Assistance with a Lysimachos Tetradrachm

Discussion in 'Ancient Coins' started by Sulla80, Jan 15, 2022.

  1. Sulla80

    Sulla80 Well-Known Member

    I am sharing this tetradrachm of Lysimachos in hopes that someone might be able to point me in the right direction on mint. I don't find any other examples of this exact set of controls in ACSearch. Although some surface roughness shows up in the magnified image, in hand it is quite a nice coin.
    upload_2022-1-15_14-27-37.png
    Kings of Thrace, Lysimachus (305-281 BC), AR tetradrachm, Lampsacus, ca. 297-281 BC
    Obv: Diademed head of deified Alexander III right, with horn of Ammon / ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ / ΛΥΣΙΜΑΧΟΥ
    Rev: Athena enthroned left, Nike in outstretched right hand crowning royal name, resting left arm on grounded shield decorated with gorgoneion boss, transverse spear beyond; K in outer left field, ΔΞ monogram in inner left field
    Note: I have not yet found a reference to this control combination of K in outer left f, ΔΞ monogram in inner left field - the monogram is found on coins that M. Thompson associates with Magnesia.

    Edit:
    Thanks to @Andres2 for the answer.

    BTW : post any coins of Lysimachos - or anything else you find interesting or entertaining. My notes on this and other related coins are here: Lysimachos, Pergamon and Cistophori
     
    Last edited: Jan 16, 2022
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  3. Andres2

    Andres2 Well-Known Member

    lampsacus mint I think

    P1150259best.jpg
     
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  4. Sulla80

    Sulla80 Well-Known Member

    Yes, Thank you, you are right - listed by M. Thompson - I had missed it!
    upload_2022-1-15_15-7-41.png
     
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  5. Sulla80

    Sulla80 Well-Known Member

    on your coin - "herm" was a bewildering term. Here's a herm of Hermes:
    upload_2022-1-15_15-20-18.png
    Image: I, QuartierLatin1968, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

    herm: a squared stone pillar with a carved head on top (typically of Hermes), used in ancient Greece as a boundary marker or a signpost.
     
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  6. gsimonel

    gsimonel Well-Known Member

    Not exactly Lysimachus, but I think it counts as "interesting." It's a Celtic imitation of a Lysimachus bronze:
    Celtic.jpg
    Danubian Celtic AE19, Imitating Lysimachus
    ca. 3rd Century B.C.
    Obv: Stylized head of Ahtena in Corinthian Helmet, facing right;
    Rev:BAΣIΛΩΣ (above), ΛVΣIMAXOY (below) - Lion leaping right with spearhead below.
    c.f. CNH Cop. 1153
    19.5 mm, 4.5 g.
     
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  7. Sulla80

    Sulla80 Well-Known Member

    definitely interesting in my view - I do enjoy the story of Lysimachus and the Lion. It certainly doesn't portray Alexander in good light.

    "For when Alexander the Great, in his anger, had pretended that Callisthenes the philosopher, for his opposition to the Persian mode of doing obeisance, was concerned in a plot that had been formed against him, 4 and, by cruelly mangling all his limbs, and cutting off his ears, nose, and lips, had rendered him a shocking and miserable spectacle, and had had him carried about, also, shut up in a cage with a dog, for a terror to others, Lysimachus, who was accustomed to listen to Callisthenes, and to receive precepts of virtue from him, took pity on so great a man, undergoing punishment, not for any crime, but for freedom of speech, and furnished him with poison to relieve him from his misery. At this act Alexander was so displeased, that he ordered Lysimachus to be exposed to a fierce lion; but when the beast, furious at the sight of him, had made a spring towards him, Lysimachus plunged his hand, wrapped in his cloak, into the lion's mouth, and, seizing fast hold of his tongue, killed him."
    -Justinus, Epitome of Pompeius Trogus' Philippic Histories, 15.3
     
  8. TIF

    TIF Always learning.

    It's there and it's a herm. The rendering is just small and a bit worn on Andres's coin. Here's a recent example of the type from Leu that better demonstrates the herm's details.

    [​IMG]
     
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