Qabala treasures ( az, Qəbələ dəfinələri) are monetary

treasure trove A treasure trove is an amount of money or coin, gold, silver, plate, or bullion found hidden underground or in places such as cellars or attics, where the treasure seems old enough for it to be presumed that the true owner is dead and the hei ...

s, unearthed in different years near the remnants of

Qabala Qabala ( az, Qəbələ) is a city and the administrative centre of the Qabala District of Azerbaijan. The municipality consists of the city of Gabala and the village of Küsnat. Before the city was known as Kutkashen, but after the Republic of ...

(

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of t ...

), the capital of Caucasian Albania.

History

This treasure was hidden around 120 BC and found randomly during the mining of building stone. In addition to the monetary units of the

Hellenistic In Classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Mediterranean history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium in ...

states, more than 500 local coins were found in the treasure. The first trove, unearthed in 1950s, contains the coins of

Sassanid The Sasanian () or Sassanid Empire, officially known as the Empire of Iranians (, ) and also referred to by historians as the Neo-Persian Empire, was the last Iranian empire before the early Muslim conquests of the 7th-8th centuries AD. Named ...

ruler

Kavadh I Kavad I ( pal, 𐭪𐭥𐭠𐭲 ; 473 – 13 September 531) was the Sasanian King of Kings of Iran from 488 to 531, with a two or three-year interruption. A son of Peroz I (), he was crowned by the nobles to replace his deposed and unpopular un ...

(488-531 AD). The second trove, found in 1964, contains a

drachma The drachma ( el, δραχμή , ; pl. ''drachmae'' or ''drachmas'') was the currency used in Greece during several periods in its history: # An ancient Greek currency unit issued by many Greek city states during a period of ten centuries, fr ...

of Parthian ruler Gotarzes II, as well as

denarii The denarius (, dēnāriī ) was the standard Roman silver coin from its introduction in the Second Punic War to the reign of Gordian III (AD 238–244), when it was gradually replaced by the antoninianus. It continued to be minted in very ...

Otho Marcus Otho (; born Marcus Salvius Otho; 28 April 32 – 16 April 69) was the seventh Roman emperor, ruling for three months from 15 January to 16 April 69. He was the second emperor of the Year of the Four Emperors. A member of a noble Etr ...

, and coins of the Romans;

Vespasian Vespasian (; la, Vespasianus ; 17 November AD 9 – 23/24 June 79) was a Roman emperor who reigned from AD 69 to 79. The fourth and last emperor who reigned in the Year of the Four Emperors, he founded the Flavian dynasty that ruled the Empi ...

Trajan Trajan ( ; la, Caesar Nerva Traianus; 18 September 539/11 August 117) was Roman emperor from 98 to 117. Officially declared ''optimus princeps'' ("best ruler") by the senate, Trajan is remembered as a successful soldier-emperor who presi ...

and Hadrian and over 150 coins of Sassanid ruler Bahram II (274-291 AD). In the third trove, found in 1966, seven hundred silver coins (including 170 foreign) were found. Among them are drachmas of

Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon ( grc, Ἀλέξανδρος, Alexandros; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip II to ...

. Parthian rulers Arshak, Mithridates I, Phraates II,

Thracian The Thracians (; grc, Θρᾷκες ''Thrāikes''; la, Thraci) were an Indo-European speaking people who inhabited large parts of Eastern and Southeastern Europe in ancient history.. "The Thracians were an Indo-European people who occupied ...

ruler Lisimachos, and

Seleucids The Seleucid Empire (; grc, Βασιλεία τῶν Σελευκιδῶν, ''Basileía tōn Seleukidōn'') was a Greek state in West Asia that existed during the Hellenistic period from 312 BC to 63 BC. The Seleucid Empire was founded by the M ...

, all ruled during the 187-129 BC period.

Tetradrachm The tetradrachm ( grc-gre, τετράδραχμον, tetrádrachmon) was a large silver coin that originated in Ancient Greece. It was nominally equivalent to four drachmae. Over time the tetradrachm effectively became the standard coin of the An ...

s of Greco-Bactrian Kingdom are also found. This trove was hidden in the 120s. Some currency in troves 1-3 circulated in Caucasian Albania in the 3rd-2nd centuries BC. The fourth trove was hidden in the 1st half of the 11th century and found in 1976. It consists of 53 complete and 1298 crumbled coins, struck during the Ravvadid,

Shaddadid The Shaddadids were a Kurdish Sunni Muslim dynasty. who ruled in various parts of Armenia and Arran from 951 to 1199 AD. They were established in Dvin. Through their long tenure in Armenia, they often intermarried with the Bagratuni royal fami ...

and Shirvanshah periods. In one of the mounds, located two km south-east from Qabala, on the right bank of Qarachay River the trove was dug-over by earth working machinery. This resulted in the coins being scattered over the whole south part of the mound.

The oldest coins

Among the found coins are the earliest coins of Alexander the Great minted in Colophon at the end of IV century BC and the Thracian king Lysimachus tetradrachms. Due to frequent use, these coins were badly frayed. There are also tetradrachms of Antiochus IV, Antiochus VI and Demetrius, and four from Eucratides. One tetradrahm was struck by

Diodotus I Diodotus I Soter (Greek: , ''Diódotos Sōtḗr''; c. 315-300 BC – c. 235 BC), was the first Hellenistic King of Bactria. Diodotus became independent of the Seleucid empire around 255 or 245 BC, and established the Diodotid Bactrian Kingdom, w ...

, but also bears the name of

Antiochus II Antiochus II Theos ( grc-gre, Ἀντίοχος Θεός, ; 286 – July 246 BC) was a Greek king of the Hellenistic Seleucid Empire who reigned from 261 to 246 BC. He succeeded his father Antiochus I Soter in the winter of 262–61 BC. He wa ...

. On the obverse of the drachmas on behalf of Alexander the Great was portrayed the head of a character of ancient Greek mythology -

Hercules Hercules (, ) is the Roman equivalent of the Greek divine hero Heracles, son of Jupiter and the mortal Alcmena. In classical mythology, Hercules is famous for his strength and for his numerous far-ranging adventures. The Romans adapted the ...

in a lion's skin, and on the reverse – the god of thunder

Zeus Zeus or , , ; grc, Δῐός, ''Diós'', label= genitive Boeotian Aeolic and Laconian grc-dor, Δεύς, Deús ; grc, Δέος, ''Déos'', label= genitive el, Δίας, ''Días'' () is the sky and thunder god in ancient Greek reli ...

sitting on a throne with an eagle and a scepter. On the obverse of the tetradrachms on behalf of Lysimachus, the head of Alexander the Great is depicted in a diadem with an Ammon horn, and on the reverse side – the goddess of wisdom

Athena Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas, is an ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek goddess associated with wisdom, warfare, and handicraft who was later syncretism, syncretized with the Roman goddess Minerva. Athena was regarded ...

in a helmet with a high crest in a sitting position. The treasures found in Qabala indicate that coins in the name of Alexander the Great were minted in Caucasian Albania from the end of the IV - beginning of the III centuries BC. As for the Seleucid coins, they began to appear on the marketplaces of Caucasian Albania starting from the 80s of the II century BC. Some coins have been stolen by local residents.

Notes

{{reflist Treasure troves of classical antiquity Treasure troves of late antiquity Treasure troves of Azerbaijan Caucasian Albania 1976 archaeological discoveries 1964 archaeological discoveries 1966 archaeological discoveries Coin hoards

History

The oldest coins

See also

Notes