Abstract
The Celtic coinage began in the middle of the 3th century BC in the Carpathian Basin. The first Celtic coins imitated the tetradrachms of the Macedon king, Philipp II. The first Celtic large silver coins generally came to light in hoards. It is still a question what the purpose of the coinage was. It can be assumed that they were minted by the leader of the Celtic chieftains to pay their soldier who took part in the different campaigns against the Hellenistic states. In this way it was much simpler to distribute the booty among the warriors or to reward them. There are, however, some hypothesis that the coins were minted for ritual reasons as a kind of offering to the gods. From the 2nd century BC onwards several types of small change – small silver and bronzes – appeared in the region. They may have been minted for economical purpose. The large silver coins, at least a part of them might have been minted during wartimes to pay the warriors. The leader of the troops or the chieftains of some tribes perhaps wanted to emphasize the identity of the person who gave the pay. The names of different persons on the coinage of Norici and Boii and some portrait-like face e.g. in the case of Kroisbach type could be featured for this purpose.