I've been watching this stater from Cilicia Soloi for months, despite it being really cheap ($50), I didn't buy it given it's condition and also I was saving up. But earlier this month I had finished my uni year, so decided to treat myself and finally bought the coin! Although weakly struck on a small flan, there're couple of things going on, 1. It's the heaviest I've seen from looking up online archives and auctions, 2. This one also seems to be an uncommon variety with the bee and the legends swapping sides. Seller's image My image after I removed the gunk on the grapes, also showing the thicc edge! CILICIA, Soloi, (430-390 B.C.), stater (11.1 gms.), obverse Female figure (Amazon) kneeling left, examining bow, in field, right mask of satyr., reverse Bunch of grapes with stalk, in lower left field fly and the inscription ΣOΛEΩN to the right, the whole within shallow incuse square, (Dewing 2492; SNG Von Aulock 5858 var; Sear 5601). Post any coins from Cilicia or coins with grapes!
This is a very interesting type! Adrienne Mayor claims (The Amazons, p. 265) that these coins depict Antiope, the Amazon who married Theseus. In a lost poem by Hegias of Troezen, Antiope betrayed her homeland because she fell in love with Theseus. And a Leu cataloger wrote "The word solecism, meaning a grammatical mistake or absurdity, was invented by the ancient Athenians to describe the Greek dialect spoken in Soloi, which they thought was a corrupt version of Attic. Perhaps the beautiful bunch of grapes on this coin gives us a hint as to why the people of Soloi made so many mistakes in speaking: Pliny records that much wine was produced in Cilicia and Soloi’s standard type of a bunch of grapes implies that some of it was certainly made here!" Here is a much later coin from Soloi: AE24 13.29g The dating of this coin, and the identification of the bull rider on the reverse, are all over the place in the literature. Edoardo Levante believed the type was struck 200-100 BC. George Hill assigned the issue to 300-100 BC. Barclay Head dated slightly more loosely, to 300-80 BC, pointing out Tigranes the Great destroyed Soli soon after 83 BC. The chronology of Soli is not clear; during the early Hellenistic period the costal cities of Cilicia, probably including Soli, belonged to the Ptolemies. After the fifth Syrian war (202-195 BC) all of Cilicia belonged to the Seleukid empire. Tigranes the Great became the Seleukid emperor in 83 BC. Mithridates the Great, who used the aegis type heavily in his coinage, was Tigranes’ father-in-law and military ally. It is possible this Soli issue dates to the Mithridatic wars and is connected with him. It could also be Seleukid; both Antiochos IV and Alexander Balas used the aegis on their regal coinage. The gorgoneion was appears on coinage of Antiochos III as a shield boss. Lucia F. Carbone at the ANS and others have been promoting the idea that a lot of the coins of Asia Minor that look like the coinage of Mithradates VI were, in fact, inspired by or in alignment with his coinage. I am tempted to put this issue into the period 100-55 BC. The identification of the horse rider as Aphrodite is by Imhoof-Blumer. He merely calls her “Goddess” but believes the coin depicts the same goddess as Cypriot coins of King Stasioikos that are identified today as Aphrodite or Astarte. Imhoof-Blumer was certain this type does not depict Europa! He doesn’t mention traditionally turreted goddesses Cybele and Tyche. He doesn’t mention Athena, the goddess usually associated with owls that often appear on these. (It’s worth noting that the Stasioikos coin Imhoof-Blumer was certain doesn’t depict Europa is described as depicting Europa on the web site for the Bank of Cyprus. A modern Cypriot coin copied the design of the Stasioikos coin to celebrate Cyprus’ entry into the European union.)
Both very nice coins! I've been tempted on a Soloi coin... Here's my only coin from Silicia. It's another interesting type in that the obverse may have been the inspiration for Alexander's famous series of coinage, while the reverse is thought by David Hendin to depict the ancient walls of Jerusalem. SNG Levante 113; SNG France 360 AR 10.11 g Tarsos. Mazaios, Satrap. Circa 361-334 BC. AR Stater. Baaltars seated left, holding sceptre surmounted by an eagle in right hand, left arm at side; grain ear, bunch of grapes to left, monogram under throne / Lion attacking bull above double row of turreted walls.
