Dear Friends of ancient Mythology! This beautiful coin lay for quite some time like lead in my collection. The Coin: Cilicia, Anazarbos, Commodus, AD 177-192 AE 26, 12.84g, 225° struck AD 180/81 (year 199) obv. AVTOK ΛO A - KOMOΔEΩ CEB Bust, draped and cuirassed, laureate, r. rev.:ANAZAPBE - ΩN ETOVC ΘQΠ (= 199) Bust of Zeus Olybrios, diademed, with necklace, facing, head r. ref. SNG Levante Supp. 325 (this coin); SNG Paris 2041 var. (legend, year) rare, VF, dark green patina, obv. slightly rough pedigree:ex CNG electronic auction 134, 2006, lot 156 Anazarbos pros Pyramo, today Anavarza, is a location in Cilicia, situated ad the middle Pyramos, named after a near-by mountain, the sacred mountain of Zarbos, a 220m high offset of the Tauros mountains. Augustus raised Anazarbos to a city and renamed it to Kaisareia pros Anazarbo. In its importance it came close to Tarsos, but has been destroyed in 6th cent. by an earthquake. Justinian rebuilt it as Justinianopolis and it served as a Byzantine border fortress. Today excavations take place under guidance of the Deutsches Archäologisches Institut. Olybris or Olybrios was the city-god and patron of Anazarbos, probably its founder too. Zeus Olybrios occurs in an inscription on a narrow marble stele of the Esquiline hill in Rome as Cilician god. In an inscription of Ankara he is named Zeus Olybris. In Latin inscriptions he is called Jupiter Olybraeus. They are found in the region of Syria and Palestine, where he was brought probably by Roman soldiers. The dedicatory inscription (C.I.L. 2823) found on the Esquiline hill in Rome reads as follows: ΔΙΙ ΟΛΥΒΡΙ[Ω] ΤΟΥ ΚΙΛΙΚΩΝ ΕΘΝΟΥΣ ΤΗΣ Λ(ΑΜΠΡΟΤΑΤΗΣ) Μ(ΗΤΡΟΠΟΛΕΩΣ) ΑΝΑΖΑΡΒΕΩΝ ΑΥΡ(ΗΛΙΟΣ) ΜΑΡΚΟΣ ΣΤΑΤΩΡ ΕΥΧΗΣ ΧΑΡΙΝ Translated "To Zeus Olybrios of the ethnos of the Cilicians (and) the most magnificent metropolis of Anazarbos (by) Aurelius Marcus, stator (= usher), because of a vow (dedicated)". Here Olybrios is named not only as a Cilician god but as the god of the Cilicians, His name - according to Roscher - is connected with Olymbros. Olymbros is mentioned by Stephanus Byzantius. He reports that Olymbros was one of the elder Titans, son of Gaia and Uranos, brother of Adanos, founder of Adana in Cilicia, brother of Ostasos, Sandes, Kronos, Iapetos and Rhea. Dio Prus. 33 (II.p.1.Dind.) says, that the Titans were the actual patron gods of Cilicia. Therefore Olybrios is the patron of the entire Cilician people and Anazarbos was the special location of his worship (Domaszewski). Both are Cilician gods. Both are founder of cities. Now the Greek mythology has adopted these gods. Referring to Imhoof-Blumer Kronos appears on coins of Mallos already in the 4th century BC. That means that the equalization of Cilician and Greek gods already in these times was common and that the Greeks have created this genealogy when they already have met foreign peoples. And it goes on: Salmasius already has supposed Olympos for Olymbros, which M. Mayer, Giganten und Titanen 55, 11 has granted. It is true that the Cilician surname Olybri(os) of Zeus is evident by inscriptions. But it is well possible that Olymbros is the same as the Cretan teacher of Zeus. And he is known in Greek mythology under the name Olympos too! Mythology: It is common consensus that Zeus is called "the Olympian" because he is the father of the Olympian gods who pursued their carefree live on the top of the Olympos mountain. But surprisingly there are other opinions too: The mythology narrates of an Olympos (I), a Cretan or son of Kres, whom Kronos has given to Zeus as his teacher and educator. He raised him and instructed him about religion. But when Zeus suspected him of urging the Gigants against his leadership and trying to push him off the throne he has slain him with his thunderbolt. After that Zeus has bitterly regret his deed, and because it was impossible to reanimate Olympos he at least has given him his own name and has written his name even on his grave, just as if the grave of Olympos was the grave of Zeus himself (Ptolem. Nov. Hist.; Prol. Hephaest.I.II p.311) . A second Olympos (II) is in his fatherly role very similar to the first one: Diodorus Siculus tells of reports of the Libyans and of Greek writers, especially Dionysios of Milet, that Dionysos has enthroned the young Zeus as king in Egypt. Because of his youth he has committed him to Olympos. Olympos was a wise man and teached him sciences and raised him to the highest virtues. From this teacher Zeus himself has got the surname Olympos (Diod.Sic.I.III.c.73). Summary: We have started with Olybrios or Olybris, the city-god and founder of Anazarbos who then appears as god of all Cilicians. According to Roscher his name is connected to Olymbros who in Greek mythology is one of the elder Titans. That matches Dio of Prusa after whom Cilicia was the country of the Titans. Olymbros is regarded as Cretan educator of Zeus. But the teacher of Zeus is known too as Olympos. And so the arc is joining! To round up this article I want to point to an interesting find: Near the village of Areni in Armenia a small altar of the 2nd century AD was found with a Greek inscription of 6 lines. There is named the ΓΗ ΜΗΤΕΡ ΟΛΥΒΡΙΣ ΘΕΑ ΔΕΣΠΟΙΝΑ (Ge Mother Olybris Goddess and Mistress). This altar was endowed by a Roman legionary (Vinogradov). Not only the localization is interesting but even more that here a female deity is called Olybris. It is a further evidence that Olybris stands for the whole Cilician people! Notes: (1) Claudius Salmasius, French Claude de Saumaise (* 15. April 1588 in Semur-en-Auxois; † 3. September 1653 in Spa), a French classical scholar and polymath. (2) Stephanus Byzantius, grammar in Constantinopolis in 6th century AD, wrote a geographical dictionary, Ethnika, which are present as epitome, compiled by Hermolaus (3) Diodorus Siculus, Greek Historian from the 1st century AD, his work Bibliotheca historica is a world history in 40 volumes, from which only 14 have survived. (4) Dion von Prusa (Chrysostomos), greek orator and philosopher from the 1st century AD (5) Ptolemaios Hephaistionis (Chennos), son of the mythographer Hephaistion of Alexandria, Greek historian, 2nd half of 1st century AD. By Hederich cited: Historia nova ad varium eruditionem. His reliability is discussed. (6) Hephaestion of Thebes, during the reign of Theodosius, wrote 3 volumes about astrology, 1st volume with prolegomena, used by Salmasius (Saumaise) History of Art: Depictions of Zeus Olybrios are not recorded. We only find him on coins. So I have added (1) a pic of the coin Anazarbos, Trajan, Ziegler 977 ff. The rev. with the head of Zeus Olybrios shows in the background the rocks of the sacred mountain of Zarbos and above the acropolis of Anazarbos with 2 buildings. The right one is possibly the temple of Zeus Olybrios. (2) a pic of the triumphal arch from Anazarbos, which later served as south gate. In the background the Armenian mountain fortress. Sources: (1) Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca historica (2) Stephanus Byzantius, Ethnica, 24.19 (3) Ptolem. Nov. Hist. (4) Prol. Hephaest.I.II p.311 (5) Dio von Prusa Secondary Literature: (1) Benjamin Hederich, Gründliches mythologisches Wörterbuch (online too] (2) Wilhelm H. Roscher, Ausführliches Lexikon der griechischen und römischen Mythologie (online too) (3) William Smith, A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, London (online too) (4) Der Kleine Pauly (5) Alfred Domaszewski, Zeus Olybrios, in Numismatische Zeitschrift 44 (1911), pp.9-12 (6) Benjamin Isaac, Dedications to Zeus Olybris, in: Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 117 (1997), pp.126–128 (auch online) (7) Vinogradov, J.G., The Goddess Ge Meter Olybris. A New Epigraphic Evidence from Armenia, in East and West Y. 1992, vol. 42, No. 1, pp.13-26 Online Sources: (1) Wikipedia (2) www.theoi.com Best regards
