More Coins from the Jewish Compound at Phanagoria: Focus on the Purses and Isolated Coins beyond the Prayer Hall

Abstract

Sixty-one Bosporan and Byzantine coins retrieved during the 2023–2025 excavations of the ancient synagogue complex at Phanagoria are discussed. Four purses were discovered in the synagogue’s atrium and surroundings, containing bronze staters minted in the names of Thothorses (285/6‒309/10 CE), Rhadamsades (309/10‒318/9 CE) and Rhescuporis VI (318/9‒341/2 CE). Twenty-eight isolated coins were found in the atrium, the winery and pavements outside the prayer hall. The numismatic finds illustrate civic life inside the synagogue complex on an ordinary day in the mid-sixth century.