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LYCIA - EARLY ANEPIGRAPHIC COINS - AR Stater, circa 500-480 BC
weight 9,37gr. ; silver Ø 19mm.
obv. Forepart of wild boar left
rev. Incuse square with two globules in centre of rough pattern
The earliest coins of Lycia were anepigraphic coins (without any legend). The wild boar was the most popular motiv for these coins and was associated with Apollo. The weight-standard is the Babylonic, but shows considerable irregularity, and a tendency to fall to the Euboïc standard. The staters are divided into thirds (tetrobols), sixths (diobols), twelfths (obols), but also occasionally into halves (drachms).
BMC - ; SNG.Copenhagen 2-3 ; SNG.von Aulock 4050 ;
Vismara II, 11 ; cf. Müseler I, 14 ; cf. SNG.Delepierre 2800 ;
Slg. Dr. Maag - (Peus Nachf., Auktion 407) ;
cf. Slg. Dr. Sayar 7 (Künker, Auktion 402 ; in vf € 1.200 + 25%) ;
Sear- (cf. 5178) ; cf. Rosen collection 689 ; Müseler- (cf. II, 7) ;
cf. Babelon, Traité I, page 490, no.790 (Pl.XXI, 7) R
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LYCIA - EARLY ANEPIGRAPHIC COINS - AR Stater, circa 500-480 BC
weight 9,29gr. ; silver Ø 17mm.
obv. Forepart of wild boar right
rev. Irregular incuse square
The earliest coins of Lycia were anepigraphic coins (without any legend). The wild boar was the most popular motiv for these coins and was associated with Apollo. The weight-standard is the Babylonic, but shows considerable irregularity, and a tendency to fall to the Euboïc standard. The staters are divided into thirds (tetrobols), sixths (diobols), twelfths (obols), but also occasionally into halves (drachms).
BMC 1 ; SNG.Copenhagen suppl.367 ; SNG.von Aulock 8459 ;
Vismara II, 26-28 ; cf. Price/Waggoner, Asyut, 743 ;
Babelon, Traité- ; Müseler- (cf. II, 7) ; Sear- (cf. 5178) RR
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LYCIA, OINOANDA - AR Didrachm or stater, year 3, 186-185 BC (?)
weight 8,51gr.; silver Ø 21mm.
obv. Laureate head of Zeus right, lotus-tipped scepter over shoulder,
B behind (lower left)
rev. Eagle with folded wings standing right on winged thunderbolt;
sceptre (or sword) behind round shield in right field,
OINOANΔЄωN below (off-flan).
Oinoanda was an ancient Greek city in Lycia, in the upper valley of the River Xanthus. The early history of the settlement is obscure. It is already mentioned in Hittite texts as ″Wiyanawanda″ and it is certainly one of the oldest towns in this part of modern Turkey. It seems that Oinoanda became a colony of Termessos (Major) about 200-190 BC and was also called Termessos Minor. Oenoanda was the most southerly of the Kibyran Tetrapoleis in the Hellenistic Period, which was dissolved by L. Licinius Murena in 84 BC, whereupon Oenoanda, originally not a Lycian town, became part of the Koinon of Lycia, together with the cities Cibyra, Balbura, and Bubon.
In the second century AD, one of the citizens of Oenoanda, the Epicurean Diogenes, presented his town with a very large inscription on a long wall, in which he showed the Oenoandans the road to happiness. It is one of the most important sources for the philosophical school of Epicurus. It was originally about 25.000 words long and filled 260 square meters of wall space. The ruins of the city, discovered at the end of the nineteenth century, lie west of the modern village İncealiler in the Fethiye district of Muğla Province, Turkey, which partly overlies the ancient site.
The Treaty of Apamea of 188 BC, was peace treaty between the Roman Republic and Antiochus III, ruler of the Seleucid Empire. It is believed that this was the start of a new Era, also used on the coins of Oinoanda.
Until about two decade′s ago, only a single coin of Oinoanda, the example in the British Museum, acquired in 1897, was known to exist. The discovery in the early 2000s of a significant group of about 100 didrachms brought many more examples to market and added significantly to our understanding of the coinage, revealing that at least three distinct issues, marked by a sequence of letters and symbols, were originally struck. The presence of the lotus-scepter over the shoulder of Zeus and the eagle-on-thunderbolt reverse motif both suggest a close affinity to the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt.
BMC 1 (unique) ; SNG.Copenhagen - ; SNG.von Aulock- ;
SNG.Tübingen- ; Weber collection- ; SNG.Delepierre- ; McClean- ;
Slg. Dr. Maag - (Peus Nachf. Auktion 407) ; Ashton, NC 2005, 6b ;
Slg. Dr. Sayer 284 (Künker Auktion 402) ; Müseler X, 13 ;
Sear 5318 (unique) RR
Beautiful specimen with attractive toning. Very rare.
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LYCIA, PHASELIS - MENEKRATES, magistrate - AR Stater, circa 167-130 BC
weight 11,16gr. ; silver Ø 27mm.
obv. Laureate head of Apollo right within border of dots
rev. Prow of galley right, surmounted by Athena standing right, brandishing thunderbolt
and holding aegis, beneath prow; MENEKPATHΣ
Settlers from nearby Rhodes established a colony in 690 BC, which would become the city of Phaselis.In fact is was the only purely Greek city within Lycia. With three separate natural harbors the city soon became a major trading center. Phaselis was incorporated into the Persian Empire in 546 BC and then conquered by the Athenians under Kimon in 469 BC. In the 4th century BC Persian rule was re-established and Phaselis was allied with the satrap Mausollos from Halicarnassos. In 333-334 BC, during his campaign against the Persians, Alexander the Great and his naval fleet led by his admiral Nearchos was welcomed at Phaselis where he remained for the winter. After the death of Alexander, Phaselis was ruled in turn from Ptolemaic Egypt, Seleucid Syria and Rhodes, until 160 BC when it was absorbed into the Lycian confederacy under Roman domination.
The people from Phaselis sailed far afield from an early date, for they played a part in the trading station at Naucratis in Egypt from early in the sixth century BC or before. Their coinage was certainly one of the earliest in the area, and from the start its type bears witness to the maritime interests of Phaselis. It is the prow of a warship, which is constructed to resemble the forepart of a boar. The Phaselis tradesmen were well-known in ancient times in famous cities from Athens to Rome and Alexandria to Rhodes. But actually they didn′t have a really good reputation. A comment of the famous Greek orator Demosthenos reflects this; he characterizes the people of Phaselis as treacherous and inhumane. The famous harpist Stratonikos replied to the question of ″which people are most unreliable″, he answered ″in Pamphylia the people of Phaselis, across the world the people of Side″ . This also illustrates the rivalry between the cities of Side, in Pamphylia, and Phaselis. Pirates under the command of Zenecites overran Phaselis and nearby Olympos in the 1st century BC until Rome re-established control in 78 BC. During the Roman civil wars, Brutus bullied Phaselis into contributing funds. When emperor Hadrian visited the city in 131, Phaselis was adorned with new statues, monuments and buildings in his honor.
The foundation of the city by a certain Lakios from Rhodian Lindos is historically verifiable. The harbor towns on the island of Rhodes needed Lycian timber for shipbuilding and therefore founded several colonies around the south-eastern tip of Lycia. The staters of Phaselis, which were minted between 167 and 130 BC, depict a laurel-wreathed head of Apollo on the obverse and a lightning-throwing Athena standing on the bow of a ship on the reverse. Athena was the main goddess of the mother city of Lindos. Menekrates is a quite common Greek name. The first element of this name is derived from Greek μενω (meno) meaning "to stay, to remain" as well as "to last, to withstand". The second element is derived from Greek κρατος (kratos) meaning "power". Only a few specimens are known from this magistrate. Extremely rare.
BMC- ; SNG.Copenhagen- ; SNG.von Aulock- ;
McClean- ; Müseler- ; Heipp-Tamer 338 RRR
Small edgechip, otherwise very rare and attractive coin of good style.
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