Androklos and the Ephesian Boar

Discussion in 'Ancient Coins' started by Jochen1, Jan 12, 2021.

  1. Jochen1

    Jochen1 Well-Known Member

    Dear Friends of Ancient Mythology!

    In itself this is an unremarkable coin, an AE17 of Septimius Severus from Ephesos in Ionia.

    Coin #1:
    Ionia, Ephesos, Septimius Severus, 193-211.
    AE 17, 2.6g, 225°.
    Obv.: AV K Λ [CEΠ - C]EVHPOC
    Bust, draped, laureate, r.
    Rev.: EΦEC - I / ΩN
    Wild boar, pierced by spear, running r.
    Ref.: unpublished
    Very rare, good F
    ephesos_sept_severus_unbekannt_Eber.jpg
    Note:
    A similar reverse is known from Caracalla, BMC 280, and from Macrinus, SNG Copenhagen 438.

    But once again this coin shows the amount of information and knowledge one can gain from it, if one only takes the time to examine it more deeply. For if you look more closely at the reverse depiction, you will find the following mythological background:

    This coin deals with the founding legend of Ephesos. The local Ephesian legend about the founder of the city, Androklos, a son of Kodros, probably developed relatively late, probably only in the 5th century under Athenian influence, and the oldest source we know is Kreophilos. According to this, the Delphic oracle gave Androklos the order to settle the colonists where a fish and a boar would give them a sign. After a long search, the Greeks pulled their ships ashore at the mouth of the river Kaystros and fried fish. One of them fell out of the pan together with some coal, and from the bushes thus ignited a boar jumped out, which Androklos chased over the mountain slope and finally killed with a spear at the Hypelaios spring. We also know from Strabon and Pausanias that Androklos subsequently chased away the native Carian-Lelegian population, with the exception of those settling at the Artemision, and lost his life in battle against the autochthones when he assisted the city of Priene against them.

    Coin #2:
    Ionia, Ephesos, Gallienus, 253-268
    AE 27, 7.69g, 30°.
    Obv.: AVT K ΠOΛ ΛIK - ΓAΛΛIHNOC
    Bust, draped and cuirassed laureate, r.
    Rev.: EΦECIΩN - .Γ NEΩKOPΩN.
    Androklos, nude, with skin of boar over shoulder, walking r., with spear over left shoulder, small round shield in his lowered right hand, behind him on the left a tree with branches and leaves.
    Ref.: SNG Copenhagen 512; SNG Munich 54
    almost VF, dark green patina
    ephesos_gallienus_SNGmuenchen254.jpg
    Background:
    Androklos was distinguished by his high birth (son of a king) and great courage (killing a boar), but he also served the Greek cause against the "barbarians" when he helped defend Priene. It should be noted only in passing that the latter was, by the way, exactly the opposite of the Ephesians' way of acting at the beginning of the Persian Wars.

    The boar appears in the Androklos myth, as in Herackes, in a territory belonging to Artemis. On the one hand, its killing allows the settlers to make the land arable, but its mere existence indicates that the future city can be built in land that is still largely uncultivated, without the numerically small group of colonists being threatened by established older local communities. The fish, on the other hand, symbolise on the one hand the proximity to the sea and another source of food as well as the Hypelaios (source of the olive tree) mentioned in the myth as the place where the boars were killed, which in turn implies the existence of fresh water and olives. The oracle's reference to the boar thus provides the settlers with one of several framework conditions favourable to founding a city; however, it hardly means game as a source of food, which, according to numerous archaeozoological studies, played as little of a role in ancient cities as it does today.


    Beyond the general meaning of this animal as an inhabitant of uncultivated land, however, a specific reference to the "land of Artemis Ephesia" could have been intended. Thus, on the one hand, the myth could point to a very early equation of the Ephesian goddess with Artemis, even before colonisation, and on the other hand to the knowledge of the Delphic priesthood about a former Mycenaean trading post on the mountain now called Ayasoluk. At the foot of this mountain, which at that time lay on the coast, the Artemision was to have been built as a monumental temple district from the 8th/7th century BC onwards, but according to recent evidence, the site had at least already been used in Mycenaean times.

    Literature:
    (1) Forum Archaeologiae - Journal of Classical Archaeology 14 / III / 2000.
    (2) Der Kleine Pauly

    I have added 2 pictures:
    (1) Androklos kills the boar; relief frieze from the so-called Hadrian's Temple at Embolos in Ephesos (Austrian Archaeological Institute, archive, photo Th. Römer. Ephesos being excavated by the Austrians)
    Androklos tötet den Eber.jpg

    (2) The remains of the Heroon of Androklos in Ephesos, erected in memory of the city's founder, later converted into a fountain. Renewed in Byzantine times (Own photo from our visit in March 2011)
    HPIM5838.JPG

    Best regards
     
    Last edited: Jan 12, 2021
  2. Avatar

    Guest User Guest



    to hide this ad.
  3. robinjojo

    robinjojo Well-Known Member

    Nice coins and writeup.
     
  4. zumbly

    zumbly Ha'ina 'ia mai ana ka puana

    Thanks for the write-up, Jochen. Two very interesting coins... I'd not seen the second one before. I can add this one to the thread, which shows Androklos about to spear the boar.

    [​IMG]
    GALLIENUS
    AE28. 8.09g, 27.6mm. IONIA, Ephesus, circa AD 253-268. Karwiese 1136 (this coin cited). O: VT · K · ΠO · ΛIKIN · ΓAΛΛIHNOC, laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right. R: EΦ-ECIΩN · Γ · NEO, KOPON in exergue, Androklos facing right, wielding spear at boar standing left; hound at his side.
    Ex N. M. McQ. Holmes Collection; ex Marcel Burstein Collection (Peus 366, 25 October 2000, lot 636); ex G. Hirsch 171 (25 September 1991), lot 1273
     
  5. Jochen1

    Jochen1 Well-Known Member

    @zumbly Thank you very much! I have a coin from Parion with the same motif:

    Mysia, Parion, Gallienus, 253-268
    AE 28, 11.60g, 27.76mm, 0°.
    Obv.: [IMP LICIN] - [GALL]EIN
    Bust, draped and cuirassed, laureate, r.
    Rev.: CC - IH - R (inverted)
    Male figure (Androklos?) with naked torso and hip dress, wearing boots, standing r., holding spear horizontally forward with both hands against boar leaping towards him; tree branch above.
    Ref.: SNG Copenhagen 19, 306(?); ANS #1944.100.43153 (identical!)
    Rare, S+, green patina
    parion_gallienus_SNGcop19.306.jpg
    Here the question is whether it is really Androklos, or eventually Meleager from the Atalante myth. Usually Androklos is depicted nude.

    Best regards
     
  6. zumbly

    zumbly Ha'ina 'ia mai ana ka puana

    This one reminds me of another provincial from Parium I saw a few years ago, below (not my coin):

    Clipboard01.jpg

    An unpublished type, apparently. Here the figure appears fully clothed, and the auction cataloguer described it as : "Macrinus standing right, spearing boar emerging from right." Not sure why they decided that the emperor was a likely candidate for the figure, unless there's some record of Macrinus doing some boar-hunting in the vicinity??
     
    Bing likes this.
  7. Jochen1

    Jochen1 Well-Known Member

    @zumbly
    Thank you for this contribution. Macrinus would be very surprising. Because this motif appears on my coin of Gallienus, it would then have to be Galllienus hunting a wild boar. I think that is unlikely. It must be a mythological motif. What speaks against Androklos is that he has no connection with Parion, but is the local hero of Ephesos.

    Wild boars must have been a great threat to the people at that time. Otherwise there would not be so many boar hunts in mythology. Now I have also found references to a boar hunt in Mysia in which Atys, the son of Kroisos, was killed by Adrastos (Herod, I, 36). I will now look into this matter.

    Best regards
     
    zumbly likes this.
  8. zumbly

    zumbly Ha'ina 'ia mai ana ka puana

    Yes, I wasn't sold on "Macrinus".

    Interesting! I look forward to hearing if manage to dig up more on the subject.
     
  9. Jochen1

    Jochen1 Well-Known Member

    It is the story of the famous Kroisos and his son Atys who was accidentally killed by Adrastos during a boar hunt. This boar hunt took place in the mountains of the Mysian Olympus near Prusa, about 200km east of Parion on the Sea of Marmara. Geographically, this is a better approximation. This story is told by Herodotus in his Histories I, 34-45.
     
    zumbly likes this.
Draft saved Draft deleted

Share This Page