tribes minted crude copies of Roman coins. Known today as “Uncertain Germanic” issues (see below), they are difficult to classify and have been little studied.

Toward the end of the fourth century, the Goths split into two branches: the Ostrogoths, who initially joined the Huns; and the Visigoths, who invaded Italy and sacked Rome in 410 but later became Roman allies. After Attila's empire broke up, the Ostrogoths became allies of Constantinople.

To read the complete article, see:
Ancient Coins: Coinage of the Barbarian Invaders (www.coinweek.com/featured-news/ancient-coins-coinage-barbarian-invaders/)

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