Featured Lampsakos

From Wikipedia:

Originally known as Pityusa or Pityussa, it was colonized from Phocaea and Miletus. During the 6th and 5th century BC, Lampsakos was successively dominated by Lydia, Persia, Athens, and Sparta; Artaxerxes I assigned it to Themistocles with the expectation that the city supply the Persian king with its famous wine. When Lampsakos joined the Delian League after the battle of Mycale (479 BC), it paid a tribute of twelve talents, a testimony to its wealth; it had a gold coinage in the 4th century, an activity only available to the more prosperous cities.

A revolt against the Athenians in 411 BC was put down by force. In 196 BC, the Romans defended the town against Antiochus the Great, and it became an ally of Rome; Cicero and Strabo attest its continuing prosperity under Roman rule. Lampsakos was also notable for its worship of Priapus, who was said to have been born there.

Lampsakos produced a series of notable historians and philosophers. Charon of Lampsakos (c. 500 BC) composed histories of Persia, Libya, and Ethiopia, and annals of his native . Metrodorus of Lampsakos (the elder) (5th century BC) was a philosopher from the school of Anaxagoras. Strato of Lampsakos (c. 335-c. 269 BC) was a Peripatetic philosopher and the third director of Aristotle's Lyceum at Athens. Euaeon of Lampsakos was one of Plato's students. A group of Lampsacenes were in the circle of Epicurus; they included Polyaenus of Lampsakos (c. 340 – 278 BC) a mathematician, the philosophers Idomeneus of Lampsakos, Colotes the satirist and Leonteus of Lampsakos; Batis of Lampsakos the wife of Idomeneus, was the sister of Metrodorus of Lampsakos (the younger), whose elder brother, also a friend of Epicurus, was Timocrates of Lampsakos.

There are numerous coins surviving from Lampsakos, but coins with the janiform female heads seem iconic. That being said, here is the newest addition to my coral of coins:

LAMPSAKOS, MYSIA THRACE
AR Diobol
OBVERSE: Janiform female head, in circular earring and necklace
REVERSE: Helmeted head of Athena right
Struck at Lampsakos, Mysia 390-330 BC
1.28g, 13mm
SNG Cop 189 - 192; SNGFrance 1195, SNGvA 1295

Share your coins from Lampsakos or Mysia

 

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Thanks for the write-up, @Bing , nice Janiform DiObol!


Lampsakos MYSIA 399-200BCE 1.24g AE10mm Fem hd - Forepart winged horse symbol BMC Mysia p84 var-symbol
Ex: @Bing

 

Gee, I know that coin!

 

I REALLY like it... just a cool reverse. And, I always wonder if that is KORE on the obverse. (Reminds me of Carthage's Tanit with the wreath, and "look")

 

Nice write-up.

Here are my two coins from Lampsakos :


Mysia, Lampsakos
AE10, 4th-3rd centuries BC
Obv.: Head of Herakles right, wearing lion skin
Rev.: Helmeted head of Athena right, ΛA below
Æ, 0.97g, 10mm
Ref.: Klein 274


Lampsakos, Mysia
AR Tetrobol
4th-3rd centuries BC.
Obv.: Janiform female heads
Rev.: Helmeted head of Athena right
Ag, 2.49g, 12.4mm
Ref.: SNG France 1175–6

 

Nice coin and write up @Bing! I like the Janiform heads on coins.


Memnon of Rhodes. Troad, Lampsakos mint. Æ Chalkous (Circa 350 B.C)
Obverse: Radiate youthful head of Helios right.
Reverse: Rose in profile; M - E flanking.
Reference: Ashton, Memnon 1; SNG Copenhagen (Caria) 914.
0.75g; 8mm

This very rare issue of chalkoi is the only known bronze coinage that accompanied the rare silver drachms featuring a similar obverse portrait set on a radiate disk. The series of “solar disk” drachms have been variably attributed to Megiste, Nisyros, and Euthana. Recent hoard evidence, as well as single finds, particularly regarding this bronze issue, has prompted a reattribution of the coinage to a single location in the Troad, probably Lampsakos (See Ashton, Memnon, pp. 11-15). Ashton suggests that these coins were struck by Memnon of Rhodes at a time when he controlled the city, and that the coins with ME specifically refer to him, while those inscribed EY and NI are possibly his subordinates. Memnon of Rhodes was a prominent Greek commander in the service of the Persian Achaemenid Empire. Related by marriage to the Persian aristocracy, he served the Persian king for most of his life. Memnon was arguably the toughest defender to challenge Alexander and was nearly successful in putting a halt to his advance.

 

MYSIA - Kyzikos


Mysia Kyzikos AE12 1.2g 400-3rd C BCE Kore Soteira - Tripod crown Tunny SNG France 430 BMC 141-30



Mysia Kyzikos AR Hemiobol 480-450 BCE 0.4g Boar-Lion Sear 3850

 

Thanks for the prose @Bing - and nice coins there.

 

MYSIA - Pergamon


Mysia Pergamon Tetradrachm 12.4g 26mm Cista mystica with serpents - snakes KP 85-76 BCE (tarriffed at 3 Denarii)

 

Great thread idea and beautiful coin @Bing!
Lampsakos has some wonderful coinage (all is Mysia for that matter):

Mysia. Lampsakos
circa 500-450 BC.
Obol AR
7mm., 0,77g.
Female janiform head / Helmeted head of Athena left within incuse square
very fine. SNG BnF 1128-31.

 

Lampsakos Ar Trihemiobol 390-33o B.C. Obv. Head of Apollo right laureate. Rv. Forepart of Pegasos right dolphin below. 1.19 grms 11 mm Photo by W. Hansen

 

I love the janiform type, especially the ones in archaic style! My most recent acquisition



How strange is it that despite all we know about ancient Greek religion and culture, I have never seen an explanation of who the janiform goddess might be!

 

Thanks for the information on Mysia, @Bing! Nice coins posted. Great toning on @shanxi's tetrobol and @Alegandron's tetradrachm. The radiating flow lines on @Andres2's Pergamon coin add drama to the obverse.

Anaxagoras is mentioned in @Bing's post. Charged with impiety in Athens, Anaxagoras went to Lampaskos in exile where he died in ~428 BC. In his honor, the citizens there built an altar to Nous (Mind) and Pistis (Truth). Some speculate that the janiform heads on their coins represent these deities.

My example has a dolphin below them:


MYSIA, Lampsakos. AR Diobol. 4th-3rd century BC. Female janiform heads, dolphin below. / Helmeted head of Athena right, (ΛΑ)ΜΨ around. 11 mm. 1.30 g.


Here are other Mysian coins, from Parion, Kyzikos, and Pergamon:


MYSIA, Parion. AR Hemidrachm. 4th century BC. Gorgoneion / IIA-PI, bull standing left, head right. 13 mm. 2.14 g.



MYSIA. Kyzikos. Circa 450-400 BC. AR Hemiobol. Forepart of boar left; to right, tunny upward. / Head of lion left within incuse square; to left, star. 8 mm. 0.39 g.



MYSIA. Pergamon. AE. Circa 133-27 BC. Laureate head of Asklepios right /
AΣKΛHΠIOY ΣΩTHPOΣ, Serpent-entwined staff. 15 mm. 3.54 g.

 

Lampsakos produced one of my favorite Zeus portraits. It took me four tries to finally acquire an example of the type: the first one was fake, second was too expensive, third was at an inconvenient time for me financially, and finally all of the stars aligned, happily on an example with a 100+ year pedigree.

This was my favorite coin for a long time and still ranks in my top handful:



LAMPSAKOS, Stater c. 360–340, Persic standard, AV 8.47 g. Obv. Laureate and bearded head of Zeus left, lotus-tipped sceptre on right shoulder. Rev. Forepart of Pegasus flying right, within a shallow incuse square. Literature Traité II/2, 2537, pl. CLXXI, 3 BMC Mysia 81, 28, pl. XIX, 6 SNG von Aulock 7394 SNG Lockett 2709 A. Baldwin, ”Lampsakos. The Gold Staters, Silver and Bronze Coinages”, AJN 53/3, 1924, 29w, pl. III, 4 (this coin) Pozzi 2228 M.-M. Bendenoun, Coins of the Ancient World, A portrait of the JDL Collection, Tradart, Genève, 2009, 23 (this coin) Rare. A fantastic portrait of wonderful style and a lovely reddish tone, Extremely Fine. Provenance Monnaies et Médailles AG 68, Basel 1986, 271 Brüder Egger, Wien, January 1908, 539. Ex. Prince Chattowskoy collection.

 

My only Lamsakos is a trihemiobol, 4th-3rd century BC with A behind Athena. If you look hard you might see a small part of the dolphin under the Janiform heads. This is a coin that looked better to me before I looked it up and discovered all it was missing. That is a disadvantage of buying at a show and not researching fully before purchasing.

 

MYSIA and TROAS were so close in proximity. This JANIFORM is just down the road...


Troas Tenedos late 5th-early 4th C BCE AR Obol 8mm 0.60g Janiform hd female-male - Labrys within incuse square SNG Ash 1235 HGC 6 387

 

Nice write-up, @Bing. But when I saw "Lampsakos" in the title I thought it was "Lapskaus," (a kind of kitchen-sink stew eaten in Norway). Now, where did I put my sandwich...

Steve

 

I really like the archaic Janiform heads on the obverse, as well as the archaic portrait of Athena on the reverse - nice centering as well.

Is this coin a drachm?

 

Nice write up, Bing. I have an Alexander type drachm from Lampsakos...



Macedonia Kingdom Drachm
Antigonus I Monophthalmus
(c. 320-306 B.C.)
Lampsakos Mint
Head of Herakles in lion skin / AΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΥ, Zeus std. left on throne, eagle & sceptre.
Controls: obv. forepart Pegasos left; rev. AI below throne.
Price 1385; S-6731.
(4.22 grams / 17 mm)