Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 17.djvu/702

Rh NUMISMATICS [CRETE. have a markedly local character, yet they copy in some instances other coinages. The chief divinities on the pieces are Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Heracles, and Britomartis, and the leading myths are those of Minos, the story of the Minotaur and the labyrinth being prominent, and also that of Europa. There is frequent reference to nature-worship as in Sicily, yet with a distinctive preference for trees, the forms of which, however, lend themselves readily to the free representation of Cretan art, which may in part explain their prominence. The weight is at first jEginetic, falling almost to Attic ; and in the resumption of the coinage after Alexander s time it is Attic. Of the island in general there are Koman silver coins of the earlier emperors, some of which are of fine work for the period. The inscriptions are in Latin, or partly in Latin and partly in Greek. In the autonomous civic series there are didrachms of Aptera. The obverse bears a female head wearing a stephane and the reverse a warrior before a sacred tree. Of Chersonesus, the port of Lyctus, called on the coins Chersonasus, there are di drachms of coarse style, mainly copied from the splendid piece of Stymphalus in Arcadia. The head of Artemis is here appropriated to Artemis Britomartis, who had a temple at the place, and the reverse of Heracles striking with his club is varied by the sub stitution of the figure of Apollo seated. The silver money of Cnossus is of great interest. The oldest coins are archaic in style, and may be as early in date as the expedition of Xerxes. They bear the figure of the Minotaur as a bull-headed man, kneeling on one knee, and a nipeander-pattern, in one case enclosing a star (the sun), in another a female head (Ariadne ?). The antiquity of these coins disproves the supposition that the Cretan labyrinth at Cnossus was an invention of the later poets. Of the early time of good art there are didrachms of Cnossus with the head of Perse phone and an unknown divinity, and the labyrinthine pattern enclosing the sun or the moon or a bull s head for the Minotaur, and at length becoming a regular maze. To this time belongs the wonderful coin in the Berlin Museum with Minos seated, his name in the field, and the head of Persephone within the nuuander- pattern. In the later age of fine art a head of Hera wearing a Stephanos occupies the obverse of didrachms and drachms, and the reverse has a maze through which the way may be clearly traced. The head is closely copied from the same type of Argos, and despite its beauty shows a distinct inferiority, unlike the copies of Syracuse by artists of the mainland. This series closes with Alexander s empire, and the native coinage disappears until the league of Cephisodorus revives it with the Athenian tetradrachm of Attic weight, bearing the name of the Cnossians. It is of inferior style, and is followed by base coins with heads of Minos and Apollo, and the Labyrinth, either square as before or in a new circular form, which is interesting as showing it was a mere matter of tradition. There are interesting coins of Cydonia, some of them of beautiful style and work. One is remarkably like a coin of Aptera, and bears an engraver s name, Neuantus, a point showing the im portance attached by the Cretans to the designs of their money. The head is that of a Majnad, and the reverse has a figure of the traditional founder Cydon, stringing his bow. The style is good, but the execution poor. A drachm presents a most beautiful repetition of the subject of Cydon. Gortys, or Gortyna, is repre sented by most remarkable coins, which generally allude to the myth of Europa. Didrachms of archaic style have on the obverse Europa carried by the bull and on the reverse the lion s scalp. These pieces are followed by a remarkably fine class of spread didrachms ; the best are of about 400 B. c. They have on the obverse Europa seated in a pensive attitude on the trunk of a tree, doubt less the sacred plane at Gortyna, mentioned by Pliny, which was said never to shed its leaves, and on the reverse a bull suddenly turning his head as if stung by a fly. Nothing in Greek art exceeds the skill and beauty of these designs. The truth with which the tree is sketched, one engraver even indicating the letters cut by visitors in the trunk, and the graceful position of the forlorn Europa are as much to be admired as the fidelity with which the bull is drawn, even when foreshortened, sharply turning his head, with his tongue out and his tail raised. These designs, beautiful in them selves, are strikingly deficient in fitness, and afford equally strong illustrations of the excellencies and of the one great fault of the art of Cretan coins. Many pieces of the same class are of rude execu tion. There is a tetradrachm of the Athenian group having the symbol of a butting bull. Later silver coins have the head of Minos. The coins of Hierapytna are remarkable for bearing the representation of a date-palm. Of Itanus there are remarkable coins, the earlier, some of which are of good style, with the subject of a Tritonian sea-god (Glaueus?) and two sea-monsters, changed for a head of Athene and an eagle, the Triton frequently appearing in the field as a symbol. Lyctus, on the coins Lyttus, is represented by strangely rude pieces, with the types of a flying eagle and a boar s head which is curiously foreshortened. The coins of Phtestus form a most interesting series. Among the didrachms are some of ad mirable work, with on the obverse Heracles slaying the Hydra with liis club and on the reverse a bull. Others have on the obverse Heracles seated on the ground, resting. Another noticeable obverse type is the beardless Zeus seated in a tree, with his Cretan name EE AXANO2, where the E stands for the digamma. On his knee is a cock in the attitude of crowing, showing that he was a god of the dawn. The most remarkable coins of Phrestus are, however, those that bear representations of Talus, the man of brass, said to have been made by Hephaestus or Dredalus. One of these is a di- drachm, on which lie is portrayed as a winged youth, naked, bear ing in each hand a stone, and in a combatant attitude. This figure is accompanied by his name. A similar design is seen on a bronze coin. The reader will recollect that Apollonius Rhodius (Argonaut., iv. 1638 sq.) relates that Talus prevented the Argo nauts from landing in Crete by hurling stones at them, until he was destroyed by the artifice of Medea. The important town of Polyrrhenium, or Polyrrhenia (but one p on the coins), is represented by carefully - executed coins with a head of Zeus and a bull s head. A later piece has a remarkable obverse type, a whiskered head of Apollo, probably a Macedonian sovereign in that character. This is of Attic weight. Prresus has on its earlier coins the Gorgon s head and an archer, or an archer and an eagle ; later, Zeus seated, and, after the Cretan fashion, fore shortened. The coins of Priansus comprise didrachms of an unusual style and type, a head of a goddess or nymph, the hair, bound by narrow bands crossed diagonally, filling the large field. Priansus also shows the remarkable type of Persephone seated beside a date-palm, placing her right hand on the head of a serpent, in reference to the myth of the birth of Zagreus. As usual, the figure is foreshortened. The reverse has a standing figure of Poseidon. Rhaucus has Poseidon beside his horse. The rare didrachm of Sybrittia, or Sybrita, may fitly close the series ; the obverse has a charming subject, Dionysus seated on a running panther, and the reverse Hermes drawing on his right buskin, a delightful figure. Another beautiful type is a seated Dionysus. The coinage of Eubcea is all on the native standard, of which the Eubcea. Attic was a variety. It includes some of the very earliest Greek money. The older coins comprise tetradrachms, didrachms, and smaller pieces ; the later are uniformly tetrobols. The pieces which bear the name of the Eubceans date from the fine period to the fall of Hellenic liberty, the silver lasting only to Alexander s time. They bear the head of a nymph and that of an ox. One variety is very beautiful. The great cities have a far more interest ing series. Carystus begins in the time of the Persian &quot;War with the type of the cow and calf, as in Corey ra, and its special badge is the cock. Chalcis, the mother of Western colonies, has already in the 6th century a long series with the wheel-type and an incuse diagonally divided, and later, a nymph s head and an eagle devouring a serpent. Eretria begins as early as Chalcis, but the obverse type is the Gorgon s head. This is succeeded by the same type and a panther s head, and fine late archaic coins bear the cow and the cuttle-fish. Of Histia&amp;gt;a the usual type is the head of a Maaiad and a female figure seated on the stern of a galley. Among the other islands classed after Eubcea, Amorgos must not Cyclades be passed by, as a bronze coin of Mgiale, one of its towns, presents and Spo- the curious type of a cupping-glass. The silver money of Carthtea rades. and Coressus in Ceos is extremely old, beginning in each case in the 6th century and ending early in the 4th. The weight is .&amp;lt;Egine- tic, and there are didrachms and smaller coins. The usual types of Carthwa are an amphora and then a bunch of grapes; that of Coressus is a cuttle-fish and dolphin. Naxos is represented by early jEginetic didrachms and coins of the fine period, the latter being chiefly bronze pieces of remarkably delicate and good work. The types are Dionysiac. Of Paros there are early ^Eginetic didrachms with the type of a kneeling goat and beneath a dolphin. Of the third and second centuries B.C. there are Attic didrachms with a head, possibly of Artemis, at first of a charming style, and a goat on the reverse. There are very archaic .&amp;lt;Eginetic didrachms of Siplmos. Some of the bronze pieces are of the best period and very fine. Of Tenos there are silver coins of the age of the kings. The head of the bearded Ammon occurs on tetradrachms following the Attic standard, and on smaller pieces that of the younger Ammon, both heads laureate as well as horned ; the reverse type is Poseidon. The coinage of Asia begins with that of Asia Minor. It falls Asia into certain great classes first, the ancient gold and electrum, Minor. Lydian and Greek, in time succeeded by electrum or gold and silver, all struck in the west and mainly on the coast. Then the Persian dominion appears in the silver money of the satraps, circulating with the gold and silver of Persia, and the Greek money is limited to a few cities of the coast, none save the elec trum of the great mint of Cyzicus uninterrupted by the barbarian. With the decay of the barbarian empire the renewed life of the Greek cities is witnessed by a beautiful coinage along the coast from the Propontis to Cilicia. On Alexander s conquest autonomy is granted to the much-enduring Hellenic coTimmnities, and is again interrupted, but only partially, by the rule of his successors, for there was no time at which Asia Minor was wholly parcelled out among the kings, Greek or native. The Romans, after the battle of Magnesia (190 B.C. ), repeated Alexander s policy so far as the cities