Dear friends of ancient mythology! I think it's time for a new article. The Coin: Thrace, Byzantion, Severus Alexander, AD 222-235 AE 26, 7.68g, 25.92mm, 30° Obv.: AVT K M AVP CEV AΛEZA[NΔPOC] AVΓ Bust, draped and cuirassed, laureate, r. Rev.: BYZAΣ Head of Byzas, bearded, helmeted, r Ref.: unpublished in all greater works rare, F+/about VF, dark-green Patina The bearded, helmeted bust of the mythological founder Byzas so far was known only on the pseudo-autonomous coinage from Byzantium. Schönert-Geiss, Münzprägung von Byzantium, vol.II, p.20: "The Byzas-series, which contains 66 ex. with 23 obv. and 37 rev. dies, could be dated exactly, since the same magistrates are named on their reverses as on portrait coins of the emperors. They fall into 5 issues AD 128-135 AD164-169 c. AD 175 c. AD 176 AD 202-205 On this coin the head of Byzas appears for the first time as a rev. type, on a coin of Sev. Alex. The obv. die of this coin was already known, linked to 4 rev. types under the magistrate Fronto with the legend EΠI ΦPONTΩNOC BVZANTIΩN, Schönert-Geiss V218, Kat.-Nr. 1761-1767, pl. 103 (According to Curtis Clay). Mythology: There are two different myths of Byzas which are often mixed together. The first version is found at Stephanos Byzantinos, a Greek laguage teacher (c. AD 500), and Diodoros Sikolos, a Greek historian who lived c.60 BC in Alexandria, in his Bibliothecae historicae liber 49. The other version we know from Petrus Gyllius who on order of King Franz I of France traveled through Greece, Asia and Africa in order to describe these regions and their countries. His work is found in De topographia Constantinopoleos and De Bosporo Thracio which were published AD 1561, after his death AD 1555. In Greek mythology, Byzas was a son of Poseidon and Keroessa. Zeus once fell in love with Io, the daughter of Inachos, King of Argos. Zeus temporarily transformed his mistress into a heifer, white with golden horns, in order to protect her from the wrath of his wife Hera. In her wanderings Io crossed the Bosporos, giving the strait its name (bous-phoros, which is Greek for ox-ford). After reassuming her original form, she gave birth to a girl, Keroessa. Keroessa later bore a son to Poseidon, elder brother of Zeus and lord of the ocean. This son was Byzas the Megarian who later became the founder of Byzantium and also named Golden Horn (Greek Chrysokeras) after his mother. Some sources say that Byzas was brought up by the naiad Byzia and married Phidaleia, daughter of King Barbyzos (Steph. Byz. in Byzantion; Diod. Sic. IV 49). According to the other version, a Greek legend, Byzas was a Greek colonist (reported by some to be a leader or even a king) from the Doric colony of Megara in Greece, son of King Nisos. He has consulted the oracle of Apollo at Delphi and the oracle instructed Byzas to settle opposite from the "Land of the Blind". Leading a group of Megarian colonists, Byzas found a location opposite Chalcedon, where the Bosporos and the Golden Horn meet and flow into the Sea of Marmara. He determined the Chalcedonians must have been blind not to recognize the advantages the land on the European side of the Bosporos had over the Asiatic side, and in 667 BC founded Byzantium on the European side, thus completing the oracle's quest (Gyllis Topogr. Constantinop. lib I). Background: Neolithic records proof that the shores of the Bosporos were settled already very early. Already for the Greek this strait was of essential importance. Here the ships coasted which supplied Athens and other poleis with grain from the todays Ukraina. To protect this strategic important place which was at the same time the key position of the land bridge between Europe and Asia and the sea way from the Aegeis to the Blacksea the first colony was founded around 685 BC by Megarian colonists at the Asiatic side of the Bosporos: Kalchedon. 17 years after the founding of Kalchedon a second founding by the Megarians, together with colonists from Argos and Corinth, occurred on the European side in an area already inhabited by Thracians. The Thracian name of this settlement, Byzantion, later was interpreted as the name of one of its mythological leaders, Byzas of Megara. Byzas itself is a frequent Thracian name. The myths around Byzas are typical Greek colonisation myths, which we can find all over the Greek world. The occupation of foreign and already inhabited countries was always described as if these countries were deserted. By the newly invented myths the connection to the mythological history of Greece was established and the whole undertaking was interpreted as divine mission. Because of its favourable strategic location and its calm and safe harbour Byzantion soon became an important trading centre. In 513 BC the Persian King Darius I conquered the city. In AD 324 Constantine I the Great combined both parts of the Roman Empire and on May 11. AD 330 he named the new capital in a solemn ceremony Nova Roma (= New Rome). But more famous it became under the name Constantinopolis. Especially under the emperor Justinian I (AD 527-AD 565), the last great East-Roman ruler, Constantinopolis acquired big glory and was finished gorgeously (Hagia Sophia). In the Middle Ages the city remained the centre of the Byzantinian Empire and for a long time it was the biggest and most wealthy city of Europe. In April AD 1204 the Crusaders conquered Constantinopolis. The city was sacked, numerous inhabitants killed and works of art of inestimable value irrevocably got lost. Reduced to about 100.000 inhabitants, stripped of its previous glory, the city was reconquered AD 1261 by the Byzantinian Empire under Michael VIII. On April 5 AD 1453 the siege of Constantinopolis by the Ottoman army under sultan Mehmed II began and in the morning of May 29. the city was conquered. That defined the final end of the Roman Empire after more than 1200 years. I have added a map of the geographical position of Constantinopolis. Sources: (1) Benjamin Hederich, Gründliches mythologisches Lexikon, 1770 (2) Friedrich Prinz, Gründungsmythen und Sagenchronologie, 1979 (3) Der kleine Pauly (4) Wikipedia Best regards
BYZANTION No Byzas... but, it is still a crazy COW SURFING... what IS it with Byzas. Maybe due to this coin circulating when Alexander the Great was circulating in this area? Thrace Byzantion AR Half-Siglos bull-dolphin-incuse 340-320 BCE
A very informative write-up, Jochen1. Here's a countermark on a Macedonian drachm from Byzantion using an archaic spelling of "BY" for used during a time of troubles with the Gauls: Byzantion Drachm CM on Macedonian Kingdom Philip III Arrhidaios drachm Kolophon? (c. 323-319 B.C.) Countermark: 280-225 B.C. Head of Herakles right, wearing lion-skin. / FILIPPOU Zeus seated left, monogram (?) left. Countermark: ΠU over prow. SCGV 1585 (countermark) (4.00 grams / 17 mm) This BY over prow countermark, along with a nearly identical (one) using an archaic form of B resembling Π, was used at Byzantium. David Sear notes, "at this time [after c. 280 B.C.], the Byzantines were subject to continual threats by Gaulish invaders, who were bought off by the payment of huge annual tributes. The impoverished city had to resort to countermarking foreign coins in place of a proper currency."
Struck under Marcus Aurelius, the following coin shows king Byzas, helmeted and head right. Reverse has a prow similar to PeteB, but it's in the opposite direction. Moushmov 3220v. Thank you @Jochen1 . As usual.. Original, cultural and very significant thread.
