Late Roman and Byzantine Solidi Found in Sweden and Denmark

The discovery in Sweden and Denmark of more than eight hundred late Roman and Byzantine solidi dating from the fifth and sixth centuries poses an historical enigma that has puzzled scholars for nearly a hundred years. Some eight hundred gold coins is a noteworthy number when one considers the distance between the Mediterranean world and the Baltic Sea and the fact that this was a period of great instability and decline. No other area on the Continent outside the imperial boundaries approaches Scandinavia in the number of finds; almost everywhere else there is a general dearth of material from this period. Moreover, the coins are concentrated on three tiny islands in the Baltic – Öland, Gotland and Bornholm. Their presence there cannot be an accident as a number of scholars have realized.