MEDIEVAL MAN AND HIS WORLD

70 . ...
Studies in honor of the 70th anniversary of Prof. Dr. Dr. habil. Kazimir Popkonstantinov

COINS AND BURIALS IN DARK-AGE GREECE.

ARCHAEOLOGICAL REMARKS ON THE BYZANTINE
RECONQUISTA
Florin Curta

icephorus was holding the scepter of the Romans, and these Slavs who were in the
province of Peloponnesus decided to revolt (Moravcsik / Jenkins 1967, 229). They
irst attacked their Greek neighbors, whose settlements they plundered, and then laid siege to
the city of Patras. Because of shortage of both food and water, the inhabitants of Patras were
contemplating surrender. However, since the leaders of the city had already informed the mili
tary governor, who was at that time in Corinth, about the attack of the Slavs, the Patraeans
sent a scout to the eastern side of the mountains in order to see if the military governor was
indeed coming to their rescue. If he were to see the troops approaching, the scout was to return
to the city and dip his standard, but if not, then he was to hold the standard straight, so they
might for the future not expect the military governor to come (Moravcsik / Jenkins 1967, 229).
The scout did not see anyone coming and was about to return to Patras with the standard erect
when, through the intercession of St. Andrew, God made his horse slip and the rider fell of, in
the process dipping the standard. Emboldened by what they took to be good news, the Patrae
ans attempted a sortie against the Slavs. At this point, they saw St. Andrew, mounted upon a
horse and charging upon the barbarians, whom he routed and scattered and drove away from
the city. Those Slavs who witnessed this terrible attack were so shocked and terriied that they
immediately sought refuge in the very church dedicated to the saint, which apparently stood just
outside the city walls.
When the military governor inally made his appearance three days later, he reported the
events to Constantinople.

The emperor, learning these things, gave orders to this efect: Since the rout and total vic
tory were achieved by the apostle, it is our duty to render to him the whole expeditionary
force of the foe and the booty and the spoils. And he ordained that the foemen themselves,
with all their families and relations and all who belonged to them, and all their property as
well, should be set apart for the temple of the apostle in the metropolis of Patras, where the
irstcalled and disciple of Christ had performed this exploit in the contest; and he issued
a bull concerning these matters in that same metropolis (Moravcsik /Jenkins 1967, 231).
Thus described Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus in the midtenth century the way
in which the Slavs were put in servitude and subjection to the church of Patras, an event that
took place more than one hundred years earlier, in the reign of Nicephorus I (802811). It has
long been recognized that this account is in fact based on the oral, local tradition devoted to
St. Andrew.1The image of St. Andrew on horseback charging the Slavs brings to mind the angel
1

Emperor Constantine himself cited the unwritten traditions as his source (Moravcsik / Jenkins 1967, 231).

55

Florin Curta

assisting Judas Maccabeus and his warriors against Lysis (II Maccabees 11:8; Turlej 1999, 398).
Some have noticed similarities between the account in De administrando imperio and the in
formation culled from the Chronicle of Monemvasia, as well as from a synodal letter of 1084
written by Patriarch Nicholas III the Grammarian for Emperor Alexius I Comnenus. According
to the Chronicle of Monemvasia, Sparta (Lakedaimon) was repopulated with a mix of people
Kapheroi, Thrakesians, Armenians, and others from diferent places and cities (Kislinger 2001,
203).2 The author of the Chronicle thus makes Emperor Nicephorus responsible for the transfer
of population from the eastern and central provinces of the Empire, which altered the demo
graphic coniguration of the theme of Peloponnesos, only a couple of decades after its imple
mentation.3 The presence of so many settlers encroaching onto their lands led the Slavs to revolt
in 807 or 808, when they attacked the Greek settlements and then put Patras under siege.4 The
revolt was quelled, and after that Emperor Nicephorus issued the bull mentioned in Constan
tine Porphyrogenitus account to spell out the details of the subordination of the defeated Slavs
to the Church of Patras, as well as their obligations.
The signiicance of those events has long concerned historians. According to Peter Chara
nis, Emperor Nicephorus has recovered Peloponnesos from the Slavs (Charanis 1946, 84). His
policy of settlement of Greekspeaking people from other parts of the Empire, enabled the
Greeks who had remained there to reassert themselves, but proved a most efective way of
absorbing and hellenizing the Slavs Nicephorus I saved Greece from becoming slavonicized
(Charanis 1946, 86). To George Huxley, the emperors merit was to have introduced a concerted
policy of conquest, resettlement, and conversion (Huxley 1977, 109), while according to Hubert
Hunger, all of Greece came under the control of the Byzantine administration after the victo
ries against the Slavs around Patras (Hunger 1990, 50). Echoing Charanis, Warren Treadgold
regarded the settlers brought from other parts of the Empire under the reign of Nicephorus I
as changing Greece from a mainly Slavic land back to a mainly Greek one (Treadgold 2001,
127).5 By the midninth century, according to John Haldon, central and southern Greece have
been completely recovered and reincorporated into the empire (Haldon 2008, 261). Archaeolo
gists have so far followed the historians lead. The arrival of the new settlers from the central
and eastern provinces of the Empire has been linked to the sudden appearance of Impressed
White Wares (also known as Glaze White Ware II) on several sites in the Peloponnese, at Argos,
Corinth, as well as Sparta. Such wares were produced in the environs of Constantinople and
2

3
4

Kapheroi may be the Greek form of the Arab word kair, which means apostate and was used derogatorily
to refer to Muslims who converted to Christianity (Lemerle 1963, 20 with n. 28; Huxley 1977, 107). The Thrake
sians and the Armenians were inhabitants of the Anatolian themes of Thrakesion and Armeniakon, respec
tively.
For the date of the implementation of the theme of Peloponnesus, see ivkovi 1999.
Emperor Constantine called the neighbors of the Slavs Graikoi, a term not used in any other part of his work.
evenko 1992, 192 believes the word to have been employed by Emperor Constantines Slavic informant, an
idea rightly rejected by ivkovi 2002, 124 with n. 280. According to Koder 2003, 306, Emperor Constantine
chose the word because in the midtenth century Hellenes still carried a strong, nonethnic and religious
meaning (Hellenesaspagans). In reality, Greeks may have been a word chosen simply to distinguish be
tween the nonSlavic natives and the mixed, but most likely Greekspeaking population brought from the
other parts of the Empire.
Only Judith Herrin saw the hellenization of the Slavs as taking place long before Nicephorus reign, namely
between the late sixth and the late eighth century, with the indigenous Greeks living in the countryside,
and not the new settlers, playing the key role in the process (Herrin 1973, 115 and 120). Similarly, according
to Mark Whittow, the Slavs who had settled in areas such as the Peloponnese, Attica, or in the hinterland of
Thessalonica where the Byzantine authority soon reasserted itself were generally absorbed into a Greek
speaking and Christian world where they were indistinguishable from other Romans (Whittow 1996, 269).
For the hellenization and Christianization of the Slavs in Greece during the eighth century, see also Turlej
2010, 267.

56

Coins and Burials in Dark-Age Greece...

distributed all across the Aegean, in continental Greece, as well as on the islands, with a cluster
of inds around the Argolid Bay (Armstrong 2001, 58 and ig. 6.1). Some have associated the ap
pearance of Impressed White Wares in Sparta (Lakedaimon) with the episode of repopulation
mentioned in the Chronicle of Monemvasia, and have gone as far as to regard the use of table
wares produced in Constantinople as a physical manifestation of the cultural aspect of the re
hellenization of southern Greece (Armstrong 2001, 64). Leaving aside the dubious assumption
that Constantinopolitan table wares were used only by speakers of Greek, the chronology of the
Impressed White Wares currently lacks the precision necessary for drawing such conclusions.
This type of pottery may well be of a much later date to be placed within the late decades of the
ninth or even within the tenth century.6
Did then a Byzantine reconquista in Greece end (or begin) in the late ninth century? Are
there any archaeological correlates of the demographic and ethnic changes triggered by Em
peror Nicephorus policies? Conversely, was DarkAge Greece or any of its parts, a Slavic land
before Emperor Nicephorus reconquest? My goal in this paper is to provide some tentative
answers to those questions by shedding some light on the long period between ca. 620 and ca.
920. In doing so, I will move away from any discussion of ethnic issues, which have so far domi
nated the scholarly discourse on the matter, particularly in terms of a sharp contrast between
the barbarian Slavs and the Byzantine civilization.7 Instead, it may be worth exploring the extent
of the economic and social expansion of Byzantium into the southern region of the Balkans by
means of coins and burials, respectively. The former represent a tangible presence of the Byz
antine economic networks, although not necessarily of the Byzantines themselves. However,
even when exchanging hands between Byzantines and nonByzantines, coins may point to key
interfaces in both economic and political terms, while their relative distribution may delineate
markets and zones of inluence.8 Moreover, the connection between the movements of armies
and the spread of the Byzantine coins has been long recognized (Metcalf 1976), and as such the
analysis of the numismatic evidence may be used to track the presence of the Byzantine military.
Whoever used the coins, their very existence in a given region raises important questions about
how that region was integrated into the Byzantine system, either as a province or as a borderland
(Morrisson 1998a; Callegher 2005). This is particularly true in those cases in which conclusions
drawn from the numismatic analysis are combined with the examination of settlement patterns.
However, settlement archaeology, particularly in regards to rural sites, is notoriously lacking
for DarkAge Greece (Kourelis 2003; Veikou 2007 and 2012). The closest one can come to an un
derstanding of the settlement history, therefore, is by examining burials. To be sure, mortuary
archaeology has already been used elsewhere in combination with settlement patterns for the
understanding of the social organization of a given region (Halsall 1995). More recently, funer
ary ritual has been even linked to claims to land in the area surrounding the location of the cem
etery (Theuws 2009). If, on the other hand, one accepts the idea that funerary rites are a form of
ritualized, symbolic communication, then mortuary archaeology ofers a unique opportunity to
explore possible statements made in reference to the symbolic language in use in Byzantium. In
this way, it may be possible to ind out whether people in DarkAge Greece deined themselves
in any way in relation to the Empire, whether or not they actually lived within its borders. Even
though those historians who insist upon (re) hellenization during this period seem to have in
mind language (about which we actually know very little, if anything at all), funerary rituals may
in fact provide a method for gauging cultural preferences in DarkAge Greece and, ultimately,
6

7
8

Glazed White Wares II have also been found in northern Greece, at Chrysoupolis, but the occupation on most
sites to the east of Thessaloniki along the Via Egnatia cannot be dated before ca. 900 (Dunn 1999, 406).
For my views on this matter, see Curta 2010b.
See, in this respect, the excellent remarks of OberlnderTrnoveanu 2009 and Somogyi 2011.

57

Florin Curta

for assessing the degree to which one can speak of assimilation, integration, or incorpora
tion into the fabric of Byzantine society.
My attempt to move away from a polar opposition between the Byzantine Empire and the
barbarians implies a treatment of the history of early medieval Greece within a larger Balkan
context shaped fundamentally by complex economic and social phenomena. There are several
reasons for adopting a general view of the Balkans when dealing with the Byzantine presence in
Greece during this period. First, the withdrawal of the Byzantine troops from the Balkans in ca.
620 was followed by the creation of the irst land themes in the region, irst Thrace, and then
Hellas. Second, it has long been noted that in terms of archaeological and numismatic evidence
for the entire period dubbed Dark Ages because of the relative lack of written sources, Greece
has much more in common with the coastal areas of the Balkan Peninsula than with Anatolia.
Third, throughout the eighth and ninth centuries, political and military developments in the
European part of the Empire were primarily determined by the conlict with Bulgaria, which
had considerable repercussions on the southernmost region of the Balkan Peninsula. By 920, at
the end of the chronological gamut considered in this paper, the Empire was locked in a seri
ous conlict with Symeon, whose raids into Greece may have contributed to the rebellion of two
Slavic tribes, the Milingoi and the Ezeritai, who lived in the region of the Peloponnese that had
supposedly been paciied and fully integrated into the empire since the early ninth century.

Coins
For a long time, coins have been used in the archaeology of early medieval Greece as indi
cators of urban continuity. The fact that at a certain point in the history of research there were
more coins on the Acrocorinth than in the lower town of Corinth has been interpreted as a sign
that the inhabitants of the city had moved within the protection of the precipitous heights
of the citadel (Setton 1950, 522; Bellinger 1930). The rarity of coins from Athens was similarly
regarded as a mirror of the deterioration of the citys economic position and of its decline as an
urban center (Charanis 1955, 169). This emphasis on inds from one site alone is still prevalent
in the literature (GalaniKrikou 1998; GalaniKrikou / Tsourti 2000; Sidiropoulos 2002). Only
recently has a regional approach become more visible (Georganteli 1998; Penna 1996 and 2002;
Nikolaou 2004), but attempts at considering the evidence from Greece in a Balkan context re
main rare (Metcalf 1979; Curta 2005). This is mostly the result of the curiously stubborn, yet
completely erroneous opinion, according to which no DarkAge coins have been found in the
Balkans (Morrisson 2001, 144; for a somewhat modiied version, see Morrisson 2007, 684). At a
closer look, however, it is the Balkan context that can illuminate some of the key aspects of the
numismatic evidence from Greece.
To judge from coin inds, after 620 the Balkans entered a relatively long period of political
instability and sharp demographic decline. Only fourteen coins are so far known to have been
struck for Emperor Heraclius between 620 and 641 three of gold, four of silver, and seven of
bronze (Edwards 1933, 131; Thompson 1954, 70; OberlnderTrnoveanu 1996, 119; Somogyi 1997,
24 25 and 73 74; Somogyi 2008, 92; Ivanievi 2010, 451; Stanev 2011, 119).9 Their distribution
shows a sharp contrast between gold in the north and in the valley of the river Morava, on one
hand, and bronze in Greece, on the other hand (Fig. 1). The record for the reign of Constans
II, Heraclius grandson, is radically diferent (Fig. 2). There are many more bronze, than either
gold or silver coins struck between 641 and 668. All silver and most of the gold coins have been
9

For an additional coin struck in 640 / 1 and found somewhere in Dobrudja, see PoenaruBordea / Donoiu
1981 1982, 238. Only two coins struck for Heraclonas are known from the Balkans, one from Silistra (Bulgaria),
the other from an unknown location in Istria (OberlnderTrnoveanu 1996, 120; Matijai 1983, 226).

58

Coins and Burials in Dark-Age Greece...

found in Dobrudja, the region between the Danube River and the Black Sea (Mitrea 1963, 599;
OberlnderTrnoveanu 1980, 163; OberlnderTrnoveanu 1996, 104 and 120; TeoklievaSto
icheva 2001, 44; Somogyi 2008, 113 with n. 89; Ivanievi 2010, 451).10 As for bronze, the difer
ence between coins struck for Constans II and those struck for his grandfather is considerable.
Over 900 specimens of the former are known from Athens and Corinth alone, although such
coins also appear on sites on the eastern and especially the western coast of the Balkan Peninsula
(Thompson 1954, 70 71; Edwards 1933, 132 133; Avramea 1997, 74).11 Both the surge in the num
ber of coins and their peculiar distribution have been explained in terms of the presence of the
leet in Greece during Constans IIs visit on his way to Sicily, in the early 660s (Hendy 1985, 662).
By contrast, only 64 coins of Constantine IV are known from the Balkans, of which almost
half have been found in Athens (Fig. 3).12 All coins found on just three sites in Greece (Corinth,
Athens, and Zogeria) are of bronze, while a good number of the coins from Dobrudja are of gold
and silver. This is in contrast to the distribution of seventhcentury hoards of Byzantine coins in
the Balkans, showing hoards of gold (but not silver) in Greece as well as in the central, eastern,
and western regions of the peninsula (Fig. 4).13
While the earlier Solomos hoard with only 6 coins may be compared to contemporary
or slightly later, small hoards from the northern Balkans, such as Nesebr, Gorna Oriakhovica
and Potkom (Morrisson / Popovi / Ivanievi 2006, 141 and 147; Mirnik 1990), the hoard found
in 1876 or 1877 in Athens, with no less than 234 gold coins reminds one of the large collections
in the Akalan and Catala hoards, both found within a very short distance from Constantinople
(Morrisson / Popovi / Ivanievi 2006, 117 119 and 227 228). Since the latter two assemblages
have been interpreted as the hoarded wealth of highranking oicers in the Byzantine army, it is
quite possible to link the Athens hoard as well to the presence of an important dignitary, oicial
of the administration, or military commander. It is important to note that in Greece most single
inds of coins struck after 630 and before 711 have been found on sites located immediately on
the coast or at a short distance from it, as well as on nearby islands (Fig. 5). This seems to indicate
a correlation between sea lanes and bronze coins, which in turn suggests that those who used
such coins were somehow associated with the leet. A Byzantine presence only in the coastal
region in eastern Greece and on some of the islands in the Aegean is further substantiated by
inds of seals. Among the few that can be dated with any degree of certainty to the seventh cen
tury, only one is known from Athens, the other two having been found on islands (Chinitsa and
Chios; Avramea 1996, 20; KoltsidaMakri 2011, 251).
10
11

12

13

For additional coins from unknown locations in the Bosna region and in Dobrudja, see Mirnik / emrov
1997 1998, 199; PoenaruBordea / Ocheeanu 1983 1985, 193 194.
For other finds, see Mushmov 1934, 446; Dimian 1957, 197; Mitrea 1963, 599; PoenaruBordea 1968, 406;
Hohlfelder 1974, 75; PoenaruBordea / Ocheeanu 1980, 390; PoenaruBordea / Donoiu 1981 1982, 238; Tartari
1984, 241; Custurea 1986, 277; Hoti / Myrto 1991, 104 105; Gregory 1993a, 153; Gregory 1993b, 123; Hoxha
1993, 566; Kyrou 1995, 112; Mirnik 1995, 172; OberlnderTrnoveanu 1996, 104 and 120; Avramea 1997, 74;
Iordanov / Koichev / Mutafov 1998, 69; Mirnik / emrov 1997 1998, 199; TeoklievaStoicheva 2001, 44 45;
PoenaruBordea / Ocheeanu / Popeea 2004, 128; Zhekova 2004, 99; Curta 2005, 126; Ivanievi 2010, 451;
Touchais et al. 1998, 765.
For gold and silver coins, see Nubar 1966, 605; Iacob 2000, 485; OberlnderTrnoveanu 1996, 105 and 163;
PoenaruBordea / Ocheeanu 1980, 194; Kisov / Prokopov / Dochev 1998, 66; Hoti / Myrto 1991, 105; Mikec 2002,
60; Somogyi 1997, 78; Custurea 1998, 291; Mirnik / emrov 1997 1998, 201. For the bronze coins, see Bnescu
1943, 193; Dimian 1957, 197; PoenaruBordea / Donoiu 1981 1982, 238; Matijai 1983, 226; Mikec 2002, 60;
OberlnderTrnoveanu / Constantinescu 1994, 331 332; Kyrou 1995, 112; OberlnderTrnoveanu 1996, 120;
Thompson 1954, 71; Avramea 1997, 74; Dinchev 1997, 66; TeoklievaStoicheva 2001, 45. For an additional coin
from an unknown location in Istria, see Curta 2005, 130.
For seventhcentury hoards in the Balkans: Mirnik 1990; Marovi 2006, 253 272; Buli 1920, 199; Morris
son / Popovi / Ivanievi 2006, 141, 147, 158, 198, 227 228, 274, and 357; HadiManeva 2009, 51; Mikuli 2002,
112; Radi 1994, 78 80; Penchev 1991, 5 10.

59

Florin Curta

The number of coins struck for the emperors of the late seventh and the irst decades of
the eighth century Justinian II, Leontius, Tiberius III, Philippikos, and Anastasius II is sur
prisingly large.14 Unlike the distribution of coins of the previous period (620685), two coins
one struck for Tiberius III, the other for Philippikos have been found in southernmost Greece,
though still on coastal sites (Fig. 6). Greece has so far produced no single inds of silver or gold
coins dated to the late seventh and early eighth century, although such coins are known both
from the northwestern (Istria) and from the northeastern (Dobrudja) regions of the Balkans.
While no more than a coin was found on each one of the sites in the Balkans, no less than 67
coins are known so far from Athens. Most of them have in fact been struck for Emperor Philip
pikos, whose coin / regnal year ratio in Athens is second only to that of Constans II (Thompson
1940; Charanis 1955, 165). Only half of the coins of Philippikos are legible, but among them
there are only six obverse dies. This means that those dielinked specimens formed a body of
coin speciically transported from Constantinople and injected into the circulating medium at
Athens, probably by the military (Metcalf 1967, 278; Hendy 1985, 659). Moreover, all those coins
are 10nummia pieces struck in Constantinople during the second year of Philippikos reign
(712 / 713) over halffolles of Justinian II. Since no such coins are known from Corinth, the pres
ence of this group of dielinked specimens should be attributed to exceptional circumstances,
possibly to a military group moving into the headquarters of the theme of Hellas. That the late
seventh to early eighthcentury coins so far found in Greece are low denominations indicates
the existence of local markets of lowprice commodities, such as food in small quantities, serv
ing a population that had direct access to both low Value coinage and sealanes to Constan
tinople (Curta 2005, 124). Such small change implies the presence of oarsmen or sailors of either
commercial or, more probably, war ships, in other words of the imperial navy. Such troops could
rely on constant supplies of fresh food at certain points along the coast, beyond which, however,
they do not seem to have been interested to move.
The association between lowvalue coinage and the navy seems to have remained very
strong throughout the eighth century. While 22 out of 23 coins struck for Leo III that were
found in Athens are 10nummia pieces, the reign of Constantine V coincides in time with one
of the lowest points in the monetary history of both Athens and Corinth (only 3 and 8 coins,
respectively).15 By contrast, gold coins struck for Constantine V appear in large numbers in the
northwestern Balkans, within a region of presentday Croatia between the river Cetina to the
south and the island of Pag to the north (Fig. 7).16 All 85 solidi known so far from that region are
14

15

16

For coins of Justinian II, see Thompson 1954, 71; Gorini 1974, 146; PoenaruBordea / Donoiu 1981 1982, 238;
Matijai 1983, 221; Stanev 2011, 120. For the only coin struck for Leontius, see Stanev 2011, 120. For coins of
Tiberius III, see Kislinger 2001, 92; Thompson 1954, 71; Isvoranu / PoenaruBordea 2003, 145; PoenaruBor
dea / Ocheeanu / Popeea 2004, 128; Morrisson 1998b, 321; OberlnderTrnoveanu 1996,106; Mirnik / emrov
1997 1998, 133; PoenaruBordea / Donoiu 1981 1982, 249; Peikov 2004 and 2005,187. For coins of Philippikos,
see Thompson 1954, 71; Penna 1996, 201; Matijai 1983, 229; Mikec 2002, 89; PoenaruBordea / Donoiu
1981 1982, 238. Only five coins struck for Anastasius II are so far known, four from Athens (Thompson 1954,
72) and another from an unknown location in Istria (Matijai 1983, 226).
In this respect, and in light of the complete absence of eighthcentury coins from northern Greece and the
neighboring regions in Macedonia, the hoard found in 1891 in Thessaloniki is truly exceptional (Szemiothowa
1961, 89 90). It contained seven miliaresia struck for Artavasdos in 742 or 743, and it is tempting to see in this
collection bribes for allies in the city, which the usurper may have desperately tried to win over his side during
Constantine Vs siege of Constantinople. However, since there were apparently other coins in the collection,
the terminus post quem of this hoard (on which its interpretation directly depends) remains unclear. Coins of
Artavasdus are rare, but they could have easily been hoarded at the time of his usurpation and buried together
with other coins during the late eighth or even the ninth century.
For eighthcentury gold coins, see Mikec 2002, 89; Gorini 1974, 146; eparovi 2009, 555; Delonga 1981,
211 213; Werner 1979, 228; Spahiu 1979 1980, 385; Marui 1967, 338; Vzharova 1976, 106. For silver coins, see
Vzharova 1976, 106, and Parushev 1993, 161. For bronze coins, see Penna 1996, 201; Thompson 1954, 71 72;

60

Coins and Burials in Dark-Age Greece...

of the same type and date (760775), and have all been struck in Syracuse. As the distribution
area of those coins coincides with that of Carolingianage swords, it has been suggested that the
gold coins of Constantine V may have arrived to Croatia by means of noncommercial exchang
es, as diplomatic gifts or bribes for local chieftains, perhaps in the circumstances surrounding
the loss of Ravenna to the Lombards in 751 and the emperors subsequent eforts to rally support
against Aistulf from both Pippin the Short and Pope Stephen II (McCormick 2008, 414; Curta
2010a, 270). A very diferent explanation is required for the cluster of eighthcentury coins in
eastern and southern Bulgaria. With few exceptions, most coins found there are of bronze, not
gold or silver. They were discovered on sites known to have been fortiied in the context of Em
peror Constantine Vs wars with the Bulgars and must therefore be associated with the presence
of the Byzantine troops (for Thrace, see Stanev 2012, 65 69). If so, then a military interpretation
may also apply to the single inds of eighthcentury coins from Greece, even though the number
of coins struck for Emperor Constantine V is comparatively smaller. To be sure, unlike the coin
distribution in the northwestern and northeastern Balkans, all inds in Greece are from coastal
sites. Their distribution brings out the signiicance of the eastern coast of the Peloponnese and
the neighboring Cyclades (Fig. 8; Penna 2001). This was in fact the time of the dramatic re
organization of the Aegean islands, which coincides in time with, or follows the creation of the
Kibyrrhaiotai in 732 (Malamut 1988, 305). That the seal of one of three strategoi of Hellas known
for the eighth century has been found on the island of Rovi is therefore not an accident, but an
indication of the naval character of the theme (Avramea 1996, 14 15; Curta 2011, 113 115).17
There is a comparatively smaller number of coins struck during the irst three decades
of the ninth century (Fig. 9).18 Only three coins are known from central Greece for this entire
period, and no coins whatsoever from the western and northwestern Balkans. By contrast, the
number of coins from northeastern, eastern and southern Bulgaria bespeaks the continuing
presence of the Byzantine troops in the area, primarily during Nicephorus Is illfated campaign
against Krum, and the subsequent Bulgar counterofensive (Peikov 2006 2007; Sophoulis
2012, 184 264).19 Conspicuously absent are early ninthcentury coins from the Peloponnese, the
region organized as a theme at the end of the previous century and supposedly reconquered
and paciied by Nicephorus I. The absence of coins, however, strongly suggests that no troops
were permanently stationed in the theme outside its headquarters in Corinth. As elsewhere in
Greece, the regions in the interior seem to have been out of reach for the Byzantine army and
authorities. The situation, however, changed dramatically over the course of the remaining part
of the ninth century (Fig. 10).20 In Corinth, no less than 161 coins struck for Emperor Theophilus

17

18

19
20

Stanev 2011, 120 and 122; Peikov 2005, 187; PoenaruBordea / Donoiu 1981 1982, 238; Edwards 1933, 133 134;
Charanis 1955, 166; Bobcheva (no date), 51; Peikov 2005, 187; OberlnderTrnoveanu 1996, 120; Penna 1996,
243, 257, and 261; Dimitrov 1982, 40.
Michael, another strategos of an unnamed theme is mentioned on his seal found on the neighboring island of
Kounoupi (Avramea 1996, 25). For a seal of the imperial kommerkia of Hellespont dated to 727 / 728 and found
on an islet north of Melos, in the Cyclades, see KoltsidaMakri 2006, 15 16.
For gold coins, see Peikov 2006 2007, 145; Kisov / Prokopov / Dochev 1998, 67; Nikolaou 2004, 77. For bronze
coins, see PoenaruBordea / Ocheanu / Popeea 2004, 129; Stanev 2011, 122; Peikov 2006 2007, 145; Thompson
1954, 72; Penna 1996, 273; Pentazos 1978, 74.
To the same events may be linked two hoards with the latest coins struck for Emperor Nicephorus I, which
were found in Kiulevcha and Kapinovo, respectively (Gerasimov 1967, 188; Peikov 2006 2007, 145).
For gold coins, see Penna 1996, 230 and 257; Nikolaou 2004, 577; Marovi 1952; Kisov / Prokopov / Dochev 1998,
67; Intzesiloglou 1987, 271. For silver coins, see Penna 1996, 263; Bowden / Martin 2004, 222; Delonga 1985, 102.
For bronze coins, see Pennas 2004, 17; Penna 1996, 263; Dunn 1995, 765; Thompson 1954, 72; Penna 1996, 240,
242, 245, 246, 257, 261, 263, and 273; Mirnik 1995, 172; Hoti / Myrto 1991, 105, 106, and 107 109; Konstantinos
1981, 293; TeoklievaStoicheva 2001, 45 46; PoenaruBordea / Ocheanu / Popeea 2004, 129 and 130; Galani
Krikou / Tsourti 2000, 351; Custurea 2000 2001, 591; GalaniKrikou 1998, 153 and 158; Drosogianni 1963, 248
and 249; Metcalf 1979, 31; Mikec 2002, 260; Angelova / Marvakov 2001, 16; Sanders 2002, 649; Leshtakov et al.

61

Florin Curta

(829 842) have so far been found, in sharp contrast to only 6 from the previous reign of Michael
II (820 829) and only 23 from the subsequent reign of Michael III (842 867).21 In addition, a
hoard of six solidi is known from Corinth, with the latest coin struck between 830 and 840 (Pen
na 1996, 230). Folles minted for Theophilos are also known from Sparta and Naupaktos (Penna
1996, 245; Konstantinos 1981). It has been suggested that since many of the ninthcentury coins
from Corinth were found in the area of the old Roman forum, this must have been the site of
the local fair. However, no other evidence of trade has been found in the area, and the coin surge
requires a diferent explanation. In fact, according to Constantine Porphyrogenitus, the Slavs of
Peloponnesos revolted in the days of the emperor Theophilos and his son Michael, and became
independent and enslaved and pillaged and burned and stole (Moravcsik / Jenkins 1967, 233). At
some point after 842, during the irst years of Michael IIIs reign, the strategos of Peloponnesos,
the protospatharios Theoktistos Bryennios, launched a major expedition against the rebels with
a large army combining the troops from Thrace, Macedonia, and the rest of the western prov
inces (Moravcsik / Jenkins 1967, 233). Theoktistos managed to defeat and to subdue the Slavs
and other insubordinates of the province, except two groups, the Ezeritai and the Milingoi in
the south. A second expedition forced them to move from the plain of Sparta onto the slopes of
the neighboring Taigetos and Parnon Mountains. Theoktistos imposed on both groups the pay
ment of tribute, 60 solidi for the Milingoi and 300 solidi for the Ezeritai (Ditten 1993, 250 252;
Birnbaum 1986, 16; Ilieva 1989 1990, 17 18).
Theoktistos expeditions must have been the occasion for a signiicant concentration of
troops in Corinth shortly before and after the death of Emperor Theophilus in 842. It may there
fore be possible to explain the monetary surge in Corinth by means of the presence for a few
years of thematic troops from Thrace, Macedonia, and other parts of the Empire, in much the
same way I have explained the seventh and eighthcentury monetary surges. Moreover, out of
23 coins struck for Michael III and found in Corinth, 16 are from a western mint, which suggests
that some of the troops Theoktistos may have employed for his second expedition were indeed
from the western provinces, namely from Byzantine Italy (Penna 1996, 273). The idea that the
army, and not trade was responsible for the sudden injection of bronze into the local market
in Corinth is further supported by the fact that so far no coins of Michael III are known from
any site in the Peloponnese other than Corinth, while coins of Theophilus have been found in
Sparta (the region of intense ighting with the Milingoi and the Ezeritai), but nowhere else in
the Peloponnese.
In Athens, the number of coins struck for the emperors Michael II, Theophilus, and Mi
chael III is comparatively smaller, which suggests that in contrast to the Peloponnese, early
ninthcentury Hellas was a more peaceful province that did not require the presence of large
numbers of troops. However, during the second half of the ninth century, Athens certainly saw
some military action. Under Emperor Basil I, the emir of Tarsus with a leet of thirty ships at
tacked the Byzantine fortress of Euripos on Euboea, dangerously close to Athens. The strategos
of Hellas gathered men from the entire theme and successfully defended the city (Bekker 1838,
298 299; Setton 1954, 31). This may explain the sudden increase in the number of coins found
in Athens and struck in the name of the emperors Basil I and Leo VI. To the same events may be
associated a small hoard found on the island of Aigina (Pennas 2004, 15).22 The Arab marauders

21
22

2006, 43; Penna / Lampropoulou / Anagnostakis 2008, 382; Kisov / Prokopov / Dochev 1998, 67; BalbolovaIva
nova 2000, 77; BonaiMandini 1994, 185; Iordanov 1990, 244; Greenslade / Hodges / Leppard / Mitchell 2006,
405; Isvoranu / PoenaruBordea 2003, 145; Stoikov 2008, 270; Themelis 2002, 35; Bchvarov 1992, 44; Antonova
1995, 28; Pazaras / Tsanana 1991, 297.
Slightly diferent numbers of coins in Metcalf 2001, 114, and Sanders 2002, 649.
The island is said to have been abandoned at the time because of Arab depredations, but this may be nothing
more than a topos of the medieval literature (Curta 2011, 147; Caraher 2008, 272 273 and 276 277). On the
other hand, no early tenthcentury coins are known from the island.

62

Coins and Burials in Dark-Age Greece...

reached the Peloponnese as well. The vita of Peter, Bishop of Argos, which was perhaps writ
ten at some point after 927 by his successor, Bishop Constantine, mentions the destruction of
property in the eparchy of Argos by unnamed barbarians (Vasiliev 1947, 176).23 A leet from
Crete under the command of a renegade Christian named Photios attacked the western coast
of the Peloponnese in 879, only to be destroyed by the imperial navy led by Niketas Ooryphas
(Bekker 1838, 300 302; Savvidis 1991, 335). In 880, a leet of 60 warships from Africa invaded
Byzantine Italy, but they also plundered and took captives from Kephallenia and Zante. The
imperial admiral Basil Nasar was sent against them with a large leet. In Methone, he joined
forces with the strategos of Peloponnesos, John Kretikos, and defeted the Muslims (Bekker 1838,
302 303; Savvidis 2000, 323).24 When the Cretan emir Abdallah Umar II ibn Shuayub attacked
the Peloponnese, he was defeated by the local strategos Constantine Tessarakontapechys with
out the assistance of the imperial navy (Savvidis 1990, 52). The attack must have taken place at
the beginning of the reign of Leo VI, whose name is otherwise mentioned in an inscription from
Corinth in relation to the building of a tower meant to signal by ire the attack of the bands of
barbarians, most probably Arabs (Feissel / PhilippidisBraat 1985, 299 300; Rife 2008, 282 286
and 2921 298). Since the Arab raids continued well after 900, troops must have been stationed
by then at key points around and across the Peloponnese. If its redating is correct, the inscrip
tion found during the 1978 excavations in the Tigani basilica, which mentions a komes or oicer
of the leet must be associated with the increased presence of the navy in southern Greece dur
ing the reign of Leo VI (Feissel / PhilippidisBraat 1985, 308; Avramea 1998, 56). On the other
hand, in the war against the Arabs in Italy, including the siege and subsequent conquest of
Taranto (881), the Byzantines employed land troops from the Peloponnese, some of which may
have been recruited from among the local Slavs (Ditten 1993, 261 262). Ever since the expedi
tion of Theoktistos Bryennios, a considerable number of troops have therefore been stationed
in central and especially southern Greece, a region which therefore appears as highly militarized
throughout the second half of the ninth century. This is conirmed by the numismatic evidence,
as an unusually large number of bronze coins struck for Leo VI are known from many sites in
central and southern Greece. In fact, more sites in the Peloponnese than in any other part of
Greece have produced folles struck for Emperor Leo VI (Penna 1996, 240, 242, 246, 257, 261, and
263). The largest number is that of Corinth (972 coins), more than three times the number of
coins from the previous reign of Basil I (Sanders 2002, 649), and far larger than the number of
such coins known from Athens. This is in fact the largest number of coins for any emperor ruling
between 600 and 900, and it is tempting to associate this massive injection of bronze into the lo
cal market in Corinth with the presence of the military, much as in the case of the previous surge
during or shortly after the reign of Theophilus. It is perhaps no accident that two out of four
tenthcentury hoards from Corinth contain only coins struck for Emperor Romanus I between
920 and 944. Given the excellent state of preservation of those coins, the hoards in question
must have been concealed shortly after the introduction of the new numismatic type repre
sented in their composition, namely during the new campaign launched in the 920s against the
Milingoi and the Ezeritai (Penna 1996, 230 and 274).
To judge from the numismatic evidence, therefore, Nicephorus I was not the savior of
Greece, and no reconquista was launched in the early ninth century for the recuperation of the
Peloponnese. Throughout the Dark Ages, the theme of Hellas, which may have been restricted
to coastal sites on both sides of the Isthmus of Corinth, served as a naval base, and the large
number of bronze coins found in Athens and then Corinth are an indication of the presence
23
24

Barbarians either the same or others are said to have been persuaded by Peters virtues to renounce the
pagan faith of their ancestors and to adopt Christianity (Da CostaLouillet 1961, 317 and 321 322).
Basil Nasar is said to have recruited Mardaites from the Peloponnese for his inal and decisive attack on the
Muslims (Bekker 1838, 320; Ditten 1993, 149 and 155 156).

63

Florin Curta

of both troops and markets of low Value commodities to accommodate their basic needs. It is
only with the second third of the ninth century that coins begin to appear consistently on sites
in the interior, both in the Peloponnese and in Boeotia. While the latter may be a consequence
of the northern expansion of the borders of the theme of Hellas, the former are directly associ
ated with the campaigns against the Milingoi and the Ezeritai. In other words, far from paciied,
the theme of Peloponnesos witnessed heavy ighting during the second half of the ninth and
the early tenth century, at the same time as recruiting for campaigns in southern Italy. That no
church has so far been found in the Peloponnese which could securely be dated to the ninth cen
tury, and no metropolitan or bishop is known to have engaged in missionary activity suggests
that until 900, the grip of the Byzantine administration on southern Greece was not very irm.
Moreover, the numismatic evidence clearly shows that the number of coins found on sites in
Greece dwindled precisely at those moments in which the Byzantine armies were engaged else
where, primarily against Bulgaria as during the reigns of Constantine V and Nicephorus I. Was
then Greece a barbarian land only slowly being turned into a Byzantine province, and only after
900? If the administration, the army, and the Church began to move into the interior only at the
end of the ninth and the beginning of the tenth century, what was in fact happening in those
areas throughout the Dark Ages? What was the nature of the settlement and of the relations
between communities in the interior and the Byzantine administration in the coastal region?

Graves
The results of the environmental survey of the Argolid Exploration Project suggest that in
the southern Argolid the gap in settlement activity between the seventh and the ninth century
coincided with the regeneration of pine and maquis, which is evident in the pollen spectra of
coastal lagoons. When settlements began to appear after ca. 800 in the headwaters of the Er
minoi and Pikrodavni streams, the land was rapidly cleared, which led to serious erosion leav
ing traces in alluvial deposits of the Upper Flamboura valley (Andel / Runnels / Pope 1986, 122).
In central and northern Greece, a steady decline in arboreal pollen Values and an advance of
plants associated with agriculture and woodland clearance is documented only after 900 in Per
toulion, in the modern prefecture of Trikala (Athanasiadis 1975, 112 and 123) and as late as 1000 in
Litochorion, in the prefecture of Pieria (Dunn 1992, 244 245). In a sequence from Lake Volvi, in
the Chalkidiki, there is a peak of arboreal pollen Values during the early Middle Ages, possibly
before the ninth century. Similarly, at Gravouna in the prefecture of Kavala, at the foot of Mount
Lekane, the trajectory of arboreal pollen Values for oak suggests a gradual cumulative decline
beginning with the ninth or tenth century (Dunn 1992, 245 246). The largescale land clearing
may also be dated by means of place names of Slavic origin which refer to deforestation, such
as Terpitsa or Strevina, both derived from trbiti, to clear the woods (Vasmer 1941, 60 and 76;
Malingoudis 1985, 69). The kind of agriculture practiced is betrayed, on the other hand, by the
frequency of place names derived from the Slavic word for harrow (e. g., Vrana). Given that the
particular phonetism of all those place names shows no metathesis of the liquids, a linguistic
phenomenon which cannot be dated before ca. 800, this may be a further indication of the ap
proximate date at which the extensive cultivation of lands and the settlement expansion began.
In the absence of any serious archaeological research, it is impossible to establish any phas
es for the development of the settlement pattern in conjunction with the economic activities
indirectly revealed by the environmental and linguistic data. However, much useful informa
tion may be obtained from the examination of isolated burials and cemeteries dated, with some
degree of certainty, between 620 and 900. As with coins, DarkAge graves and cemeteries have
been traditionally regarded only at the level of the site (Ivison 1996; Vida / Vlling 2000; Katsou

64

Coins and Burials in Dark-Age Greece...

giannopoulou 2001; Vikatou 2002; Tzavella 2008; Rife 2012) in connection either with question
of ethnic attribution or with issues pertaining to the decline of the ancient urban centers. More
attention has been paid to urban cemeteries or to burial near standing churches than either to
rural graveyards or to cemeteries around churches in ruins (Laskaris 2000; Marki 2006). Schol
ars interested in early medieval Greece have only recently begun to use a landscape archaeology
approach to the relation between cemeteries and settlement patterns (Veikou 2012, 188 197).
Not surprisingly, most burial inds appear on the same sites that produced large numbers
of coins. The 1964 excavations carried out in Athens by John Travlos and Alison Frantz unearthed
35 graves to the west and to the northwest from the Church of St. Dionysios the Areopagite. All
were cists made of tiles or marble slabs. Only ive graves may be dated to the seventh century
on the basis of the associated buckles with crossshaped plate, and of the Syracuse, Pergamon,
Bolyelovce, and Bologna classes (Travlos / Frantz 1965, 167; pls. 42e and 43a).25 In Corinth,
several isolated graves have been found in diferent places in the Roman forum and on Acro
corinth. One of them was found in the walls of the tower by the western gate of the Acrocorinth.
This was a multiple burial, with six skeletons. The assemblage included a lance head, two arrow
heads, a mattock, and a belt buckle of the Bologna class (Davidson 1937, 230 and 232; 231 ig. 2).
A second grave was found in the walls of the tower by the western gate of the Acrocorinth. This
was a double burial, and the assemblage included a belt buckle of the Corinth type (Davidson
1937, 232 and ig. 3). A third grave was found inside a church on the Acrocorinth, and produced
a belt buckle of the Bolyelovce class (Davidson 1937, 235 and 236; ig. 6 AB). A fourth grave
was also found in the southern Stoa. This was also a multiple burial, with three skeletons. The
assemblage included eight lanceheads and a belt buckle of the Corinth class (Davidson 1952,
271 272; pls. 93.1567; 113.2182; 114.2195; Ivison 1996, 117; 115 ig. 5.6. B, D, F, G, K, M, N, P, R, S, T,
U, V, W; 116 ig. 5.7. F). A ifth grave found in 1925 in the Hemicycle was a cist made of marble
slabs and fragments of marble columns. On the skeleton, there was a belt buckle of the Corinth
class (Davidson 1952, 272; pl. 114.2196; Ivison 1996, 112; 113 ig. 5.5; 116 ig. 5.7. C). A sixth burial
was found next to the basilica on the Acrocorinth, and produced two buckles of the Bolyelovce
class (Davidson 1952, 272; pl. 114.2188 2189; Ivison 1996, 116 ig. 5.7. D, E). The exact location of
two other burials is not known. One of them produced a belt buckle of the Bolyelovce, the
other one of the Corinth class (Davidson 1952, 272; pl. 114.2186, 2193). A ninth burial was found
in 1969 next to Temple G in the southwestern corner of the Roman forum. This was a cist, with a
single skeleton. The assemblage included a belt buckle of the Corinth class with the inscription
N C X H on the terminal lobe (Williams / Macintosh / Fisher 1974, 11 with pl. 2.8). A tenth burial
was found in an annex of the sixthcentury basilica next to the Kenchreai Gate. The assemblage
included four coins, the latest of which were two coins struck for Emperor Constans II. In ad
dition, there were two buckles in the grave, one of the Syracuse class and the other with cross
shaped plate (Pallas 1981, 298 and 299 ig. 5).
By far the most interesting cemetery in Greece, however, is that from Tigani, at the south
ernmost tip of the Peloponnese. The cemetery was located within the ruins of a threeaisled
basilica, which, judging from its polygonal apse, may have been a sixthcentury foundation. The
excavations carried out by N. V. Drandakis, N. Gkioles and Ch. Konstantinidi between 1980 and
1983 revealed 56 burials (Drandakis / Gkiolis 1980, 249 ig. 1; pl. 148b; Drandakis/ Gkiolis / Kon
stantinidi 1981, 245 253; Drandakis / Gkiolis 1983, 264 265 and pl. 182 ; Katsougiannopoulou
2001, 461 462; 462 ig. 2). Much like in Corinth and Athens, the graves in Tigani were cist burials
built in stone, bricks and mortar (Laskaris 2000, 58).26 They were neatly packed in the narthex,
nave, and southern aisle of a threeaisled basilica. The excavators believed that the graves had
25
26

For a detailed discussion of the chronology of those classes of buckles, see Curta, forthcoming.
According to Katsougiannopoulou 2001, 461, all graves in Tigani have been cut into the rock.

65

Florin Curta

initially been inside a building of unknown plan, which had been destroyed by an earthquake.
The threeaisled basilica was built on top of the old building, erasing its remains, but incorporat
ing the old graves within its walls (Drandakis / Gkiolis / Konstantinidi 1981, 252 253). However,
judging from the published plan, while a number of graves appear to have been cut by the walls of
the church, many more were not. With some exceptions, most graves have an ENEWSW orien
tation exactly parallel to the walls of the church, which they appear to have followed. The absence
of any graves from both the northern aisle and the area around the church strongly suggest that
the majority of the graves postdate the abandonment of the church. In that respect, the graves
in Tigani are exceptional in Greece, a region of the Mediterranean, in which typically fewer graves
were located inside than outside churches (Laskaris 2000, 31). The only other example of burial
inside the church is a cist grave made of recycled Roman tiles, which has been found in the atri
um of the late antique octagonal church in Philippoi. The grave goods associated with the male
skeleton included a knife and a belt buckle of the Bolyelovce class (Gounaris et al. 1982, 36 37;
pl.. 17 and 18). However, the closest parallel to Tigani is the cemetery excavated in Radolishta
near Struga, on the northern shore of Lake Ochrid, in Macedonia. All 136 graves of that cemetery
were inside the ruins of a threeaisled basilica, which must have been abandoned for some time
before serving as burial grounds (Malenko 1985, 291292; Babi 1995, 161; Maneva 1998, 847). In
both Tigani and Radolishta, the stillstanding walls of the abandoned churches operated as both
cemetery boundaries and axes for the orientation of the graves.27
Much like in Corinth, most cist graves in Tigani contain multiple burials. In some cases,
there is evidence of reuse: skeletal remains of earlier burials were removed to make room for
other bodies. In other cases, the evidence points to concomitant burials. In grave 25, the skeleton
of an earlier burial, which may be dated to the late sixth or early seventh century on the basis of a
pair of golden earrings (Drandakis/Gkiolis 1980, 250, 255, and 256; pl. 148), was left in place and
covered with stone slabs to allow for more burials on top.28 The reuse of the same cist grave for
multiple burials suggests that individuals buried together were members of the same family, but
the sex and age of the skeletons found in Tigani remains unknown, as no anthropological analy
sis was ever carried out on this material. Nonetheless, the presence of sets of glass beads, as well
as earrings indicate that there may have been women among those buried in the Tigani basilica.
The dates for most graves in Tigani fall within the seventh century, and thus the cemetery
in Tigani may have coexisted with that found in Athens to the northwest and west from the
Church of St. Dionysios the Areopagite. Nonetheless, there are substantial diferences between
Tigani and Athens. In addition to being packed within the narrow space of the (possibly ruined)
basilica, unlike the graves in Athens, those in Tigani produced several crosses, some of bronze,
others of black steatite.29 Such crosses appear together with beads, which are completely absent
from the small cemetery next to the Church of St. Dionysios in Athens. While no other dress ac
cessories are known from that cemetery besides buckles, the excavations in Tigani ofer a num
ber of examples of combinations between buckle and beads, buckle and earrings, or buckle, ear
rings, and beads. Five out of eight buckles of the Corinth class have been found in three graves
in the southern aisle, while most buckles with Ushaped plate cluster at the western end of the
27

28
29

Much like in Tigani, some of the 136 graves excavated inside the basilica of Radolishte had a northsouth ori
entation, while all the others followed the NESW orientation of the surrounding walls (Malenko 1985, 291).
DarkAge cemeteries within the ruins of early Byzantine basilicas have also been signaled in Finikia near Ae
toliko, Agia Varvara in Stefani, Drymos (basilica A), Nea Koukoura near Efpalio, Agia Triada in Kato Vassiliki,
Kryoneri, Agia Sophia in Mytikas, and on the island of Kephalos (basilica B). However, no details have been
published to allow a narrower dating between the seventh and the ninth century (Veikou 2012, 189).
The upper burial produced a buckle of the Corinth class, which is clearly of a date later than that of the pair of
golden earrings.
An earring with a crossshaped pendant has been found in grave 56, on the southern side of the narthex
(Drandakis / Gkiolis / Konstantinidi 1981, 250).

66

Coins and Burials in Dark-Age Greece...

nave and in the narthex. This suggests both a preference for certain combinations of artifacts
and the tendency to bury people with the same combinations in close proximity to each other.
It is important to note, on the other hand, that almost half of all burials excavated in Tigani (26
out of 56 graves) have no grave goods whatsoever. Such burials cluster in the central and eastern
part of the nave, but have also been found in the southern aisle and in the narthex.
Exclusively seventhcentury cemeteries similar to Tigani are typically smaller. Out of 12
graves excavated on two separate sites on Antikythera, only one produced a chronologically
sensitive artifact, namely a seventhcentury buckle with crossshaped plate, like those found
in Athens in graves around the Church of St. Dionysios the Areopagite (Pyrrou / Tsaravopou
los / Bojic 2006, 225 226 and 234 pl. 5.2). A small group of inhumations is known from Edessa,
one of which produced a buckle of the Bolyelovce class (Gounaris 1984, 57 and 56 ig. 2). The
distribution of seventhcentury burial or cemetery sites in Greece (Fig. 12) is strikingly similar
to that of single inds of coins dated between 630 and 711 (Fig. 5). Leaving aside assemblages
with uncertain chronology30, there are very few sites and most of them are on the coast, in its
immediate vicinity, or on small islands. This suggests a serious demographic decline, even if we
add a few sites that were most certainly occupied in the seventh century, such as Isthmia31 or
Thessaloniki.32
This conclusion is substantiated by similarly rare assemblages that can be safely dated to
the eighth century. The last burials in Tigani must have coincided in time with the beginnings
of another cemetery accidentally found in 1966 to the southwest of Ioannina (Vokotopoulou
1967). Only a few artifacts are known from the 21 graves excavated there, none of which has been
properly published. The bronze bracelets and ingerrings point to a date within the second half
of the seventh century, but it remains unclear whether or not the cemetery continued into the
eighth century.33 A date after 700 can be irmly established for at least some of about 50 stone
lined graves in a cemetery excavated in 1930 in Aphiona, on the northern coast of the island of
Corfu (Kerkyra; Bulle 1934, 219 220, 223, 227). To be sure, the fragment of a belt buckle of the
Corinth type found in grave 2 suggests the possibility that burial in this cemetery already started
at some point during the seventh century. But isolated inds of pendants of the Komani type and
the melon seedshaped beads from grave 10 clearly point to a date after 700 (Bulle 1934, 222 ig.
26.17, 8). Much like in Corinth and Athens, all graves found in Aphiona are cist graves made of
30

31

32

33

The dating to the seventh century of an inhumation found near the Museum of Elis and of a multiple burial
from Tsouka, near Messini is doubtful, as it is based on the associated pottery (Lampropoulou 2009, 206 and
211).
The excavations at Isthmia revealed a number of rooms in the northwestern corner of the Bath, all with walls
built in rough masonry. The associated pottery has been quickly dubbed Slavic ware, but a detailed analy
sis of both forms and decoration suggests a date in the mid to late seventh century (Gregory 1993a, 151;
Vida / Vlling 2000, 19). Indeed, singlehandled pots with similar decoration have been found on the south
side of the northeastern gate at Isthmia in association with a coin struck for Emperor Constans II in 655 / 6
(Gregory 1993b, 41, 85, and 123). Some of the 12 graves excavated on the site may have belonged to members of
this small community. However, none of them could be securely dated to the seventh century on the basis of
the associated inds (Rife 2012, 44 47, 50 51, 56 58, 61, 62, 65 66, and 68 69).
Thessaloniki may be the only site in continental Greece that witnessed some building activity in the seventh
century. The Church of Hagia Sophia in Thessaloniki was built on top of an earlier basilica just before 620.
However, its impressive dome belongs to a second building phase, which is dated to 690 / 1 by the accompa
nying inscription (Bouras 2006, 62). A burial chamber identiied in the southern chapel of the Church of St.
Demetrius has been dated to the late seventh or eighth century simply on the basis of the stratigraphic relation
to the church (Marki 2006, 227 and 118 ig. 56).
Similarly, the 23 cist graves in the cemetery excavated in the late 1970s and early 1980s in Paliopyrgos near
Meropi, near Ioannina (not far from the presentday GreekAlbanian border), have been dated between the
seventh and the eighth century on the basis of the associated ingerrings and bracelets (Andreou 1980). How
ever, the only information available is that a bracelet found in grave 4 is made of iron (Andreou 1987, 307 308).
None of the associated grave goods has been properly published.

67

Florin Curta

large stone slabs. The skeletal evidence shows that both females and children (including infants)
were buried within one and the same cemetery. As in Tigani, some of the graves had more than
one skeleton, in some cases as many as ive, all male. However, it is perhaps signiicant to note
in this context that unlike the cemetery in Tigani, where graves are restricted to the perimeter
of the church, in Aphiona, there seems to have been no clearcut distinction between settle
ment and cemetery. Graves 14 and 15 were found next to the western wall of house d (Bulle
1934, 219 220). It remains unclear whether the house was still occupied by the time pits were
opened for the two graves.34 Nor is it clear whether the existence of two churches, the remains
of which were still visible in 1930, had anything to do with the graves (Bulle 1934, 216; Bowden
2003, 203 204).35
An eighthcentury date may also be advanced for the graves accidentally found in 1972
in neighboring Palaiokastritsa (Agallopoulou 1973; for the dating of the inds, see Curta 2010b,
443). However, no eighthcentury inds are so far known from mainland Greece that could match
the Aphiona and Palaiokastritsa burial assemblages. Unique among DarkAge sites in Greece is
the cemetery excavated in 1959 in Olympia, which produced 32 graves 25 urn and 7 pit crema
tions (Gialouris 1961 1962; Vryonis 1992; Vida / Vlling 2000). Most graves contained only a few,
and quite modest goods. As in Aphiona, there are some indications that the cemetery began at
some point during the second half of the seventh century (Curta 2010b, 122). On the other hand,
grave 22 with an urn decorated with vertically incised lines produced melonseed shaped beads
of dark blue color dated after ca. 700 (Vida / Vlling 2000, pl. 14.1113, 18). The same is true for the
beads with four lobes found in grave 3 (Vida / Vlling 2000, 88 with pl. 7.8). It remains unclear
how far into the eighth century one can stretch the chronology of the Olympia cemetery, but
nothing indicates a date after 800.
Several glass beads found in Olympia have been deformed by intense heat, an indication
that, like some of the metal artifacts found among the grave goods, beads were collected from
the funeral pyre together with ashes. They must have therefore belonged to the dress acces
sories attached to the funeral costume before cremation. The cemetery in Olympia produced
a surprising number of beads (37 specimens from 8 graves), a situation without parallel on any
contemporary cemetery site in the Balkans or in Eastern Europe as a whole. In graves 19 and 29,
beads were accompanied by iron torcs with widened ends. Grave 19 also produced an earring of
bronze wire, while a glass pendant was found in grave 29 (Vida / Vlling 2000:123 and 126; pls.
13.1 and 17.5).36 Graves 19 and 29 share three elements associated with the female dress torcs,
beads, and single earrings which appear in hoards of silver and bronze artifacts from the Mid
dle Dnieper region in presentday Ukraine and have been recently interpreted as sets of female
dress accessories (Szmoniewski 2008).37
Another contemporary, yet very diferent burial site was recently discovered during the
excavation of a Mycenaean cemetery in Agia Trias near Skliva (Ilia), less than 25 km to the north
from Olympia (Vikatou 2002). Unlike the graves in Tigani, all of which were found inside a (ru
ined) church, three out of ive cist graves so far published from Agia Trias were each located in
the dromos of a Mycenaean burial chamber (Vikatou 2002, 242 244, 245, and 246 247; 261 ig.
4; 263 ig. 7; 270 ig. 22). In both Tigani and Agia Trias, the particular choice for a place of burial
seems to have been associated with the desire to reconnect with the past and to reinvent tradi
34

35
36

37

All four houses excavated in Aphiona appear to have had two occupation phases, the later of which is associ
ated with a large quantity of broken tiles and fragments of limestone slabs from the superstructure (Bulle 1934,
213 217).
Bulle 1934, 216; Bowden 2003, 203 204.
According to Tivadar Vida, the pendant may have been an imitation of a precious stone pendant attached to
an earring (Vida / Vlling 2000, 88).
For the combination of torcs and beads as an indication of a female, not male dress, see Vida / Vlling 2000, 75.

68

Coins and Burials in Dark-Age Greece...

tions. While in Tigani, an abandoned church attracted deliberate reuse for burial, Agia Trias
provides an example of prehistoric monuments referenced in each new burial event, as burials
were inserted in Mycenaean burial chambers and other graves further away, around the cham
bers. However, all three graves built within burial chambers, each placed in the middle of the
dromos, blocked access to the chamber, perhaps in an attempt to seal the doorway symboli
cally.38 As in Corinth, Athens, and Tigani, some of the graves excavated in Agia Trias produced
wheelmade, onehandled jugs (Vikatou 2002, 266 ig. 13; 267 ig. 15).39 Moreover, one such jug
was associated with a pair of earrings, each with four attached loops and granulated, triangular
ornaments, the best analogies for which are known from graves 10 and 54 in Tigani (Dranda
kis / Gkiolis 1980, 254 with pl. 148; Drandakis/ Gkiolis / Konstantinidi 1981, 249). The cemetery in
Agia Trias thus coexisted with the Tigani and Aphiona cemeteries throughout the late seventh
and the early eighth century. As in Aphiona, the only documented combination of dress accesso
ries is that between earrings and beads (grave 3). That combination is also attested in Olympia,
and it is likely that the two neighboring cemeteries coincided in time. It remains unclear how far
into the eighth century can the chronology of the burial assemblages in Agia Trias be extended,
and whether any of the graves known so far could be dated after 800.40 Besides Agia Trias and
Olympia, the only other burial assemblage in mainland Greece that can be dated with some
degree of certainty to the eighth century is a burial chamber found on September 3 Street in
Thessaloniki, the northern wall of which shows a cross stylistically dated to that century (Marki
2006, 200 202, 229 229 and 202 ig. 168; pl. 26). At a quick glimpse, the distribution map of
cemeteries and isolated burials dated to the late seventh and eighth century (Fig. 13) shows a
clear and sharp contrast to the distribution of eighthcentury coins (Fig. 7). There is a cluster of
inds in northwestern Greece, an area completely devoid of any coin inds. This group of inds
is directly related to a larger concentration in northern and central Albania, as well as southern
Montenegro and western Macedonia, which is known, for lack of a better name, as the Komani
culture (Nallbani 2002, 2004, 2006, and 2007; Milinkovi 2005; Filiposki 2010) Although very
rich in inds, including such artifacts as ingerrings with Greek inscriptions, glassware, and
pottery with painted decoration pointing to contacts and exchanges with the Byzantine cultural
milieu, this is a region of the Balkans most evidently devoid of any coin inds both in the late
seventh and throughout the eighth century (Figs. 3, 6, and 7). That no coin inds are known for
this period in the western parts of the Peloponnese where Olympia and Agia Trias are located
strongly suggests that those who buried their dead in those cemeteries, as well as in Epirus and
on the northern coast of Kerkyra belonged to political and social categories very diferent from
those who used low Value coinage in Corinth, Athens, and other sites along the eastern coast
of the Peloponnese.
Despite considerable diferences in grave goods, there is much that seventhcentury cem
eteries, such as Tigani, have in common with those that continue into the eighth century, such as
Aphiona or Ioannina. There are also parallels between neighboring sites with very diferent bur
ial customs. For example, the combination of beads and earrings appears both in Agia Trias and
in Olympia. Furthermore, in both cemeteries beads also appear alone, without any other dress
accessories. The female funerary costume was obviously constructed in similar ways. However,
besides the occasional appearance of beads and earrings, everything else is diferent in Olympia.
38

39

40

In all three cases, those were graves lined with walls made of stones and bricks raised to a certain height. Next
to grave 3 there was an additional pile of stones and bricks (Vikatou 2002, 242, 244, 246).
A handmade, onehandled jug was found in the corridor of the Mycenaean burial chamber 28 (Vikatou 2002,
167 ig. 14).
The barrelshaped bronze bead with which a pair of earrings was associated in grave 3 has good analogies in
Abdera, as well as grave 89 in Kiulevcha (northeastern Bulgaria), where they have been found together with a
Carolingian discbrooch (Bakirtzis 1994, 160; Vzharova 1976, 137 with 1939 ig. 86.2).

69

Florin Curta

The use of cremation, instead of inhumation involves a treatment of the body that required a
longer preparation (primarily for the pyre, but also for the collection of ashes to be deposited
in pits or urns) and a conceptual distinction between cremation and postcremation phases of
the burial process. Most items recovered from the remains of the latter show traces of ire and
suggest that many more dress accessories and goods were destroyed during cremation. On the
other hand, some pots employed as urns whether specially made for the occasion or chosen
from vessels available in the household were decorated, while others were not. In some cases,
additional pots were deposed, which may have contained liquids, since no animal bones were
found in any of the Olympia graves. Conspicuously absent are onehandled jugs and Byzantine
buckles. Tivadar Vidas thorough analysis of both grave goods and their analogues has shown
how comparisons consistently point to the Middle Danube region of presentday Hungary and
the neighboring areas. Iron torcs, for example, are unknown in the Balkans, but are particu
larly frequent on burial sites in Hungary and Slovakia during the Middle and Late Avar periods
(Vida / Vlling 2000, 61 76.). The speciic decoration of many urns found in Olympia has good
analogies in Middle and Late Avar assemblages, but it is also attested on contemporary sites in
the western Balkans, such as Kai in Croatia and Muii in Bosnia (Beloevi 1968; remonik
1975). But in the southern Balkans, the Olympia cemetery is unique, for no other cremation
burials have so far been found anywhere in Greece, Albania, Kosovo, Macedonia, and southern
Bulgaria. The Olympia cemetery began at some point during the second half of the seventh
century. The community which used the cemetery must therefore have coexisted with those
burying their dead in Corinth, Athens, Tigani, Aphiona and Agia Trias. Despite some similari
ties between grave goods found in all these burial assemblages, Olympia represents an archaeo
logical phenomenon fundamentally diferent from anything that was in existence at that time
in Greece. In other words, everything points to an intrusive group, and to the use of pit and urn
cremations, of particular ceramic wares and forms of decoration, or of speciic dress accessories,
such as iron torcs, to mark diference from other groups.
Marking diference may have also been on the minds of those who buried their dead into
a prehistoric barrow near Spilaio, across the modern GreekTurkish border from Edirne (Tou
chais / Huber / PhilippaTouchais 2000, 954). Some of the 25 graves excavated produced iron
knives. Grave 32 was that of a female buried together with a string of glass beads (some segment
ed) and two earrings with croissantshaped pendant decorated with engraved ornament (Trian
taphyllos 1997, 628; 632 igs. 13 14). However, the most spectacular ind is from grave 6 a lead
seal belonging to the imperial protospatharios and Grand Logothete Marianos, the brother of
Emperor Basil I (867886). On the basis of iconography and the known curriculum of Marianos,
the seal may be precisely dated to 868 / 9 and bespeaks the high status of the deceased, who was
perhaps buried together with a letter or document bearing the seal of Marianos.41 Burial within
a prehistoric mound was probably meant to conjure the past in order to reinvent traditions,
much like in the case of the graves planted inside Mycenaean burial chambers in Agia Trias. By
contrast, the large cemetery with stonelined graves, which was excavated outside the western
walls of the abandoned city of Abdera, reminds one of Aphiona. A ninthcentury date may be
assigned for at least some of those graves on the basis of the associated barrelshaped bronze
beads, very similar to those found in a grave in Kiulevcha (northeastern Bulgaria) together with a
Carolingian disc brooch (Lazaridis 1978; Bakirtzis 1989, 45; Bakirtzis 1994, 160; Vzharova 1976,
137 with 139 ig. 86.2).
41

The seal was found on the skeletons chest. That letters could indeed become grave goods is conirmed by an
episode recorded in the Life of Sts. David, Symeon, and George of Lesbos. Upon his death, Emperor Leo Vs en
voy to the island was buried in Constantinople together with a letter from St. Symeon as a resplendent mantle
and a magniicent shroud (Talbot 1998, 185). For another, albeit later example of burial within a prehistoric
mound, see Kranioti 1984, 281.

70

Coins and Burials in Dark-Age Greece...

The excavations carried out in 1996 in Azoros (near Elassona, in Thessaly) revealed a three
aisled basilica built in the ifth century, and perhaps repaired and ampliied in the sixth century,
when a baptistery was added in the southwestern corner (Deriziotis / Kougioumtzoglou 2004,
65 66). The basilica was surrounded by a very large cemetery with 328 graves, 26 percent of
which may be dated to the sixth century (Deriziotis / Kougioumtzoglou 2004, 67). The 233 graves
must be dated to a later period, given that some cut through earlier graves, but never through the
walls of the basilica or of the baptistery. The later graves produced no less than 150 earrings, some
of which have croissantshaped lower parts with hanging pendants, or three bead pendants with
a croissantshaped decoration inside the loop. There are also 102 ingerrings, some with bird
images on the bezel, and four buckles (Deriziotis / Kougioumtzoglou 2004, 67). Fingerrings
with bird images on the bezel have been found in the Balkans in burial assemblages dated to
the ninth century (Manova 1969; Sheileva 2005), but also to a later period (Bodinaku 1983; Ilieva
2007). Earrings with three bead pendants and a crescentlike ornament inside the loops are
known from both late ninth and tenthcentury assemblages in Croatia (Sokol 2006, 237 238).
Similarly, earrings with croissantshaped lower parts and hanging pendants are known from Sv.
Erazmo in Macedonia (Malenko 1985, pl. VIIIa), grave 10 in Ablanica (Vzharova 1976, 275 and
273 ig. 170.4), and grave 27 in Mishevsko (Vzharova 1976, 304 and 306; 305 ig. 189.1 5).42 It is
therefore possible to date some of the later graves in Azoros to the second half of, or even the late
ninth century, and the others to the tenth century.43
When plotting on a map the three cemeteries so far known from Greece, which may be
dated with some degree of conidence to the ninth century, there is a striking contrast to the
distribution of stray inds of coins from the period 829 912 (Figs. 10 and 14). While no coins have
been found in either Thessaly or Western Thrace, the absence of any eighth or ninthcentury
burial assemblages from Corinth and Athens the two sites with the largest number of coins
from this period is intriguing, the more so that both sites are known to have been occupied
in the ninth century.44 While coins may indeed signal the presence of the military, nothing is
known about the buildings in which those soldiers were accommodated, or in which the strategoi of Hellas and Peloponnesos resided. Where were the garrison cemeteries, where those re
served for the civilian population, if such distinctions existed at all? Another puzzling aspect of
the current research on the archaeology of the Dark Ages in Greece is that, while the presence of
troops in relatively large numbers is documented both by written sources and, indirectly, by the
42

43

44

In grave 27 in Mishevsko (a cist grave of a female), the earrings with croissantshaped lower part and hang
ing pendants were associated with barrelshaped bronze beads and two ingerrings with bird images on the
bezel.
A number of graves found during the 1951 excavation of the basilica at Olympos near Laurion may also be
dated to the late ninth and tenth centuries on the basis of a pair of earrings with three bead pendants (Kotzias
1952, 121 122; 122 ig. 18). However, the buckle with rectangular plate and animal decoration, which has many
analogies in Greece, is clearly of a tenthcentury date (Pletnov 2005; Tsivikis 2012, 70 75). There are, in fact,
no clear indications of a ninthcentury date.
Recent excavations in the Panagia Field of Corinth revealed a house built on top of a sixthcentury bath. The
excavation produced remains of cooking pots in a very micaceous fabric similar to pottery found in Constan
tinople and dated between the seventh and the ninth century, singlehandle jugs with lat bases, and an early
Abbasid coin (Sanders 2003, 35 44 with igs. 10.1, 2 and 4; 12.1; Sanders 2004, 185 186; Warner Slane / Sanders
2005, 246 with n. 12 and 273 280). In addition, the Panagia Field excavations produced evidence of glazed
pottery, particularly fragments of Glazed White Ware chaing dishes produced in Constantinople between
the late seventh and the late eighth century (Vroom 2005, 63). For other ninthcentury inds from Corinth, see
Davidson 1937, 238 ig. 9; Davidson 1952, 74 ig. 3; pl. 51.557. Glazed White Ware chaing dishes are also known
from Athens (Hayes / Petridis 2003, 531 igs. 7 8 and 10 11). In Athens, two churches are known to have been
built in the ninth century, namely those dedicated to Prophet Elias at the Starapazaro (Bouras 2006, 80) and
to St. John Mangoutis. The latters dedicatory inscription mentions the year AM 6379 (870 / 1; Konstantopoulos
1931, 253 with ig. 6).

71

Florin Curta

numismatic evidence, there are very few inds of weapons.45 It is of course quite possible that no
weapons were deposited in graves because of speciic ritual prohibitions related to Christianity.
But the complete absence of weapon inds from nonmortuary contexts cannot be explained
that easily. Similarly, the very few coins from burial assemblages may relect the slow develop
ment of a custom that would prevail in later centuries.46 While several sixthcentury coins have
been deposited in contemporary graves, the only DarkAge burial assemblage with contempo
rary coins is that from basilica A in Kenchreai (Pallas 1981, 298).47 Elsewhere in Byzantium coins
were occasionally deposited in graves. In Crimea, for example, silver and gold coins appear in
seventh and eighthcentury burial chambers.48 In most cases, those were either gold or silver
coins, precisely those that are conspicuously rare in DarkAge Greece. The absence of coins in
graves may therefore be a question of availability of silver and gold, and not one of cultural pref
erence. If so, could the absence of coins from the otherwise very rich burial assemblages of the
Komani culture be explained in terms similar to those advanced for DarkAge Greece? Only
the excavation of contemporary settlements may provide a irm answer to that question. Mean
while, it is worth noting, however, that, with few exceptions restricted to the city of Durrs, no
coins gold, silver, or bronze are known from the entire area of the western Balkans in which
the burial assemblages of the Komani culture have been found. This in turn raises the ques
tion of the relations between sites on which relatively large numbers of coins have been found,
and their immediate hinterland. Were communities with no coins isolated from those that used
them? If the Milingoi and Ezeritai in the Peloponnese did not have access to coins, how did they
collect the very large sums of solidi which they were supposed to pay as tribute to the strategos
of Peloponnesos?

Conclusion
The analysis of the numismatic evidence and of the burial inds dated between the seventh
and the ninth centuries reveals two contrasting distributions. Coins delineate a region in which
the military either the navy or, later, the land troops moved or were stationed. On the other
hand, since most coins from DarkAge Greece are of bronze, not of gold or silver, they signal
the existence of local markets on which low Value commodities, most likely food, were sold in
small quantities at afordable prices. However, they are not an indication of economic recovery
at least not at a local level or of the intensiication of longdistance trade, for which there is so
45
46

47

48

The number of troops seems to have been larger in the ninth than in the seventh century, yet the only weapons
found in Corinth are the lance and spearheads from seventhcentury graves.
The deposition of coins in burials (the custom of the socalled obole of Charon) is currently viewed as a typi
cal element of Byzantine (Orthodox) burial ritual (Rvsz 2011). In Greece, the deposition of coins in burials
is sporadically attested in Late Antiquity as well (Tzavella 2008).
A fourthcentury coin is also known from a seventhcentury grave in Corinth (Ivison 1996, 117). For sixth
century coins from an ossuary in Athens, see Threpsiadis 1971, 10 11.
A hexagram of Constantine IV was found in burial chamber 257 in Eski Kermen (Aibabin 1982, 186 187).
A gold coin struck for Philippikos is known from burial chamber 364 in Skalistoe (Veimarn / Aibabin 1993,
80 81). Finally, solidi minted for Constantine V have been found in burial chamber 110 in Chufut kale and bur
ial chamber 364 in Skalistoe (Kropotkin 1965, 110; Veimarn / Aibabin 1993, 80 81). Coins appear also in burial
assemblages from the Balkans, both inside and outside the territories under Byzantine control. For a coin of
Constans II from a multiple burial in Durrs, see Tartari 1984, 241. For a silver coin struck for Constantine V
and found in grave 65 of the Veli Mlun cemetery in Istria, see Marui 1980, 468 469. For two coins, one of
gold, the other of silver, struck for Constantine VI and Irene and found in grave 34 of the Kiulevcha cemetery,
see Vzharova 1976, 106. For a silver coin struck for Basil I from a destroyed grave of the Ablanica cemetery,
see Vzharova 1976, 295. A penny struck for Lothar I has been found in the grave of a female in the cemetery
excavated in Nindrijac (Croatia; Beloevi 1980, 30).

72

Coins and Burials in Dark-Age Greece...

far no evidence either in the archaeological or in the written sources. Nor do those coins show
any Byzantine reconquista moving from the eastern to the western coast of Peloponnesus and
from the region of the Isthmus to central and northern Greece. Instead, the explosion of coin
inds dated after 829 and before 912 seems to be associated with campaigns against the Slavic
tribes of the Milingoi and the Ezeritai in the centralsouthern parts of the Peloponnese. Noth
ing is known about the settlements of those people, or about their relations with the population
from the sites on which the coins were found. Except Athens, all inhumation cemetery sites
known for DarkAge Greece appear in regions not known for coin inds. None of them may be
therefore associated with the military: those are not the cemeteries of those soldiers who have
died campaigning against the Milingoi and the Ezeritai.
However, seventh and eighthcentury grave assemblages are very similar to each other
even when found at a considerable distance from each other as with Corinth, Athens, Tigani,
Agia Trias, and Aphiona which suggests a certain degree of political stability and cultural con
formity. Despite relative distance in space and time, burial rituals in use on those sites have at
least three aspects in common: cist graves, some with multiple burials; speciic combination of
buckles, earrings, and beads; and deposition of libation vessels in the form of ceramic or glass
jugs. Could such elements of mortuary practices be attributed to a Byzantine population, albeit
one of civilians, and not of soldiers? It has long been noted that at least two of those elements
are also found on cemetery sites elsewhere in the Balkans (Macedonia, Albania) or in the cen
tral and northern Mediterranean (southern Italy, northern Adriatic area, and Sardinia), as well
as in Crimea all regions under Byzantine political and military control between the seventh
and the ninth centuries. Building a cist in preparation for a burial may indeed have been a de
liberate choice for several communities scattered across the central and eastern Mediterranean
region, as well as on the northern coast of the Black Sea. Given that such cists do not appear
anywhere else in the Balkans, Central or Eastern Europe, outside the territories which remained
under formal or real Byzantine control after ca. 600, it is likely that cist graves signal mortuary
practices most typical for the population within the Empire. But it would be a mistake to label
such practices as Byzantine or native in an ethnic sense, for a variety of reasons. First, there
are certainly other forms of burial most typically associated with the territories under Byzan
tine control. The burial chamber in Thessaloniki immediately comes to mind, as do those in
Crimean cemeteries. Second, the standardization of burial practices during the sixth century,
which continued after 600 may well have been the result of Christianization. This is further sub
stantiated by the evidence from Tigani, where all graves were located inside the perimeter of the
basilica. This particular choice of funerary space is without any doubt to be explained in terms of
the Christian symbolism of the architectural context, whether or not the liturgical space was still
in use at that time. Moreover, several cist graves in Tigani produced pectoral crosses or artifacts
decorated with crosses. There is also evidence to suggest that the practice of deposing libation
vessels was associated with those moments in the liturgy for the dead, in which wine, oil, or wa
ter was poured over the corpse at the grave.49
On the other hand, the reuse of prehistoric burial sites, as in Agia Trias and Spilaio, be
trays a concern with the appropriation of the symbolism attached to local monuments and a re
deinition of the relation to the past.50 In both cases, this may be interpreted as reclamation of
49

50

In Crimea, the deposition of onehandled jugs is typically associated with burial chambers, e. g., in Skalistoe
(Veimarn / Aibabin 1993). The Christian and funerary symbolism of such vessels results from scenes depicted,
or inscriptions written on some of them. For example, a jug from grave 25 in Kerch has the haloed portrait
of a man accompanied by the inscription (here I am, in reference to Christs irst appearance after the
Resurrection; Blavatskii 1961).
The only Balkan parallels to this phenomenon are the secondary, cist burials dug into BronzeAge mounds in
southern Albania (Andrea 1976 and 2005; Bodinaku 1981 and 2001 2002; Aliu 1986; see also Nallbani 2007,
59 60).

73

Florin Curta

both land and legitimacy by communities of newcomers. However, it is impossible to link those
two sites with the resettlement policies of Nicephorus I either because of chronological (Agia
Trias) or geographical reasons (Spilaio). Similarly, the exceptional character of the cremation
cemetery in Olympia, with no parallels either in Greece, or in the Balkans as a whole, strongly
suggests a community of newcomers, most likely from the western or northern parts of the Car
pathian Basin in what are now Hungary and Slovakia. The community that used the cemetery in
Olympia coexisted for a while with that in Tigani and with some of those who buried their dead
in Corinth at some point before 700. Since the cemetery in Olympia most certainly remained
in use after that date, it is likely that some of the graves in Agia Trias coincided in time with
the latest burials in Olympia. The possibility of an intrusive group living side by side with well
integrated communities raises questions about the nature of their relations, either peaceful or
hostile. At any rate, the coexistence within one and the same microregion of the Peloponnese of
a community reclaiming prehistoric monuments for burial grounds (Agia Trias) and of another
employing nonChristian burial rituals involving cremation (Olympia) implies that both may
have been newcomers. If one accepts the possibility that the former were settlers brought by
the Byzantine authorities, then the same may be true for the latter. Only the excavation of their
respective settlements could bring some light into the current state of research on DarkAge
Greece.

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Coins and Burials in Dark-Age Greece...

.

RECONQUISTA

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,
( ),
,
, .
, grande brche (
. 600 . . 900 .),
. De administrando imperio, ,
, 800 .,

. ,
,
. ,
. ,
,
,
. , ,
, ,
,
. De
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,

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, .
,
,
. 600 . . 900 . ,

, .
, ,
, . ,
, , (
) , .
,
,

.

87

Florin Curta

Fig. 1. The distribution in the Balkans of copper (circle), silver (square), and gold (triangle) coins
struck for Emperor Heraclius between 620 and 641: 1 Athens; 2 Baka Palanka; 3
Burgas; 4 Cariin Grad; 5 Corinth; 6 Ni; 7 Prigrevica; 8 Silistra. The smallest
symbols mark individual coins, larger ones 2 and more coins, respectively.
. 1. (), (),
() , . 620 641 .: 1
; 2 ; 3 ; 4 ; 5 ; 6 ; 7
; 8 . - ,
- 2 .

88

Coins and Burials in Dark-Age Greece...

Fig. 2. The distribution in the Balkans of copper (circle), silver (square), and gold (triangle) coins
struck for Emperor Constans II: 1 Agia Triada; 2 Akhtopol; 3 Athens; 4 Constana;
5 Corinth; 6 Dokos; 7 Dubrovnik; 8 Durrs; 9 Isaccea; 10 Isthmia; 11 Kenchreai;
12 Madara; 13 Nauplion; 14 Nesebr; 15 Novi Vinodolski; 16 Oblaina; 17 Perani;
18 Shkodr; 19 Shumen; 20 Silistra; 21 Tulcea; 25 Valea Teilor; 26 Zogeria. The
smallest symbols mark individual coins, larger ones over 2, and then over 100, respectively.
. 2. (), (),
() , . : 1 ; 2
; 3 ; 4 ; 5 ; 6 ; 7 ; 8 ;
9 ; 10 ; 11 ; 12 ; 13 ; 14 ; 15
; 16 ; 17 ; 18 ; 19 ; 20 ;
21 ; 25 ; 26 . -
, - 2 100 .

89

Florin Curta

Fig. 3. The distribution in the Balkans of copper (circle), silver (square), and gold (triangle) coins
struck for Emperor Constantine IV: 1 Agighiol; 2 Athens; 3 Brioni; 4 Constana;
5 Corinth; 6 Dokos; 7 Durrs; 8 Istria; 9 Lunca; 10- Mangalia; 11 Nesebr;
12 Niculiel; 13 Novi Vinodolski; 14 Plovdiv; 15 Prozor; 16 Pula; 17 Silistra; 18
Stupar; 21 Valea Teilor; 22 Veli Mlun; 23 Veliko Trnovo. The smallest symbols mark
individual coins, larger ones over 2, and then over 10, respectively.
. 3. (), (),
() , . V: 1 ; 2
; 3 ; 4 ; 5- ; 6 ; 7 ; 8 ;
9 ; 10- ; 11 ; 12 ; 13 ; 14
; 15 ; 16 ; 17 ; 18 ; 21 ; 22
; 23 . - ,
- 2 10 .

90

Coins and Burials in Dark-Age Greece...

Fig. 4. The distribution in the Balkans of hoards of copper (square), gold (star), and silver
(triangle) Byzantine coins struck between ca. 620 and ca. 700: 1 Catala; 2 Valandovo;
3 Thasos; 4 Akalan; 5 Solomos; 6 Potkom; 7 Gorna Oriakhovica; 8 Solin; 9
Athens; 10 Gradec; 11 Nereie; 12 Soia; 13 Varna; 14 Nesebr.
. 4.
(), (), () , .
620 . 700: 1 ; 2 ; 3 ; 4 ; 5 ; 6
; 7 ; 8 ; 9 ; 10 ; 11-; 12
; 13 ; 14 .

91

Florin Curta

Fig. 5. The distribution in Greece of single inds of coins struck after 630 and before 711. The
smallest circles mark individual coins, larger circles 2 and over 100, respectively.
. 5. , 630
711 . - , - 2
100 .

92

Coins and Burials in Dark-Age Greece...

Fig. 6. The distribution in the Balkans of copper (circle), gold (triangle), and silver (square) coins
struck for the emperors Justinian II, Leontius, Tiberius III, Philippikos, and Anastasius II,
between 685 and 715: 1 Alika; 2 Athens; 3 Constana; 4 Corinth; 5 Kalugerovo; 6
Lucinj; 7 Monemvasia; 8 Nesebr; 9 Pore; 10 Silistra; 11 Stari Grad; 12 Topalu;
13 Varna; 14 Vodinjan. The smallest symbols mark individual coins, larger ones over 60
coins.
. 6. (), (),
() , . , , ,
, 685 715 .: 1 ; 2 ; 3 ;
4 ; 5 ; 6 ; 7 ; 8 ; 9 ;
10 ; 11 ; 12 ; 13 ; 14 . -
, - 60.

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Fig. 7. The distribution in the Balkans of copper (circle), gold (triangle), and silver (square) coins
struck for Leo III, Constantine V, Leo IV, Irene, and Constantine VI, between 717 and 802:
1 Agios Nikolaos; 2 Agios Phloros; 3 Athens; 4 Bajagi; 5 Balchik; 6 Biskupija; 7
Bribir; 8 Cetina; 9 Constana; 10 Corinth; 11 Danilo Gornje; 12 Debelt; 13 Gardun;
14 Georgi Dobrevo; 15 Gornje Utore; 16 Gradac; 17 Islam Latinski; 18 Izvorovo; 19
Kapitan Andreevo; 20 Karnobat; 21 Kiulevcha; 22 Klis; 23 Kythera; 24 Lake Ticha;
25 Markeli; 26 Mokro Polje; 27 Mu; 28 Nin; 29 Ovcharovo; 30 Piramatovci; 31
Pore; 32 Prevjes; 33 Razgrad; 34 Rovi; 35 Shumen; 36 Silistra; 37 Stara Zagora;
38 tikovo; 39 Telerig; 40 Trilj; 41 Topolje; 42 Veli Mlun; 43 Vodinjan; 44 Vrpolje.
The smallest symbols mark individual coins, larger ones between 2 and 15 coins, and the
largest over 25 coins.
. 7. (), (),
() , , V, V, ,
V 717 802: 1 ; 2 ; 3 ;
4 ; 5 ; 6 ; 7 ; 8 ; 9 ; 10
; 11 ; 12 ; 13 ; 14 ; 15
; 16 ; 17 ; 18 ; 19 ;
20 ; 21 ; 22 ; 23 ; 24 ; 25 ;
26 ; 27 ; 28 ; 29 ; 30 ; 31 ;
32 ; 33 ; 34 ; 35 ; 36 ; 37 ;
38 ; 39 ; 40 ; 41 ; 42 ; 43 ;
44 . - , -
2 15, - 25 .

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Coins and Burials in Dark-Age Greece...

Fig. 8. The distribution in Greece of single inds of coins struck between 711 and 811. The smallest
circles mark individual coins, larger circles up to 19 and over 20, respectively.
. 8. , 711 .
811 . - , -
19 20 .

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Fig. 9. The distribution in the Balkans of copper (circle) and gold (triangle) coins struck for the
emperors Nicephorus I, Michael I, Leo V, and Michael II between 802 and 829: 1 Athens;
2 Constana; 3 Corinth; 4 Debelt; 5 Gorna Oriakhovica; 6 Izvorovo; 7 Khotnica;
8 Mangalia; 9 Maroneia; 10 Plovdiv; 11 Sredec; 12 Thebes. The smallest symbols
mark individual coins, larger ones 2 and 6, respectively.
. 9. () (),
, , , V
802 829 .: 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 ,
6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12
. - , -
2 6.

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Coins and Burials in Dark-Age Greece...

Fig. 10. The distribution in the Balkans of copper (circle), gold (triangle), and silver (square)
coins struck for the emperors Theophilus, Michael III, Basil I, and Leo VI, between 829
and 912: 1 Ablanica; 2 Aigina; 3 Amphissa; 4 Archaia Kleones; 5 Argos; 6 Athens;
7 Balchik; 8 Butrint; 9 Constana; 10 Corinth; 11- Dana bunar; 12 Dubrovnik; 13
Durrs; 14 Kalamata; 15 Kenchreai; 16 Kovachevsko kale; 17 Kythera; 18 Messini;
19 Naupaktos; 20 Nesebr; 21 Patras; 22 Pecineaga; 23 Plovdiv; 24 Rendina; 25
Riakhovo; 26 Rovinj; 27 Satu Nou; 28 Shumen; 29 Sparta; 30 Sredec; 31 Tegea;
32 Thebes; 33 Thessaloniki; 34 Trogir; 35 Velestino; 36 Veroia; 37 Vid; 38- Volos.
The smallest symbols mark individual coins, larger between ones 2 and 15, then between
20 and 150, and the largest over 1400, respectively.
. 10. (), (),
() , , ,
V 829 912 .: 1 , 2 , 3 , 4
, 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10
, 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16
, 17- , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 ,
22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 ,
28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 ,
35 , 36 , 37 , 38 . -
, - 2 15, 20
150, - 1400.

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Fig. 11. The distribution in Greece of single inds of coins struck between 811 and 912. The smallest
circles mark individual coins, larger circles up to 3, between 7 and 40, over 100, and over
1000, respectively.
. 11. 811 .
912 . - , -
3, 7 40, 100 1000 .

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Coins and Burials in Dark-Age Greece...

Fig. 12. The distribution in Greece of burial and cemetery sites, which may be dated between ca.
630 and ca. 700.
. 12. ,
. 630 . . 700 .

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Fig. 13. The distribution in Greece of burial and cemetery sites dated to the late seventh and
eighth century.
. 13. ,
.

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Coins and Burials in Dark-Age Greece...

Fig. 14. The distribution in Greece of cemetery sites dated to the ninth century.
. 14. ,
.

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