tofind. Gold and silver coins have value today and stimulate interest.
Copper alloy coins have, historically speaking, rarely been attractive to
collectors and certainly not to the same degree as precious metals. On the
other hand, the presence of relatively large denominations suggests that
the kinds of transactions taking place were connected with significant
quantities of the commodities exchanged. The evidence from Nebet Tepe
seems to reflect periodic visits by merchants, who were interested in big
transactions.
The value that might be derived from this kind of evidence in the
northern Aegean has so far been explored in a rather limited way, despite
good evidence of widespread distribution patterns and other indicators
of economic relations, extending in time and space during the period
covered by this book. Figure 5.3 shows the distribution of coins in the
east Balkans emanating from the Thracian Chersonese.^94 The hemi-
drachms of the Chersonese have been found as far north as Botevgrad
and Loukuvit, well north of the Balkan range; and as far west as the
headwaters of the Hebros, as well as a large number of places in between,
along the middle Hebros valley. They often occur alongside similar
denominations from Parion. We know that ambassadors from Parion
were busy courting king Amadokos in 400bc(Xen.Anab.7.2.7, 3.17). So
it is perhaps no surprise tofind coins from these two cities so widely
distributed. Three examples of markets present us with a range of
possible scenarios for market-type transactions.
PellaThefirst example is Pella. Theagoraat Pella provides a wealth of infor-
mation about public and commercial activity over considerable periods
of time, although these were brought to an end abruptly (by an earth-
quake, according to the excavators) because of the interrupted character
offinal activities—the quantities of terracotta statuettes‘ready for sale’,
as well as moulds and tableware in a destruction layer that evidently
represents structural damage.^95 Theagoraconsisted of an almost square
piece of ground (261.7 m x 238 m), built over sloping terrain with an
(^94) Archibald 1998, 126–35, with Table 5.1,figs. 5.1–5.2, 312–13 andfig. 13.1, for a
preliminary assessment of numismaticfinds; cf. Taneva 2000 (coins from excavations at
Adjiyska Vodenitsa); Nekhrizov and Mikov 2000, 161–70, with cognate issues in eastern
Rhodope.
(^95) Lilimbaki-Akamati and Akamatis 2003, 40–51; Akamatis 2006a, 615–26; Akamatis
2011, 402–3; Akamatis 2012, 49, with full references; 49–59, with a more detailed
exposition.
228 Regionalism and regional economies