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Message:: [QUOTE="Pavlos, post: 7837583, member: 96635"]Thasos, an island at the south of Thrace. It had rich gold mines and attracted the Phoenicians to its shores at a very early date. Later on it was colonized by Ionians from Paros. The Thasian possessions in the mining districts on the mainland, the so called 'Thasian Epeiros', were a source of enormous wealth, yielding as much as 200 to 300 talents annually shortly before the Persian invasion. [ATTACH=full]1347683[/ATTACH] The Thasians yielded the silver in the form of their extensively struck stater (and it's fractions). The main type mostly features a 'satyr' and the stater a 'satyr carrying a nymph'.This type is most likely both a pun on the island and Greek city-state, and a reference to the Dionysiac worship rooted in the region. It is most likely a representation of a thiasos, a Dionysiac dance in progress, a type chosen appropriately for a city named Thasos. [ATTACH=full]1347693[/ATTACH]Islands off Thrace, Thasos. AR Stater. Circa 500-480 BC. Obverse: Ithyphallic satyr advancing to right, carrying nymph. Reverse: Quadripartite incuse square.Reference: Le Rider, Thasiennes 2. SNG Copenhagen 1009.9.90g The stater I obtained is a nice example of the Archaic art of the time. The test cut is luckily not done on the scene itself. The pro of this example as well is that the hoof of the satyr is nicely visible. Please share your coins from Thasos, your satyrs and nymphs![/QUOTE]