Bibliography

The kosons attracted the attention of scholars, historians and coin collector a long time ago, many articles being devoted to the subject. We present here a short bibliography. Some of the articles are available online. We make also some remarks regarding the history of the research.

The earliest available source is Erasmus of Rotterdam:

”Aureum numisma multos exercuit, aliis coniectantibus esse tres Noe filios ex Arca revertentes et ex altera parte columbam olivae ramum deferentem; aliis duces duos, qui medium captum ducerent, et aquilam lauri ramum in coronam deflexum gestantem. Subscriptionem nullus adhuc legere potuit, neque Graecus neque Latinus neque Hebraeus”

(”The gold coins have puzzled many peoples, some assuming that they are the three sons of Noah returning from the ship, and on the other side, a pigeon with an olive branch. For others, they would be two commanders that took prisoner the middle one, and an eagle wearing a laurel wreath in shape of a crown. The inscription was illegible, until now, either for a Greek, either Latin, either Hebrew speaker”)

Erasmus of Rotterdam (portrait by Hans Holbein The Younger)

The coin hoard found in the Strein river in 1543 is mentioned by Wolfgang Lazius:

”Numi aurei ex thesuro recens apud Transylvanos opera piscatoris cuiusdam detecto, quorum mihi copia fieri potuit, duas Graecas habuere inscriptions, quarum altera litteris his, BAΣIΛEΩΣ ΛΥΣMAXOY, hoc est, regis Lysimachi, altera vero ΣOZON (!), salvatore vel liberatorem.”

Istvan Szamosközy (Sthephanus Zamosius):

”COORVM quoq. Numus aureus altera ex parte aquilam habet, coronam oleaginam unguibus leuantem, cum litteris infra KΩΣΩN, idest Coos insulae, quae est in mari Icario Rhodo proxima. Altera parte tres viri sunt Graeco habitu vestibus poplite tenus demissis. Eorum primus ramum laureum gestat, pone qui sequitur, serto caput redimitus est. Tertius manu sublata pateram tenet.”

The first scientific study dates from 1911 and was written by the German scholar Max Bahrfeldt. His merit is that he correctly identified the political structure and people that produced the coins, as he considered them Dacian coins. In 1973, a whole chapter is dedicated to the kosons by Constantin Preda in his book about Dacian coins.

The National Museum of History of Romania organized an exhibit entitled “Comoara regelui Koson” (“The treasure of king Koson”), and presented to the public the coins discovered in a hoard and recovered by the public in 1997. On this occasion, an exhibit catalogue was made by Carmen Maria Petolescu and published in 2000.

Monographies:

Carmen Maria Petolescu, Monedele regelui Coson, Ed. Academiei Române, Bucharest, 2011

Books, dictionaries and encyclopedias:

Constantin Preda, Moneda antică în România, Bucharest, 1969, pp. 27-28.
Constantin Preda, Monedele geto-dacilor, Ed. Academiei RSR, Bucharest, 1973, pp. 353-361.
Constantin Preda, Istoria monedei în Dacia preromană, Ed. Enciclopedică, Bucharest, 1998, pp. 226-233.
Constantin Preda, Enciclopedie de numismatică antică în România, Ed. Enciclopedică, Bucharest, 2008, pp. 168-169.

Articles:

Max Bahrfeldt, Über die Goldmünzen de Dakerkönigs ”, Berlin, 1911, offprint from Berliner Münzblätter.
V. Cojocaru, B. Constantinescu, I. Ștefănescu, Carmen Maria Petolescu, ”EDXRF and PAA analyses of Dacian Gold coins of ”koson” type”, in Journal of Radioanallytical and Nuclear Chemistry, 246, 2000, 1, pp. 185-190.
Bogdan Constantinescu, Daniela Cristea-Stan, Angela Vasilescu, Rolf Simon, Daniele Ceccato, ”Archaeometallurgical characterization of ancient gold artifacts from Romanian museum using XRF, Micro-Pixe and Micro-SR-XRF methods”, in Proceedings of the Romanian Academy, series A, volume 13, number 1/2012, pp. 19-26.(http://www.acad.ro/sectii2002/proceedings/doc2012-1/03-Constantinescu.pdf)
Mihai Dima, Dan Ilie, Tezaurul de monede de tip KOSON descoperit la Târsa, com. Boșorod, jud. Hunedoara. Lotul păstrat la Banca Națională a României, in Simpozion de Numismatică, organizat cu ocazia comemorării Sfântului Ștefan cel Mare, domn al Moldovei (1504-2004), Chișinău, 29 septembrie-2 octombrie 2004, Bucharest, 2007, pp. 35-65.
Mayer A. Halevy, ”Autour d’un problème de numismatique antique: y a-t-il une monnaie d’or dace? A propos du stature à la legende KOΣΩN”, in Studii Clasice, 3, 1961, pp. 89-92.
Octavian Iliescu, ”Sur les monnaies d’or à la légende KΟΣΩN”, in Quaderni Ticinensi di Numismatica e Anticha Classiche, 19, 1990, p. 185-211.
J. Makkai, ”The trasures of Decebalus”, in Specimina Nova, 1994 (1995), pp. 151-215.
Lucian Munteanu, ”Despre descoperirile monetare de tip Koson”, in Arheologia Moldovei, 25, 2002 (2004), pp. 253-270.
Lucian Munteanu, ”Despre emiterea monedelor de tip Koson”, in Arheologia Moldovei, 26, 2003, pp. 241-264.
Carmen Maria Petolescu, ”Un tezaur de monede de aur de tip Koson”, in 130 de ani de la crearea sistemului monetar românesc, Bucharest, 1997, pp. 84-93.
Carmen Maria Petolescu, ”A hoard of Koson-type gold coins”, in 130 years since the Establishment of the modern Romanian Monetary system, Bucharest, 1997, pp. 83-92.
Carmen Maria Petolescu, ”L’enigma delle monete KΟΣΩN”, in Dacia, 60, 2011, pp. 149-182.
Constantin Preda, ”Über eine neue Chronologie der Koson-Münzen”, (Vortragszusammenfasungen, XII. Internationaler Numismatischer Kongress Berlin, 1997, pp. 112-.
Constantin Preda, ”Ein neuer Vorschlag zur Chronologie der Koson-Münzen”, în Stephanos Nomismatikos. Edith Schönert-Geiss zum 65. Geburstag, ed. Ulrike Peter, Berlin, 1998, pp. 555-561.
Aurel Vâlcu, Bogdan. Constantinescu, Roxana Bugoi, Cătălina Păuna, ”Some considerations on Dacian gold coins of Koson type in the light of compositional analyses”, în Revue Numismatique, 166, 2010, pp. 295–308. (http://www.persee.fr/doc/numi_0484-8942_2010_num_6_166_2939)
Judita Winkler, “Considerații despre moneda KOSON”, in Studii și Cercetări de Istorie Veche, 23, 1972, 2, pp. 182-191.

Exhibit catalogues:

Comoara regelui Koson, wrote by Carmen Maria Petolescu, Bucharest (2010)