Musical Instruments (revisited?)

I think this topic has been covered before but we have a lot of new members and regulars with new acquisitions since the last time it was discussed. This is my only ancient coin featuring a musical instrument.

 

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Nice @Deacon Ray ! Those little Dichalkons are pretty cool, aren't they?

Here are some of my Lyres:


RImp P Clodius Mf Turrinus AR denarius 20mm 3.6g Rome 42 BCE Laureate hd Apollo R lyre - Diana Lucifera torches Cr 494-23 CRI 184 Syd 1117



RImp Octavian 32-31 BCE AR Den Rome mint Bare CAESAR DIVI F Mercury lyre RIC 257 Sear 1550



RI Commodus 177-192 CE AR Denarius 17.7mm 2.42g Apollo Plectrum Lyre RIC 218 RSC 25 BMCRE 292 Rare Type



RI Trebonianus Gallus 251-253 CE Ant 20mm 3.0g Apollo Lyre RIC 32 RSC 20

 

revisited:

my favourite:

 

Beautiful coin, DR!

Earlier this year @chrsmat71 had a stringed instrument thread whose title still makes me laugh: "Come On Baby Like My Lyres"


TROAS, Alexandria. Trebonianus Gallus
CE 251-253
AE 21 mm, 4.76 gm
Obv: IMP VIB TREB GALVS AV; laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right
Rev: COL AV / TROA; Apollo, head right and holding kithara, seated facing on griffin springing right, head left
Ref: RPC IX 407; Bellinger A403

Apparently kitharas were rather sophisticated, having the ancient equivalent of two whammy bars for dynamic pitch bending! "Guitar" is derived from the word kithara, with a few pitstops in other languages between. Here's a cool video from someone who recreated the instrument by studying ancient illustrations on pottery and coins:





THRACE, Sestos (sometimes spelled Sestus)
c. 3rd-2nd century BCE
AE 16.6, 2.35 gm
Obv: Head of Hermes left, wearing petasos; dotted border
Rev: chelys; ΣH downward in right field; dotted border
Ref: von Fritz, Nomisma 1, 15 (coin 29 on plate 1 in that book)
ex Stevex6 Collection

The chelys is a simple stringed instrument with a tortoise shell (or similar) resonator. I don't know if it is just another name for lyre or if it is a specific type of lyre.


Roman Republic
moneyer L. Julius L. f. Caesar, 103 BC
AR denarius, 17mm, 3.9 gm
Obv: Helmeted head of Mars left; CAESAR; ・C (retrograde)
Rev: Venus Genetrix in chariot left, drawn by two Cupids; lyre to left; ・C (retrograde) above
Ref: Crawford 320/1
ex RBW Collection


IONIA, Teos
AR diobol (reduced standard), 10 mm, 0.98 gm
Obv: seated griffin right, paw raised
Rev: lyre, THI, magistrate’s name


LESBOS, Mytilene
400-350 BCE
AE14, 1.7 gm
Obv: head of Aphrodite (?) right, wearing stephane
Rev: M-Y, T-I; lyre; tripod (?, looks like an arrow) in left field, monogram in right field
Ref: SG 4272?; may also be MacDonald Mytilene #4.

 

I've shown this Pius Sestertius before, but I figure a thread of Apollo holding a Lyre wouldn't be complete without it. Great coin Deacon Ray with terrific graphic display as usual.

 

Very nice coin and professional display!

The only coin I have with a lyre:


Sicily, Kentoripai Æ Hemilitron – Reign of Timoleon (Ca. 344-336 B.C.)
Obverse: Laureate head of Apollo right.
Reverse: KENTO-ΡIΠINΩN; lyre, three pellets above and bellow.
22mm; 8,77g

 

Some Apollo and lyre coins:


Gordian III, AD 238-244.
Roman AE Sestertius, 20.01 gm, 28.2 mm, 11 h.
Rome, 5th officina. 9th emission, AD 241.
Obv: IMP GORDIANVS PIVS FEL AVG, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust, right.
Rev: PM TRP IIII COS II PP SC, Apollo seated left, holding laurel branch and resting left arm on lyre.
Refs: RIC 302; Cohen 252; Sear --; Banti 72.


Gordian III and Tranquillina.
Roman provincial AE 25.8 mm, 11.44 g.
Thrace, Mesembria, AD 241.
Obv: ΑVΤ Κ Μ ΓΟΡΔΙΑΝΟC ΑVΓ CΕΒ-ΤΡΑΝΚVΛΛΙΝ[Α], laureate, draped and cuirassed bust of Gordian and draped bust of Tranquillina, wearing stephane, confronted.
Rev: ΜΕCΑΜΒΡΙΑΝΩΝ, Apollo in long robe, standing left, holding plectrum in outstretched right hand and resting left on lyre set on column.
Refs: Moushmov 3998; Varbanov 4175-4176.


Trebonianus Gallus, AD 251-253.
Roman AR antoninianus, 3.60 g, 19.2 mm, 6h.
Rome, 6th officina, 4th emission, early AD 253.
Obv: IMP CAE C VIB TREB GALLVS AVG, radiate, draped and cuirassed bust, right.
Rev: APOLL SALVTARI, Apollo standing left, holding branch with right hand and resting left hand on lyre set on rock.
Refs: RIC 32; Cohen/RSC 20; RCV 9627; Hunter 21.

 

MACEDON, Chalkidian League. Circa 383/2 BC. Tetrobol (Silver, 15 mm, 2.33 g, 12 h), Olynthos. Laureate head of Apollo to left. Rev. XAΛKIΔ[E]ΩN Kithara. Robinson & Clement Group H, 60. SNG ANS 535 (same obverse die). Beautiful style. Very fine.

Coin I bought as a Christmas gift for my grandson who plays the guitar. As has been mentioned, the Greek kithara was adopted by the Romans who carried it to all parts of the empire. The Moslems in their turn took over much of what was once Rome and continued the use of the instruument in Spain and southern France. Then in 1066 the French Normans brought it to England with them where it was called the guitar.

 

My avatar approves of this thread.

 

@Deacon Ray, as a new member, thanks for posting and prompting so many great coins with lyres and the interesting Hadrian outlier from @Andres2 which prompted me to browse info on the "sistrum" - a tambourine or rattle-like instrument. And this example at the Boston MFA:

https://www.mfa.org/collections/object/sistrum-164263

While I don't have one to share, I hope to see an aulos or perhaps a lituus...
https://www.youtube.com/embed/TC6Lc78Pu_s

 

They call this as “double cornucopiae”...
I think this is a shofar, an ancient musical horn typically made of a ram's horn, used for Jewish religious purposes:

 

Gordian III/Apollo who may be resting hand on a lyre - hard to tell...

 

That's a nice looking provincial (pseudo-autonomous?) you got there @Deacon Ray , and an attractive background for it as usual !

Here are two musical instrument coins I picked up this year, since @TIF gave me a shout out, I better post these babies up!



Boeotia, Thespiai, early 3rd century BC
O: Female (Arsinoë III?) head right, wearing modius (off flan) and veil.
Rev: EΩN/ΘEΣΠI , Lyre within wreath. 14 mm, 4.2 g



Achaia, Pellene, 3rd Century BC
O: Kithra, R: Tripod, Π-E, 12 mm, 2.1g

 

Are those stringed tubas?

 

I did find a lituus on the reverse of the coin below of Tetricus II ~AD 273, but unfortunately this one is not an Etruscan horn in the shape of a "J" but rather a curved wand used to divine the will of the gods.

Obv: C P E TETRICVS CAES, radiate, draped bust right, seen from the back.
Rev: PIETAS AVGG, Sacrificial implements: left to right: sprinkler,
simpulum (ladle), plain jug with handle right and lituus.



and an excuse to play with a macro lens attached to my iphone for a close-up.

 

Thank you for the interesting posts, @Sulla80 ! The Museum of fine arts is a wonderful place to spend a day or two. I'm originally from the Boston area and I moved to the Baltimore area when I was in my twenties. I have family in Massachusetts and a few years ago we visited the MFA. My eldest niece who was studying art at the time was in total amazement. Baltimore has a couple of great art museums with collections of ancient antiquities. The Walters Art Museum https://thewalters.org and the Baltimore Museum of Art https://artbma.org

 

That's an impressive collection of brass and one woodwind? Check out the modern day descendants of the ancient Roman Velites (light infantry). The Bersaglieri—playing instruments at the double quick.

 

I guess the lyre would be the most common and I will show mine below. Is there nobody with a sistrum?


Augustus, Lycian League, 27 – 20 BC
Silver Drachm, Cragus Mint, 18mm, 3.35 grams

Obverse: Bare head of Augustus right.
Reverse: Lyre with palm frond to right, L Y above, K P below.

References:
RPC 3307 // SNG vonAulock 4311-2 // BMC 25

Provenance:
CNG 381, August 2016, Lot 316.
Tom Cederlind List 179 and 162.

 

Here's a snake playing a sistrum. I guess that makes it a rattlesnake .


EGYPT, Alexandria. Marcus Aurelius
year 12, CE 171/2
AE diobol, 22 mm, 7.53 gm
Obv: [MAV]PHΛIOC ANTω[ΝΙΝΟCCE]; laureate bust right
Rev: Uraeus serpent erect left, wearing headdress; "holding" sistrum and grain ear; LI - B across upper fields
Ref: Dattari 3605 and Pl. XXXII, 3605 (this coin). Dattari-Savio Pl. 193, 3605 (this coin); Geissen --; Emmett 2260.12, R5
ex Dattari collection (Giovanni Dattari, 1858-1923)

Here's a multitasking Isis Pharia-- windsurfing while playing the sistrum (you can see it at the top of the sail, held in her right hand):

EGYPT, Alexandria. Hadrian
year 18, CE 133/4
Æ drachm, 32 mm, 23.3 gm
Obv: AYT KAIC TPAIAN A∆PIANOC CEB, laureate and draped bust right
Rev: Isis Pharia right holding a billowing sail with both hands and left foot, sailing toward the Lighthouse of Pharos, which is surmounted by a statue and two Tritons, each blowing a buccinum (sea shell trumpet); L IH (year 18) above center
Ref: Emmett 1002(18), R1


Aegyptos holding a sistrum:


HADRIAN
AR Denarius. 18 mm, 2.95 gm. struck CE 134-138, Rome
Obv: HADRIANVS AVG COS III P P, bare head right
Rev: AEGYPTOS; Aegyptos reclining left holding sistrum; ibis standing right at feet
Ref: RIC II 297