Hermocapelia in Lydia time of Hadrian 117AD Greek Coin Roman Senate Roma i35926

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Greek city of Hermocapelia in Lydia Bronze 17mm (3.29 grams) struck during the time of Hadrian circa 117-138 A.D. Reference: Sear GIC 5019/ B.M.C. 22.99,7 ΙЄPA CYNKΛHΤOC , Draped bust of the Roman senate right. ЄΡΜΟΚΑΠΗΛΙΤΩΝ, Turreted and draped bust of Roma right.

Hermocapelia. This town is identified with the modern Geukche-keui on the north side of the Hyrcanian plain, a few miles south-west of Apollonis.

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In traditional Roman religion , Roma was a female deity who personified the city of Rome and more broadly, the Roman state. Her image appears on the base of the column of Antoninus Pius . Roma , formerly queen of almost the whole earth. Horace (L. iv. od. 3) calls her the prince of cities; and according to Martial (L. xii. epig. 8) she is terrarum dea gentiumque .


Roman Senate One of the most personifications represented emissions autonomous provincial Roman is that of the Roman Senate , widely present emissions of Lydia and Phrygia , in general, much of Asia Minor (Table 9a- c ) . The reason may be found in the fact that the province of Asia was under the control of the Senate, but this conclusion clashes with the evidence that the Senate has never shown instead in the emissions of other provinces Senators, such as Bithynia . Emissions autonomous province with the Senate of Rome covering virtually the whole of the period from Tiberius to Philip I, with a maximum in the period of the Antonines and the Severi . Coinage in the iconography of imperial Rome , the Senate appears robed , with a beard as a sign of maturity , the scepter as a sign of power and sometimes with an olive branch . It is often portrayed in the presence of the imperial figure , ie the emperor shaking hands as a sign of harmony or only hope for such a harmony between the parties, as it appears on a sestertius of Commodus RIC III 549 , a similar scene is found on a sestertius of Hadrian RIC II 968, but here also appears the figure of Rome holding her hands on those imperial and Senate that huddle . On a golden age of Trajan takes on a quasi-religious while sacrificing on an altar in front of the Genius of the Roman People (RIC 374). E ' instead of a lone Caracalla Antoninianus RIC 246 and a golden Commodus RIC 157a . The inscription Genivs SENATVS confirms that the embodiment in question is precisely that of the Roman Senate . In contrast to what was seen for the imperial emissions , the Senate of Rome autonomous provincial emissions is depicted with a portrait male youth with medium length hair type Genio Populi Romani or Bonus Eventus , sometimes the picture is instead purely feminine and l ' hairstyle becomes similar to that of Plotina , wife of Trajan, or that of Longina Domitia , wife of Domitian as it appears on the issues of mint Apollonis in Lydia (fig. 14).

The legends that accompany the portrait in emissions are almost independent of the provincial type CYNKΛHTOC , ΣYNKΛHTOC , IERA CYNKΛHTOC , ΘEON CYNKΛHTON , ΣYNKΛHTON or ΘEON CYNKΛHTOY and leave no doubt on the identification . The appeal is therefore the authority of Rome through his organ very representative , who takes on a sacred ( IEPA) or divine ( ΘEON). As mentioned above, the period Flavio brand the passage from the use of ΘEOΣ to IEPA . A large bronze issued to Mallus in Cilicia ( BMC 30, Levante 1286 ) portrays the personification with head veiled in conjunction enrollment SACRED SINATVS (fig. 15). In this case, even though the Senate is in the masculine gender , the personification is typically feminine boulh in greek is in fact female and perhaps the engraver of this type did not know Latin well ( considering also the obvious corruption of SENATVS in SINATVS ) and has remade the genre greek . A similar issue shows instead the legend SACER SENATVS ( Ovens n . 537 ).

How to interpret the presence of this representation emission greek imperial is not easy . It is probably limited to believe that confirmation of the subjection of the Greek cities in Rome were confirmed by the presence of a call to the Senate , since over time the importance of the same was gradually decreasing , while his cult in the provinces remained almost unchanged. It should not be forgotten that the Roman Senate assumes emissions pseudo autonomous on a religious or divine , or IEPA ΘEON (the Senate is the only cult that was called both divine and sacred ), and this probably has nothing to do with the control politician of the provinces. " The deification and the consecration of the Roman Senate are a product of the school of thought of the Eastern world , who wants to be surrounded by a halo and be the object of worship every manifestation of human power, as this is considered emanation of divine power " ( Forni, 1954) .

Lydia (Assyrian: Luddu ;  Turkish : Lidya ) was an Iron Age kingdom of western Asia Minor located generally east of ancient Ionia in the modern western Turkish provinces of Uşak , Manisa and inland İzmir . Its population spoke an Anatolian language known as Lydian .

At its greatest extent, the Kingdom of Lydia covered all of western Anatolia . Lydia (known as Sparda by the Achaemenids) was a satrapy (province) of the Achaemenid Persian Empire , with Sardis as its capital. Tabalus , appointed by Cyrus the Great , was the first satrap (governor). (See: Lydia (satrapy) ).

Lydia was later the name of a Roman province . Coins are said to have been invented in Lydia around the 7th century BC.

Defining Lydia

The endonym Śfard (the name the Lydians called themselves) survives in bilingual and trilingual stone-carved notices of the Achaemenid Empire : the satrapy of Sparda (Old Persian), Aramaic Saparda , Babylonian Sapardu , Elamitic Išbarda . These in the Greek tradition are associated with Sardis , the capital city of King Gyges , constructed during the 7th century BC.

The cultural ancestors appear to have been associated with or part of the Luwian political entity of Arzawa ; yet the Lydian language is not part of the Luwian subgroup (as is Carian and Lycian ).

An Etruscan/Lydian association has long been a subject of conjecture. The Greek historian Herodotus stated that the Etruscans came from Lydia, repeated in Virgil 's epic poem the Aeneid , and Etruscan-like language was found on the Lemnos stele from the Aegean Sea island of Lemnos. However, recent decipherment of Lydian and its classification as an Anatolian language mean that Etruscan and Lydian were not even part of the same language family. Nevertheless, a recent genetic study of likely Etruscan descendants in Tuscany found strong similarities with individuals in western Anatolia.

Geography

The boundaries of historical Lydia varied across the centuries. It was bounded first by Mysia , Caria , Phrygia and coastal Ionia . Later, the military power of Alyattes II and Croesus expanded Lydia, which, with its capital at Sardis, controlled all Asia Minor west of the River Halys, except Lycia . Lydia never again shrank back into its original dimensions. After the Persian conquest the River Maeander was regarded as its southern boundary, and during imperial Roman times Lydia comprised the country between Mysia and Caria on the one side and Phrygia and the Aegean Sea on the other.

Language

The Lydian language was an Indo-European language in the Anatolian language family , related to Luwian and Hittite . It used many prefixes and grammatical particles . Lydian finally became extinct during the 1st century BC.

History

Early history: Maeonia and Lydia

Lydia developed as a Neo-Hittite kingdom after the collapse of the Hittite Empire in the 12th century BC. In Hittite times, the name for the region had been Arzawa ; it was a Luwian-speaking area. According to Greek source, the original name of the Lydian kingdom was Maionia (Μαιονία), or Maeonia : Homer (Iliad ii. 865; v. 43, xi. 431) refers to the inhabitants of Lydia as Maiones (Μαίονες). Homer describes their capital not as Sardis but as Hyde (Iliad xx. 385); Hyde may have been the name of the district in which Sardis was located. Later, Herodotus (Histories i. 7) adds that the "Meiones" were renamed Lydians after their king Lydus (Λυδός), son of Atys , during the mythical epoch that preceded the Heracleid dynasty. This etiological eponym served to account for the Greek ethnic name Lydoi (Λυδοί). The Hebrew term for Lydians, , as found in the Book of Jeremiah (46.9), has been similarly considered, beginning with Flavius Josephus , to be derived from Lud son of Shem ; however Hippolytus of Rome (AD 234) offered an alternative opinion that the Lydians were descended from Ludim, son of Mizraim . During Biblical times, the Lydian warriors were famous archers. Some Maeones still existed during historical times in the upland interior along the River Hermus , where a town named Maeonia existed, according to Pliny the Elder (Natural History book v:30) and Hierocles (author of Synecdemus).

Lydia in Greek mythology

Lydian mythology is virtually unknown, and their literature and rituals lost, in the absence of any monuments or archaeological finds with extensive inscriptions; therefore myths involving Lydia are mainly from Greek mythology .

For the Greeks, Tantalus was a primordial ruler of mythic Lydia, and Niobe his proud daughter; her husband Zethos associated Lydia with Thebes in Greece, and through Pelops the line of Tantalus was part of the founding myths of Mycenae 's second dynasty. (In reference to the myth of Bellerophon , Karl Kerenyi remarked, in The Heroes of The Greeks 1959, p. 83. "As Lykia was thus connected with Crete , and as the person of Pelops , the hero of Olympia, connected Lydia with the Peloponnesos, so Bellerophontes connected another Asian country, or rather two, Lykia and Karia , with the kingdom of Argos ".)

In Greek myth, Lydia was also the origin-place of the double-axe, the labrys . Omphale , daughter of the river Iardanos, was a ruler of Lydia, whom Heracles was required to serve for a time. His adventures in Lydia are the adventures of a Greek hero in a peripheral and foreign land: during his stay, Heracles enslaved the Itones, killed Syleus who forced passers-by to hoe his vineyard; slew the serpent of the river Sangarios (which appears in the heavens as the constellation Ophiucus )  and captured the simian tricksters, the Cercopes . Accounts tell of at least one son born to Omphale and Heracles: Diodorus Siculus (4.31.8) and Ovid (Heroides 9.54) mention a son Lamos, while pseudo-Apollodorus (Bibliotheke 2.7.8) gives the name Agelaus, and Pausanias (2.21.3) names Tyrsenus son of Heracles by "the Lydian woman."

All three heroic ancestors indicate a Lydian dynasty claiming Heracles as their ancestor. Herodotus (1.7) refers to a Heraclid dynasty of kings who ruled Lydia, yet were perhaps not descended from Omphale. He also mentions (1.94) the recurring legend that the Etruscan civilization was founded by colonists from Lydia led by Tyrrhenus , brother of Lydus. However, Dionysius of Halicarnassus was skeptical of this story, indicating that the Etruscan language and customs were known to be totally dissimilar to those of the Lydians. Later chronographers also ignored Herodotus's statement that Agron was the first to be a king, and included Alcaeus , Belus , and Ninus in their list of kings of Lydia. Strabo (5.2.2) makes Atys, father of Lydus and Tyrrhenus, to be a descendant of Heracles and Omphale. All other accounts name Atys, Lydus, and Tyrrhenus as being among the pre-Heraclid kings of Lydia. The gold deposits in the river Pactolus that were the source of the proverbial wealth of Croesus (Lydia's last king) were said to have been left there when the legendary king Midas of Phrygia washed away the "Midas touch" in its waters. In Euripides' tragedy The Bacchae, Dionysus declares his country to be Lydia.

First coinage Early 6th-century BC one-third stater coin

According to Herodotus , the Lydians were the first people to use gold and silver coins and the first to establish retail shops in permanent locations. It is not known, however, whether Herodotus meant that the Lydians were the first to use coins of pure gold and pure silver or the first precious metal coins in general. Despite this ambiguity, this statement of Herodotus is one of the pieces of evidence often cited in behalf of the argument that Lydians invented coinage, at least in the West, even though the first coins were neither gold nor silver but an alloy of the two.

The dating of these first stamped coins is one of the most frequently debated topics of ancient numismatics, with dates ranging from 700 BC to 550 BC, but the most common opinion is that they were minted at or near the beginning of the reign of King Alyattes (sometimes referred to incorrectly as Alyattes II ), who ruled Lydia c. 610-550 BC. The first coins were made of electrum , an alloy of gold and silver that occurs naturally but that was further debased by the Lydians with added silver and copper.

The largest of these coins are commonly referred to as a 1/3 stater (trite ) denomination, weighing around 4.7 grams, though no full staters of this type have ever been found, and the 1/3 stater probably should be referred to more correctly as a stater, after a type of a transversely held scale, the weights used in such a scale (from ancient Greek ίστημι=to stand), which also means "standard." These coins were stamped with a lion's head adorned with what is likely a sunburst, which was the king's symbol. To complement the largest denomination, fractions were made, including a hekte (sixth), hemihekte (twelfth), and so forth down to a 96th, with the 1/96 stater weighing only about 0.15 grams. There is disagreement, however, over whether the fractions below the twelfth are actually Lydian.

Alyattes' son was Croesus, who became associated with great wealth. Sardis was renowned as a beautiful city. Around 550 BC, near the beginning of his reign, Croesus paid for the construction of the temple of Artemis at Ephesus , which became one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world . Croesus was defeated in battle by Cyrus II of Persia in 546 BC, with the Lydian kingdom losing its autonomy and becoming a Persian satrapy .

Autochthonous Dynasties   Map of the Lydian Empire in its final period of sovereignty under Croesus , c. 547 BC. (7th-century BC boundary in red)

Lydia was ruled by three dynasties:

Atyads (1300 BC or earlier) - Heraclids (Tylonids) (to 687 BC) According to Herodotus the Heraclids ruled for 22 generations during the period from 1185 BC, lasting for 505 years). Alyattes was the king of Lydia in 776 BC. The last king of this dynasty was Myrsilos or Candaules.

  • Candaules - After ruling for seventeen years he was assassinated by his former friend Gyges, who succeeded him on the throne of Lydia.

Mermnads

  • Gyges , called Gugu of Luddu in Assyrian inscriptions (687-652 BC or 690-657 BC) - Once established on the throne, Gyges devoted himself to consolidating his kingdom and making it a military power. The capital was relocated from Hyde to Sardis. Barbarian Cimmerians sacked many Lydian cities, except for Sardis. Gyges was the son of Dascylus, who, when recalled from banishment in Cappadocia by the Lydian king Mursylos—called Candaules "the Dog-strangler" (a title of the Lydian Hermes) by the Greeks—sent his son back to Lydia instead of himself. Gyges turned to Egypt, sending his faithful Carian troops along with Ionian mercenaries to assist Psammetichus in ending Assyrian domination. Some Bible scholars believe that Gyges of Lydia was the Biblical character Gog , ruler of Magog, who is mentioned in the Book of Ezekiel and the Book of Revelation .
  • Ardys II (652-621 BC).
  • Sadyattes (621-609 BC) or (624-610 BC) - Herodotus wrote (in his Inquiries) that he fought with Cyaxares , the descendant of Deioces, and with the Medes , drove out the Cimmerians from Asia, captured Smyrna , which had been founded by colonists from Colophon, and invaded the city-states Clazomenae and Miletus .
  • Alyattes II (609 or 619-560 BC) - one of the greatest kings of Lydia. When Cyaxares attacked Lydia, the kings of Cilicia and Babylon intervened and negotiated a peace in 585 BC, whereby the River Halys was established as the Medes' frontier with Lydia. Herodotus writes:
"On the refusal of Alyattes to give up his supplicants when Cyaxares sent to demand them of him, war broke out between the Lydians and the Medes, and continued for five years, with various success. In the course of it the Medes gained many victories over the Lydians, and the Lydians also gained many victories over the Medes."

The Battle of the Eclipse was the final battle in a five year war between Alyattes II of Lydia and Cyaxares of the Medes. It took place on May 28, 585 BC, and ended abruptly due to a total solar eclipse.

  • Croesus (560-546 BC) - the expression "rich as Croesus" refers to this king. The Lydian Empire ended when Croesus attacked the Persian Empire of Cyrus II and was defeated in 546 BC.

Persian Empire

In 547 BC, the Lydian king Croesus besieged and captured the Persian city of Pteria in Cappadocia and enslaved its inhabitants. The Persian king Cyrus The Great marched with his army against the Lydians. The Battle of Pteria resulted in a stalemate, thus forcing the Lydians to retreat to their capital city of Sardis. Some months later the Persian and Lydian kings met at the Battle of Thymbra . Cyrus won and captured the capital city of Sardis.

Hellenistic Empire

Lydia remained a satrapy after Persia's conquest by the Macedonian king Alexander III (the Great) of Macedon . When Alexander's empire ended after his death, Lydia was possessed by the major Asian diadoch dynasty, the Seleucids , and when it was unable to maintain its territory in Asia Minor, Lydia was acquired by the Attalid dynasty of Pergamum . Its last king avoided the spoils and ravage of a Roman war of conquest by leaving the realm by testament to the Roman Empire .

Roman province of Asia

When the Romans entered the capital Sardis in 133 BC, Lydia, as the other western parts of the Attalid legacy, became part of the province of Asia , a very rich Roman province , worthy of a governor with the high rank of proconsul . The whole west of Asia Minor had Jewish colonies very early, and Christianity was also soon present there. Acts of the Apostles 16:14-15 mentions the baptism of a merchant woman called "Lydia" from Thyatira , known as Lydia of Thyatira , in what had once been the satrapy of Lydia. Christianity spread rapidly during the 3rd century AD, based on the nearby Exarchate of Ephesus.

Lydia had numerous Christian communities, and after Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire in the 4th century became one of the provinces of the diocese of Asia in the patriarchate of Constantinople. The ecclesiastical province of Lydia had a metropolitan diocese at Sardis and suffragan dioceses for Philadelphia , Thyatira , Tripolis , Settae , Gordus , Tralles , Silandus , Maeonia , Apollonos Hierum , Mostene , Apollonias , Attalia , Hyrcania , Bage, Balandus , Hermocapella , Hierocaesarea , Acrassus , Dalda , Stratonicia , Cerasa , Gabala , Satala , Aureliopolis and Hellenopolis . Bishops from the various dioceses of Lydia were well represented at the Council of Nicaea in 325 and at the later ecumenical councils.

Roman province of Lydia

Under the tetrarchy reform of Emperor Diocletian in 296 AD, Lydia was revived as the name of a separate Roman province, much smaller than the former satrapy, with its capital at Sardis. Together with the provinces of Caria, Hellespontus, Lycia, Pamphylia, Phrygia prima and secunda, Pisidia and the Insulae (Ionian islands), it formed the diocese (under a vicarius ) of Asiana, which was part of the praetorian prefecture of Oriens, together with the dioceses Pontiana (most of the rest of Asia Minor), Oriens proper (mainly Syria), Aegyptus and Thraciae (on the Balkans, roughly Bulgaria). Under the Byzantine emperor Heraclius (610-641), Lydia became part of Anatolikon , one of the original themata , and later of Thrakesion . Although the Seljuk Turks conquered most of the rest of Anatolia, forming the Sultanate of Ikonion, Lydia remained part of the Byzantine Empire. During the occupation of Constantinople in the Fourth Crusade , Lydia continued to be a part of the Byzantine orthodox 'Greek Empire' based at Nicaea .

Under Turkish rule

Lydia was captured finally by Turkish beyliks , which were all absorbed by the Ottoman state in 1390. The area became part of the Ottoman Aydın Province (vilayet ), and is now the westernmost part of the modern republic of Turkey .

The history of Ancient Greek coinage can be divided (along with most other Greek art forms) into four periods, the Archaic , the Classical , the Hellenistic and the Roman . The Archaic period extends from the introduction of coinage to the Greek world during the 7th century BC until the Persian Wars in about 480 BC. The Classical period then began, and lasted until the conquests of Alexander the Great in about 330 BC, which began the Hellenistic period, extending until the Roman absorption of the Greek world in the 1st century BC. The Greek cities continued to produce their own coins for several more centuries under Roman rule. The coins produced during this period are called Roman provincial coins or Greek Imperial Coins. Ancient Greek coins of all four periods span over a period of more than ten centuries.

Weight standards and denominations Above: Six rod-shaped obeloi (oboloi) displayed at the Numismatic Museum of Athens , discovered at Heraion of Argos . Below: grasp[1] of six oboloi forming one drachma Electrum coin from Ephesus , 620-600 BC, known as Phanes' coin . Obverse: Stag grazing, ΦΑΝΕΩΣ (retrograde). Reverse: Two incuse punches.

The basic standards of the Ancient Greek monetary system were the Attic standard, based on the Athenian drachma of 4.3 grams of silver and the Corinthian standard based on the stater of 8.6 grams of silver, that was subdivided into three silver drachmas of 2.9 grams. The word drachm (a) means "a handful", literally "a grasp". Drachmae were divided into six obols (from the Greek word for a spit ), and six spits made a "handful". This suggests that before coinage came to be used in Greece, spits in prehistoric times were used as measures of daily transaction. In archaic/pre-numismatic times iron was valued for making durable tools and weapons, and its casting in spit form may have actually represented a form of transportable bullion , which eventually became bulky and inconvenient after the adoption of precious metals. Because of this very aspect, Spartan legislation famously forbade issuance of Spartan coin, and enforced the continued use of iron spits so as to discourage avarice and the hoarding of wealth. In addition to its original meaning (which also gave the euphemistic diminutive "obelisk ", "little spit"), the word obol (ὀβολός, obolós , or ὀβελός, obelós ) was retained as a Greek word for coins of small value, still used as such in Modern Greek slang (όβολα, óvola , "monies").

The obol was further subdivided into tetartemorioi (singular tetartemorion ) which represented 1/4 of an obol, or 1/24 of a drachm. This coin (which was known to have been struck in Athens , Colophon , and several other cities) is mentioned by Aristotle as the smallest silver coin.:237 Various multiples of this denomination were also struck, including the trihemitetartemorion (literally three half-tetartemorioi) valued at 3/8 of an obol.:

Denominations of silver drachma
Image Denomination Value Weight
Dekadrachm 10 drachmas 43 grams
Tetradrachm 4 drachmas 17.2 grams
Didrachm 2 drachmas 8.6 grams
Drachma 6 obols 4.3 grams
Tetrobol 4 obols 2.85 grams
Triobol (hemidrachm) 3 obols 2.15 grams
Diobol 2 obols 1.43 grams
Obol 4 tetartemorions 0.72 grams
Tritartemorion 3 tetartemorions 0.54 grams
Hemiobol 2 tetartemorions 0.36 grams
Trihemitartemorion 3/2 tetartemorions 0.27 grams
Tetartemorion   0.18 grams
Hemitartemorion ½ tetartemorion 0.09 grams

Archaic period Archaic coinage Uninscribed electrum coin from Lydia , 6th century BCE. Obverse : lion head and sunburst Reverse : plain square imprints, probably used to standardise weight Electrum coin from Ephesus , 620-600 BC. Obverse: Forepart of stag. Reverse: Square incuse punch.

The first coins were issued in either Lydia or Ionia in Asia Minor at some time before 600 BC, either by the non-Greek Lydians for their own use or perhaps because Greek mercenaries wanted to be paid in precious metal at the conclusion of their time of service, and wanted to have their payments marked in a way that would authenticate them. These coins were made of electrum , an alloy of gold and silver that was highly prized and abundant in that area. By the middle of the 6th century BC, technology had advanced, making the production of pure gold and silver coins simpler. Accordingly, King Croesus introduced a bi-metallic standard that allowed for coins of pure gold and pure silver to be struck and traded in the marketplace.

Coins of Aegina Silver stater of Aegina, 550-530 BC. Obv. Sea turtle with large pellets down center. Rev. incuse square with eight sections. After the end of the Peloponnesian War , 404 BC, Sea turtle was replaced by the land tortoise . Silver drachma of Aegina, 404-340 BC. Obverse: Land tortoise . Reverse: inscription AΙΓ[INAΤΟΝ] ([of the] Aeg[inetans]) "Aegina" and dolphin.

The Greek world was divided into more than two thousand self-governing city-states (in Greek , poleis ), and more than half of them issued their own coins. Some coins circulated widely beyond their polis , indicating that they were being used in inter-city trade; the first example appears to have been the silver stater or didrachm of Aegina that regularly turns up in hoards in Egypt and the Levant , places which were deficient in silver supply. As such coins circulated more widely, other cities began to mint coins to this "Aeginetan" weight standard of (6.1 grams to the drachm), other cities included their own symbols on the coins. This is not unlike present day Euro coins, which are recognisably from a particular country, but usable all over the Euro zone .

Athenian coins, however, were struck on the "Attic" standard, with a drachm equaling 4.3 grams of silver. Over time, Athens' plentiful supply of silver from the mines at Laurion and its increasing dominance in trade made this the pre-eminent standard. These coins, known as "owls" because of their central design feature, were also minted to an extremely tight standard of purity and weight. This contributed to their success as the premier trade coin of their era. Tetradrachms on this weight standard continued to be a widely used coin (often the most widely used) through the classical period. By the time of Alexander the Great and his Hellenistic successors , this large denomination was being regularly used to make large payments, or was often saved for hoarding.

Classical period A Syracusan tetradrachm (c. 415–405 BC) Obverse : head of the nymph Arethusa , surrounded by four swimming dolphins and a rudder Reverse : a racing quadriga , its charioteer crowned by the goddess Victory in flight. Tetradrachm of Athens , (5th century BC) Obverse : a portrait of Athena , patron goddess of the city, in helmet Reverse : the owl of Athens, with an olive sprig and the inscription "ΑΘΕ", short for ΑΘΕΝΑΙΟΝ, "of the Athenians "

The Classical period saw Greek coinage reach a high level of technical and aesthetic quality. Larger cities now produced a range of fine silver and gold coins, most bearing a portrait of their patron god or goddess or a legendary hero on one side, and a symbol of the city on the other. Some coins employed a visual pun: some coins from Rhodes featured a rose, since the Greek word for rose is rhodon . The use of inscriptions on coins also began, usually the name of the issuing city.

The wealthy cities of Sicily produced some especially fine coins. The large silver decadrachm (10-drachm) coin from Syracuse is regarded by many collectors as the finest coin produced in the ancient world, perhaps ever. Syracusan issues were rather standard in their imprints, one side bearing the head of the nymph Arethusa and the other usually a victorious quadriga . The tyrants of Syracuse were fabulously rich, and part of their public relations policy was to fund quadrigas for the Olympic chariot race , a very expensive undertaking. As they were often able to finance more than one quadriga at a time, they were frequent victors in this highly prestigious event.

Syracuse was one of the epicenters of numismatic art during the classical period. Led by the engravers Kimon and Euainetos, Syracuse produced some of the finest coin designs of antiquity.

Hellenistic period Gold 20-stater of Eucratides I , the largest gold coin ever minted in Antiquity. Drachma of Alexandria , 222-235 AD. Obverse: Laureate head of Alexander Severus , KAI(ΣΑΡ) MAP(ΚΟΣ) AYP(ΗΛΙΟΣ) ΣЄY(ΑΣΤΟΣ) AΛЄΞANΔPOΣ ЄYΣЄ(ΒΗΣ). Reverse: Bust of Asclepius .

The Hellenistic period was characterized by the spread of Greek culture across a large part of the known world. Greek-speaking kingdoms were established in Egypt and Syria , and for a time also in Iran and as far east as what is now Afghanistan and northwestern India . Greek traders spread Greek coins across this vast area, and the new kingdoms soon began to produce their own coins. Because these kingdoms were much larger and wealthier than the Greek city states of the classical period, their coins tended to be more mass-produced, as well as larger, and more frequently in gold. They often lacked the aesthetic delicacy of coins of the earlier period.

Still, some of the Greco-Bactrian coins, and those of their successors in India, the Indo-Greeks , are considered the finest examples of Greek numismatic art with "a nice blend of realism and idealization", including the largest coins to be minted in the Hellenistic world: the largest gold coin was minted by Eucratides (reigned 171–145 BC), the largest silver coin by the Indo-Greek king Amyntas Nikator (reigned c. 95–90 BC). The portraits "show a degree of individuality never matched by the often bland depictions of their royal contemporaries further West" (Roger Ling, "Greece and the Hellenistic World").

The most striking new feature of Hellenistic coins was the use of portraits of living people, namely of the kings themselves. This practice had begun in Sicily, but was disapproved of by other Greeks as showing hubris (arrogance). But the kings of Ptolemaic Egypt and Seleucid Syria had no such scruples: having already awarded themselves with "divine" status, they issued magnificent gold coins adorned with their own portraits, with the symbols of their state on the reverse. The names of the kings were frequently inscribed on the coin as well. This established a pattern for coins which has persisted ever since: a portrait of the king, usually in profile and striking a heroic pose, on the obverse, with his name beside him, and a coat of arms or other symbol of state on the reverse.

Minting

All Greek coins were handmade , rather than machined as modern coins are. The design for the obverse was carved (in incuso ) into a block of bronze or possibly iron, called a die . The design of the reverse was carved into a similar punch. A blank disk of gold, silver, or electrum was cast in a mold and then, placed between these two and the punch struck hard with a hammer, raising the design on both sides of the coin.

Coins as a symbol of the city-state

Coins of Greek city-states depicted a unique symbol or feature, an early form of emblem , also known as badge in numismatics, that represented their city and promoted the prestige of their state. Corinthian stater for example depicted pegasus the mythological winged stallion, tamed by their hero Bellerophon . Coins of Ephesus depicted the bee sacred to Artemis . Drachmas of Athens depicted the owl of Athena . Drachmas of Aegina depicted a chelone . Coins of Selinunte depicted a "selinon" (σέλινον - celery ). Coins of Heraclea depicted Heracles . Coins of Gela depicted a man-headed bull, the personification of the river Gela . Coins of Rhodes depicted a "rhodon" (ῥόδον[8] - rose ). Coins of Knossos depicted the labyrinth or the mythical creature minotaur , a symbol of the Minoan Crete . Coins of Melos depicted a "mēlon" (μήλον - apple ). Coins of Thebes depicted a Boeotian shield.

 

Corinthian stater with pegasus Coin of Rhodes with a rose Didrachm of Selinunte with a celery Coin of Ephesus with a bee Stater of Olympia depicting Nike Coin of Melos with an apple Obolus from Stymphalia with a Stymphalian bird Coin of Thebes with a Boeotian shield Coin of Gela with a man-headed bull, the personification of the river Gela Didrachm of Knossos depicting the Minotaur

Commemorative coins   Dekadrachm of Syracuse [disambiguation needed ]. Head of Arethusa or queen Demarete. ΣΥΡΑΚΟΣΙΟΝ (of the Syracusians), around four dolphins

The use of commemorative coins to celebrate a victory or an achievement of the state was a Greek invention. Coins are valuable, durable and pass through many hands. In an age without newspapers or other mass media, they were an ideal way of disseminating a political message. The first such coin was a commemorative decadrachm issued by Athens following the Greek victory in the Persian Wars . On these coins that were struck around 480 BC, the owl of Athens, the goddess Athena 's sacred bird, was depicted facing the viewer with wings outstretched, holding a spray of olive leaves, the olive tree being Athena's sacred plant and also a symbol of peace and prosperity. The message was that Athens was powerful and victorious, but also peace-loving. Another commemorative coin, a silver dekadrachm known as " Demareteion", was minted at Syracuse at approximately the same time to celebrate the defeat of the Carthaginians . On the obverse it bears a portrait of Arethusa or queen Demarete.

Ancient Greek coins today

Collections of Ancient Greek coins are held by museums around the world, of which the collections of the British Museum , the American Numismatic Society , and the Danish National Museum are considered to be the finest. The American Numismatic Society collection comprises some 100,000 ancient Greek coins from many regions and mints, from Spain and North Africa to Afghanistan. To varying degrees, these coins are available for study by academics and researchers.

There is also an active collector market for Greek coins. Several auction houses in Europe and the United States specialize in ancient coins (including Greek) and there is also a large on-line market for such coins.

Hoards of Greek coins are still being found in Europe, Middle East, and North Africa, and some of the coins in these hoards find their way onto the market. Coins are the only art form from the Ancient world which is common enough and durable enough to be within the reach of ordinary collectors.

 


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