A honey of a coin: Philip I provincial with beehive

problem with the baetyl explaination is that the objects you guys had shown really didn't look like baetyl.
the neck part was quite obvious on all those examples, and there just wasn't any evidence that roman baetyl looked that way.
baetyl often also featured textures carved into the surfaces. It simply wasn't the case on the coins shown here.

I think a few things ancients worshiped were mixed up, and calling all of them baetyl is like saying they are all mysterious objects.

IMHO, only these were baetyl:


a different type

 

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I like the civic fountain idea, myself.

 

Our bee hives produced approx 60 lbs of honey last year. Yum. I am now looking for Ancients (BC) with a honeybee on them.

 

Beeing a bee keeper in my youth, i love the honey bee's. they work as hard as any insect. but they produce the fruit of the wonderful honey, what other bug does that!! I love this new coin Tif, Awesome...

 

Brass--Absolutely terrific post!!

Well, now I'm sure I haven't seen a bee-hive and/or stand and temple on a coin before this thread.

Way to go TIF!!!

 

Nice beehive TIF, a very interesting example.

 

On the subject of BEEHIVES, I was reminded of the 1993 Tolarjev of Slovenia!! Slovenia has several "bee" coins. Their Tolarjev is swarming.
GSDykes

 

I'm not even slightly swayed by the baetyl argument. In the context of Roman Provincial coinage, baetyls always appear in an overtly religious context, i.e. ensconced in a temple, riding in the cart of Astarte, Melqart holding the Ambrosial stones of Tyre, etc. And they are specifically connected to the representation of Levantine gods. Can anyone produce evidence of a cult in Deultum that used baetyls?

 

I'm not convinced the thing is a baetyl either in the strictness sense of the word, and the point about the lack of evidence that there was such a cult in Deultum is a good one, but the coins that show the beehive/onion-shaped thing sitting on a temple or with a temple before it could possibly suggest some religious association?

There may have been a few Greek cults with sacred stones or monuments (to use terms that get us away from the Levantine association of baetyl), usually Apollo's. Illyrian Apollonia and Ambrakia in Epiros had obelisk-shaped pillars associated with the worship of Apollo. This coin of mine from Ambrakia, unfortunately quite worn, shows the Obelisk of Apollo set upon a base.



Of course, it looks very little like what we see on TIF's coin, which my mind is currently telling is as likely to be an egg-shaped spacecraft as anything else. ANCIENT ALIENS, anyone?

 

The beehive/onion thing is indeed a mystery, but obelisk-shaped pillars are not baetyls. Baetyls were an expression of the prohibition against graven images of gods, found specifically in ancient Levantine religions. Obviously the Greeks had no such prohibitions. If you're looking for a baetyl, you've got to look for it in the proper cultural context.

 

This is a pretty interesting subject. I don't know if the obelisk-shaped pillars should be called baetyls, but they actually were taken to be examples of aniconic worship. Pausanias writes about the Greeks in various regions worshipping stones and monuments, for example the Thespians of Boeotia revering a stone that was the representation of Eros. It must have been a pretty sexy stone!

 

copied text FYI only:

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints uses the beehive as a representation of the industry, harmony, order and frugality of the people, and of the sweet results of their toil, union and intelligent cooperation.

Surviving Mormon gold coins of 1849 depicting the beehive are rare & quite expensive.

 

Baetyl? ... ummm, did somebody mention Baetyl?

Phoenicia, Sidon. AE-23
Year 227 (AD 116-117)
Diameter: 23 mm
Weight: 10.56 grams
Obverse: Turreted, draped and veiled bust of Tyche right, aphlastron behind, star before
Reverse: Car of Astarte, baetyl within, date ZKS below
Reference: BMC Phoenicia, p. 175, 197ff; SNG Cop 247



..... whoa, I almost missed an opportunity to sneak-in one of my babies!!

 

JA => that chick made outta river rocks is absolutely awesome!!

 

JA does come up with a totally excellent one every now and then.