"Coins of the unknown people" or on the attribution of "taman denarii"

The study considers quite rare, but, at the same time, historically important ancient coins - «Taman denarii». These barbaric imitations were introduced to the scientific revolution at the beginning of the XIX century. They are considered to be coins of the Goths. The head side of the coin contains the image of the Roman Emperor, the tail side depicts walking Mars. The very appearance of these coins is linked to the raids made by the allied Germanic tribes into the Roman territory during the «Scythian wars». However, we cannot accept this point of view. Based on the results of the iconographic analysis, we believe that these coins should not be considered replicas of the Roman denarii. The point is that the figure featured on its tail side is clearly a forward-facing image of Hercules. This could be proved both by the figure's position and the weapon which the deity is holding. At the same time the obverse image is not similar to the bust of the ruler of Rome. After all, it is inexcusably styled...