Boiots, 1/8 statera, (ca. 1st century BC); Av: Smooth protuberance; Rw: Three arched ribs, pointing convexly toward the center of the coin, from two of them extending two parallel ribs each, the whole covered with fine coarsening; Paulsen 707-710 (reverse), Rudnicki WN 2009(2), Fig. 1; gold, 9.5 mm, 0.82 g; a beautiful and rare type of coin.
The original settlements of the Boi, an ethnic faction of the Celts, were most likely located between the Rhine, Main and Danube rivers. We can translate their name, depending on the dialect, as "warriors" or "keepers of cattle."
Pressed by the numerous and extremely aggressive Germanic peoples, they wandered into what is now Bohemia and Moravia and later Silesia.
Ancient written sources recorded a peculiar political structure - the Lugian Union - in our lands, composed of many Celtic tribes. This political organization is attributed to the Celtic coins minted in the Polish lands.
Boi minting developed in the middle of the third century BC and was related to Macedonian influence, from where the idea and form were borrowed.
Initially, Greek coins were faithfully imitated, which probably had to do with the payment of wages to Celtic warriors for mercenary service. Over the centuries, however, the style diverged considerably from the Greek originals, undergoing far-reaching barbarization. This manifested itself, for example, in the distortion of images or in the selection of representations. All this resulted in a style characteristic of the Celts, easily recognizable to researchers and collectors.
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