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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Pavlos, post: 3642677, member: 96635&quot;]I must say that this is a quite extraordinary way to present the bust of Perseus.</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="https://i.imgur.com/8fggMnn.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><b>Iconion, Lycaonia Bronze AE (1st Century B.C.)</b></p><p><b>Obverse:</b> Bust of Perseus right, wearing winged and griffin-crested helmet, harpa and head of Medusa over left shoulder.</p><p><b>Reverse:</b> Zeus seated left, nude to the waist, himation around hips and legs, thunderbolt in extended right hand, long scepter vertical in left hand, ЄIKONIЄΩN downward on right.</p><p><b>Reference:</b> vA Lykaoniens 195, SNG BnF 2270 corr. (same rev. die), SNG Tüb 4512, SNG Cop 2 var. (magistrate), SNGvA 5384 var. (same).</p><p><br /></p><p>It is actually a quite rare coin, and I must say, the region of Lycaonia was not really a region that was thriving with it&#039;s coinage. The people who lived there were quite unique, and isolated from the Hellenic world.</p><p><br /></p><p>For anyone who does not know where the region Lycaonia and the city Iconion lies, it is here:</p><p><img src="https://i.imgur.com/XOUkm39.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>Lycaonia was a large region in the interior of Anatolia, north of Mount Taurus, bounded on the east by Cappadocia, on the north by Galatia, on the west by Phrygia and Pisidia, and on the south by Cilicia and in the Byzantine period Isauria, but its boundaries varied greatly at different times.</p><p>The Lycaonians appear to have been in early times to a great extent independent of the Persian empire, and were like their neighbors the Isaurians a wild and lawless race of freebooters; but their country was traversed by one of the great natural lines of high road through Asia Minor, from Sardes and Ephesos to the Cilician gates, and a few considerable towns grew up along or near this line.</p><p>After the defeat of Antiochus the Great, Lycaonia was given by the Romans to King Eumenes II of Pergamon. About 160 BC, part of Lycaonia was added to Galatia; and in 129 BC the eastern half was given to Cappadocia. Its administration and grouping changed often under the Romans.</p><p>In Acts 14:6 Paul, after leaving Iconion, crossed the frontier and came to Lystra in Lycaonia. The mention of the Lycaonian language in the Acts of the Apostles (14:11) shows that the native language was spoken by the common people at Lystra even in 50 A.D.; and probably it was only later and under Christian influence that Greek took its place. However, some researchers believe that Lycaonian language was actually a Greek dialect, the remnant of which can still be found in the Cappadocian Greek language which is classified as a distinct Greek dialect.</p><p>In 371, Lycaonia was first formed into a separate Roman province.</p><p><br /></p><p>The ancient coinage of Lycaonia is quite limited. Judging from the number of types and known issues, coins appear to have been struck sporadically and perhaps mostly for prestige or important occasions.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>But why is the bust of Perseus on the coin?</b></p><p>Perseus is a local hero at Iconion. Here, Perseus showed the image (icon) of the Gorgon head, after which icon the city was named. On Iconian coins the representations of Perseus are taken evidently from a statue in the city (which Furtwängler considers to be a copy of the Perseus statue made by the famous sculptor Myron).</p><p><br /></p><p>Show your coins from the region of Lycaonia![/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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