Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 17.djvu/704

Rh 646 NUMISMATICS [ASIA MINOR. frenzy. Of Parium there are very early silver coins, interrupted and resumed in the period of good art. The leading type is the Gorgon s head. Per- The money of the great city of Pergamus or Pergamum is chiefly gamum. of a late time. There are, indeed, small gold and silver pieces of the good period, the former being very rare ; the leading type is an archaic figure of Pallas. The silver coinage is next supplied by the money of the kings of Pergamum, followed by cistophori, which began under the kingdom. The bronze pieces of the city are numer ous, both autonomous and imperial, the two classes overlapping, and there are medallions of the emperors. The local worship of .flCsculapius is especially prominent under the Roman rule. The chief coin s of the kings are Attic tetradrachms, with on the obverse a laureate head, supposed to be that of Philetrerus, the founder of the state, and on the reverse a seated Athene, the common type of Lysimachus, from whom Philetnerus revolted. This type is but twice varied by the heads of later kings. The inscription is always fclAETAIPOY, a monogram sometimes indicating the name of the king by whom the coin was issued. The absence of the regal style is noticeable, and, though in the usual type the diadem is generally shown as wound round the laurel-wreath, it does not always appear. There are also unimportant bronze coins of the kings. The cisto- phorus was so called from its obverse type, the cista mystica, a basket from which a serpent issues, the whole enclosed in an ivy-wreath. The reverse type represents two serpents, and between them usually a bow -case. The half and the quarter of the cistophorus have on one side a bunch of grapes on a leaf or leaves of the vine, and the club with the lion s skin of Heracles within an ivy-wreath. They were tetradrachms equal in weight to three Attic drachms or three denarii, and the half and the quarter would be exchangeable with Roman coins, three quinarii and a quinarius and sestertius respectively. These coins became abundant when the kingdom of Pergamum was transformed into the province of Asia, and are struck at its chief cities, Pergamum, Parium, Adramyttium,Thyatira, Sardis, Smyrna, Ephesus, Tralles, Nysa, Laodicea, and Apamea. They have at first the names of Greek magistrates, afterwards coupled with those of Roman proconsuls or proprietors. The silver medal lions of Asia, the successors of the cistophori, range from Mark Antony to Hadrian and Sabina. They bear no names of cities, but some may be attributed by their references to local forms of worship. The obverse bears an imperial head, the reverse a type either Greek or Roman. The art is the best of this age, more deli cate in design and execution than that of any other pieces, the Roman medallions excepted. The The coinage of the Troad is interesting from its traditional allusions Troad. to the Trojan War. Of Abydos there is a fine gold stater, with the unusual subject of Nice sacrificing a ram, and the eagle, which is the most constant type of the silver money, a series chiefly notice able for the coarse style and bad fabric of the late Attic tetradrachms. One of the few imperial coins commemorates the legend of Hero and Leander. The late tetradrachms of Alexandria Troas bear the head of Apollo Smintheus, and on the reverse his figure armed with a bow ; the inscription is AnOAAftNOS ZMI0EfiS AAEft- ANAPEHN. There is a long series of the town as a colonia, of extremely poor work. Dardanus has remarkable silver coins, both early and fine. Ilium Kovum strikes late Attic tetradrachms with a head of Athene, and on the reverse the same goddess carrying spear and distaff, with the inscription A0HNA2 IAIAAOX On the autonomous and imperial bronze we notice incidents of the tale of Troy, as Hector in his car, or slaying Patroclus, or fighting ; the other side, for this coin is autonomous, shows the wolf and twins, and again the flight of ^neas. Of Scepsis, which is said to have been the capital of a Dardanian kingdom for a long period between the fall of Troy and the age of Alexander, there are early silver coins, and some of its bronze money is of good style. The island of Tenedos is represented by very early coins, and others of the fine and late periods. The usual obverse type of all the silver pieces is a Janus- like combination of two heads, probably those of a Zeus and a Hera ; and the reverse type of all but the oldest is a two-headed axe. jEolis. In jEolis the most noteworthy coins are the late tetradrachms of Cyme and Myrina, both of the time of decline, yet with a certain strength which relieves them from the general weakness of the work of that age. Cyme has the head of the Amazon Cyme, and a horse within a laurel-wreath ; Myrina, a head of Apollo and his figure with lustral branch and patera. The rest of the coins of these and other towns are bronze, autonomous and imperial. Lesbos. Lesbos is remarkable for having coined in base as well as pure silver, its early billon coins being peculiar to the island, and not easily classed to the cities like the silver. They are of various weights, as if the alloy had not been reckoned at first, but afterwards admitted, unlike the electrum of the coast, in which the silver was always excluded from the value. Methymna has very interesting archaic silver coins, with the boar and the head of Athene, her helmet adorned with a Pegasus rising above her forehead. There are later coins of about 400 B.C. and about Alexander s time. The types are the head of Athene and the lyre. The weight is Attic. Of Mytilene there are few coins until late in the Persian dominion. The types are the head of Apollo and the lyre. The style is fine for the period, with the strongly expressive quality that marks the contemporary western Asiatic currencies, and the execution is care ful. There is a long and important series of the imperial time, including very interesting commemorative coins, some probably of persons of legend as Nausicaa, or of remote history as Sappho, others of benefactors of the city as Theophanes the friend of Pompey, from whom he obtained for this his native place the privileges of a free city. The usual style for these persons is hero or heroine, but Theo phanes is called a god, and Archedamis, probably his wife, a goddess. The money of Ionia is abundant and beautiful. Clazomense is Ionia, the first city of interest. Here we observe a very early tetradrachm of Attic weight with the types of a lion gnawing his prey, and the forepart of a winged sow. Drachms and smaller coins follow with the forepart of the sow and an incuse. Then there is the break frequently noticeable in Asia Minor, and the coinage begins anew with splendid coins of the age before Alexander, having for types the head of Apollo, three-quarter face, and a swan. The chief pieces, the gold drachm and a half or octobol, and the silver stater or tetra drachm, present two types of the head of Apollo, very grand on the gold and the silver, with the signature of Theodotus, the only known Asiatic engraver, and richly beautiful on the other silver piece. These coins are marked by the intense expression of the school of western Asia Minor. Colophon has a very early Attic didrachm, followed by transitional Persic coins with the head of Apollo and the lyre, next the common break, during which the famous pieces with a regal portrait, to be noticed under Persia, were probably issued, and then, about Alexander s time, an over- refined repetition of the earlier type. The money of Ephesus is historically interesting, but very dis- Ephesus appointing in its art, which is limited by the small range of subjects and their lack of beauty. The leading type is the bee ; later the stag and the head of Artemis appear. Thus the subjects relate to the worship of the famous shrine. The oldest coins are electrum and silver, both on the Phoenician standard. The type is a bee and the reverse is incuse. The silver coinage continues with the same types, unbroken by the Persian dominion, until in 394 B.C. a remark able new coin appears. When Conon and Pharnabazus defeated the Lacedaemonian fleet and liberated the Greek cities of Asia from Spartan tyranny a federal coinage was issued by Rhodes, Cnidus, Samos, and Ephesus, with their proper types on the reverse, but on the obverse the infant Heracles strangling two serpents ; these are Rhodian tridrachms. About this time the Rhodian standard was introduced, and a series of tetradrachms began with the bee, having for reverse the forepart of a stag looking back, and behind him a date-palm. This type continues till 301 B.C. on the Rhodian standard, which is then abandoned, and the Attic supersedes it for a short time. Bronze now begins. The head of Artemis as a Greek goddess next occupies the obverse, and the mint of Ephesus also issues tetradrachms of Lysimachus. He subsequently gave the city the name of Arsinoe, his wife, and a few coins record this short-lived change. The next coins repeat the head of Artemis, and the fore part of the stag and the palm-tree again occupy the reverse. The head is specially beautiful, and the whole coin of most careful work. The Ptolemaic rule is commemorated by the splendid octadrachm of Queen Berenice II. struck here. At this time the Attic standard was abandoned, and the Rhodian, then very popular in the com merce of the eastern Mediterranean, was adopted. The city after wards fell into the hands of Antiochus III. About this time Alexandrine tetradrachms were here minted ; it would seem most reasonable to date them from the peace of 189 B.C., when the Romans endeavoured to conciliate the cities of the coast, but there are reasons for supposing that they began earlier with a monetary alliance between Ephesus and the great Phoenician mart Aradus. The Attic weight was thus restored, and there is a long issue of drachms on that standard, with the types of the bee, and the stag standing on the nearer side of the palm-tree. To the same age belong the Ephesian tetradrachms of the kings of Pergamum, to whose territory the Romans had assigned Ephesus, and undated cis tophori. When in 133 B. c. the Roman people inherited the kingdom of Pergamum, an issue of dat^d cistophori began at Ephesus, which was the chief city of the Roman province of Asia. This is not interrupted by the revolt, when Ephesus took the side of Mithra- dates (87-84 B.C.), which, however, is marked by a series of gold Attic didrachnis and a solitary coin of strange weight, which may be a half-aureus issued by Sulla (84 B.C. ), as Mommsen ingeniously supposes. The Roman rule is next marked by the issue of procon sular cistophori. After the disturbance caused by the civil wars these cease, and there are only bronze pieces, which we may sup pose to be of the latest days of the republic. The imperial money follows, of far higher interest than the autonomous. There are many representations of the temples of the city, including that of the famous shrine of Artemis, which shows the bands of sculpture on the columns, as well as many other remarkable subjects, parti cularly the Zeus of rain seated on Mount Prion, a shower falling from his left hand, while below are seen the temple of Artemis and the river-god Cavster ; on another coin the strange Asiatic figure