I have been looking for this coin quite some time, but I found the price a little too high for what I wanted to pay. Until I won this one, with a great price/condition ratio. I find the different Greek islands to all have a unique history and I was very eager to investigate this for myself. I also want to share this interesting history with you. Ionia, Samos AR Drachm / Tetrobol (210 B.C. - 185 B.C). 2.96g; 17mm. Obverse: Facing lion scalp. Reverse: ΣAMIΩN; Forepart of ox charging right; krater, grape bunch, and grain ear below. Reference: HGC 6, 1241; Barron 2. Samos, a much forgotten island, but was the mightiest state in Greece during the days of Polycrates and a formidable rival of Athens. It was one of the first in the war of independence to take up arms. On the island of Samos there was only one town existing in ancient times, the walled citadel with its harbor (which was the source of most of its wealth) and on the other side at the shore of the sea, the Heraion. The Heraion of Samos dedicated to the goddess Hera was one of the largest and richest temples of Greece, made in very early times. In ancient times there was even a dispute that the cult of Hera at Samos is older than the cult of Hera at Argos. They pointed out that at their island, the Queen of Olympos was born at a little stream called Imbrasus beneath a cluster of Chaste trees. The Heraion of Samos This religious cult was obviously reflected on the coins minted by Samos. On the above coin two notable deities are visible, the lion scalp and the ox/bull. Where did the lion scalp come from? Lions have been associated to the goddess Hera. In very rare instances the lion appears on monuments as the symbol of the Hera. On a vase at Girgenti, a scene of the judgment of Paris is visible where Hera is accompanied by a lion. In a line of Homer, Hera herself is called a lion. At Argos there was a statue of Hera with beneath her feet a lion’s skin. Below a picture is visible of a figurine dedicated to Hera with lions on it. It is noteworthy that on the coins of Samos not a lion’s head is visible, but a lion’s scalp. When this skin is presented it takes the form of a lion’s head with the mouth wide open. No coin of Samos is known with the head of a lion facing or a lion’s head with its mouth closed. A lion’s scalp is normally related to Herakles, but there is no evidence of any special cult of Herakles at Samos. Women figure as goddess Hera, statue of three young women with lions. Samos, Temple of Hera, ca 650 BC. The other deity visible on the coin is the bull or ox. The bull never appears complete on Samian coins but always his fore part only with two legs bent. Possibly he may stand for a river-god, as does the forepart of the man-headed bull at Gela in Sicily. But it is also possible that the bull may belong to the cult of Hera. At the temple, white cows were sacrificed to the goddess. And Io, who in many ways is her double, was consistently thought by the Greeks as a heifer. However, the bull is more closely connected with Artemis than Hera. There was a temple of Artemis Tauropolos at Samos, and the festivals held in honour of that goddess are not unknown on the island. In Samos, and in many parts of Asia, Hera and Artemis were not fully distinguished. Both were alike being called Chesia and Imbrasia, and both bearing many traces of oriental origin. Small Forepart of bull figurine found at Samos. The coin above was introduced and minted between 210 and 185 BC in two denominations (ca. 2.9g and 1.45g). The coins of Samos in this period are numerous. It is noteworthy that these two new denominations are of Plinthophoric Rhodian standard. However, some discard this because the Plinthophoric weight was not introduced until 190 BC. Therefore tetrobol (or diobol for the half denomination) of Attic standard is commonly reported as well, most notably by Barron (The Silver Coins of Samos 1967). During the minting of these coins, the following events happened in and around Samos: Between 322 and 205 BC, Samos was autonomous but dependent on one or other of the principal Hellenistic kings. Samos was a station of the fleet of Ptolemy Philopator and his minister Sosibius, and the island remained in Ptolemaic hands until the death of the king in 205 BC. On the death of Ptolemy Philopater, Philip V of Macedon and Antiochos of Syria formed a plan for dividing his possessions, this led to Philip V seizing Samos. After the victory of Flamininus and the Romans over Macedon, the island, like many other Greek states, became free of subjection by the Macedonian king. However, this freedom was not for long. When the Rhodian Pausimachus was defeated by Antiochos III, Samos quitted the Roman alliance and joined the Syrian king. After the battle of Magnesia in 190 BC, the whole of Ionia was made over by the Roman to their ally Eumenes, king of Pergamon. Eventhough Samos became a possession of Eumenes III, the following years were relatively peaceful and prosperous for Samos. As a bonus, a rare bronze coin from Samos I obtained some time ago (condition is not the best unfortunately). It shows Hera (as expected) and again a lion's scalp. Ionia, Samos Æ Bronze (394 B.C. - 365 B.C). 2.71g; 15mm. Obverse: Head of Hera to left wearing stephane and necklace with pendants. Reverse: Lion’s scalp facing front. Reference: SNG von Aulock 2296; SNG Cop. 1694. Post your coins from Samos! Coins from neighboring Greek islands are welcome as well.
The questions you ask-- the whys-- are what I also find interesting to contemplate. Why were lion scalps on these coins? The Herakles tie-in seems as likely as any reason given the widespread mythology and respect for Herakles in the ancient Greek world. Here's an archaic coin from Samos. I have no idea why the winged boar was chosen, nor the lion scalp. For that matter, I have not read the research or find evidence or whatever evidence that places these coins as Samoan but the coins in archives are all consistently labeled as from Samos so I assume the issue is not in question. This coin was struck a half a century or so before the Peloponnesian War. IONIA, Samos 510-500 BCE AR drachm, 13.7 mm, 3.2 gm Obv: forepart of winged boar left Rev: facing lion scalp with dotted square, within incuse square Ref: SNG Cop 1673
See "The Electrum Coinage of Samos in the Light of a Recent Hoard" by Koray Konuk. http://www.achemenet.com/pdf/in-press/Samos-Konuk.pdf Samos began striking coins in electrum about the same time as the other Ionian cities, c. 600 BCE. My interest in the archaic times involves Pythagoras. According to Diogenes Laertius, Pythagoras spent many years abroad, including time in Egypt. When he returned home to Samos, he on some ground disapproved of the tyrant Polycrates. So, Pythagoras settled in Croton. In L. Sprague DeCamp's The Ancient Engineers, Polycrates ordered the building of a tunnel to connect the mainland with the harbor. The two teams began at opposite ends and met nearly in the middle and very close to the mark.
Great coin and writeup! The face of that lion looks almost smiling, though I don't know what a skinned lion has to be happy about. Colin Kraay, writing about the lion scalp type used at Samos: "On the reverse was the scalp of a lion which is to be understood as a shorthand reference to Hera, the principal goddess of Samos, for a lion's skin lay at the foot of her cult statue." The correct demonym is "Samian" and not "Samoan". Now, you've made the real Samoans angry...
I suspect the lion scalp symbolizes the king. In Assyria, lion hunting was a ritualized activity reserved for kings. I suspect it was similar in Greece. No one knows about the winged boar. One theory is that the boar is Chrysaor, born of Medusa as twin to Pegasos. The mother and sibling have wings; it must be a family trait. There was an actual winged monstrous boar in Ionia. Barclay Head wrote “The distinctive badge of the city [of Klazomenai] appears from the later inscribed coins to have been a winged boar; cf. Aelian (De Natura Animalium, xii. 38), who relates, on the authority of Artemon, that such a monster once infested the Clazomenian territory.” Artemon of Klazomenai invented a battering ram. He was with Pericles at Samos during the Samian war.
First of all, great coin @TIF! I have no idea where this winged boar comes from. I was reading a bit but there are no real answers. It could have been a monetary alliance between Samos and Klazomenai. Also, in the period the coin was minted the Samians adopted a lot of variety in their denominations until atleast 394 BC. Klazomenai adopted the winged boar for unknown reasons as well. Besides the theory of @Ed Snible, the writer Claudius Aelianus wrote in his book De Natura Animalium that a winged boar devastated the territory of the Klazomenians. The oracle was consulted and declared this winged boar as an emissary of Apollo who needed to be "satisfied" by sacrifices. @Ed Snible It is possible that the lion scalp symbolizes the king as even in the time of Polycrates the coins that were issued had a lion's scalp. But why 3 centuries later the lion's scalp was still on the coins of Samos? Especially when there is no king to symbolize. I do think that it could be partly related to a religious deity (Percy Gardner wrote about this as well). However, why the Samians didn't choose for a lion's head rather than a lion's scalp is unclear to me.
