COINS BY CITY: An Alphabetical A to Z of Coinage

This thread seems to be giving me ample opportunity to demonstrate that I'm not the most aesthetics-oriented collector out there. Not that there should be any confusion over the matter to begin with .

I call this coin the Hobo from Hamaxitos...


TROAS, Hamaxitos
Circa 350 - 310 BC
AE11
1.39g, 11mm
SNG Cop 344
O: Laureate head of Apollo left.
R: Lyre; ΑΜΑ−ΞΙ on either side.
Notes: Callinus, a 7th century BC poet from Ephesos, relates that Hamaxitos was founded by a group of Cretans who were instructed by an oracle to settle down where they would be set upon by the 'earth-born'. Accordingly, they did so at a spot where a huge horde of field mice attacked them and ate up all their leather equipment. I'm not sure how anybody decided that building a town in a rodent-infested area was a good idea, but consequently, their cult of Apollo Smintheus (Apollo the Mouse Slayer) became one of the most well-known and enduring in the region.

 

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Oh my.

Time for a "post your ugliest coin" thread?

Just teasing (but not kidding). This is one of the many perks of collecting ancients: being able to justify far less-than-perfect coins.

I was unfamiliar with this city and the delightful anecdote. Now I want something from Hamaxitos. Slim pickins, based on the few examples in acsearch.

A blurb from the description of a Hamaxitos tetradrachm sold by NAC in 2005, adding to your field mice anecdote:

"In the Iliad, Homer has Apollo Smintheus bring the plague to the Greeks as a punishment for Agamemnos’s arrogance toward Chryse, the god’s high priest. Apollo’s temple was built at Chryse in the territory of Hamaxitos, one of the cities from which the original population of Alexandria came from. The statue of Apollo, sculpted by the great Parian, shows Apollo standing with a mouse at his feet."

 

Yah, I'd love one of those Alexandria Troas coins with Apollo about to put an arrow through a mouse. Nothing says godly power like slaying a mouse!

 

I don't have any other 'Greek' issues with an "H"---but like everyone else numerous other Silvered Follis from Heraclea....so I will just list those:

Diocletian---------------------------HT(T) Silvered follis
Constantius I---------------------- HT(S) Silvered follis
Licinius I----------------------------SMH(T) 'Reduced' follis
Severus II--------------------------HT(Beta) Silvered follis
Constantinople Commemorative--SMH(Delta) Reduced follis?

The interesting aspect is the mixture of Greek and Roman designated 'workshops' within the same mint during similar periods of time.

 

Parthia,
Mithradates I (BC 177-138/2)
AR Drachm 20 mm x 3.79 grams
Hecatompylos
Obverse: Beardless bust left wearing bashlyk.
Reverse: Bearless archer wearing a cloak seated on am omphalos right holding a bow in his right hand Greek Legend- BASILEWS MEGALOY ARSAKOY
ref; Sellwood 10.1

 

Cool one, Noob. I found this bit on Hekatompylos from Wiki amusing:

The Greek name Hekatompylos means "one hundred gates" and the Persian term has the same meaning. But the title was commonly used for cities which had more than the traditional four gates.

I can just imagine how the conversation went when it came to naming the city...

Tiridates: Hey bro, what should we call our city? Maybe the name can have something to do with these five gates here.

Arsaces: Good idea, but let's just round it up and say it has a hundred gates.

Tiridates: Hekatompylos it is!

 

It's interesting to note the same thing occurs all over the world. Sometimes the name of the region has to do with the number of rivers.

In an alternate universe I live in Pentagonia. The land of the five rivers. My land has a lot more than 5 rivers, and at some point someone thought it was a good idea to name the land after the political unity of the many governments that control it, rather than the erroneous number of rivers. May I also mention that we are hardly "United", and is in itself erroneous. If it was me I would have named the place something different...

 

5 down 95 ta' go! Nice one ANoob.

 

H has brought out some very interesting and unusual coins.

 

Gordian III
Coin: Bronze AE25
AVT K M ANT GORDIANOS AVG - Paludament (cloak) and cuirassed laureate head right
ADRIANOPOLEITWN - Nude Apollo holding a foil decorated branch in the lowered right hand and an arrow in the left. He bases his left elbow on a serpent entwined tripod.
Mint: Hadrianopolis (238-244 AD)
Wt./Size/Axis: 9.09g / 25mm / -
References:

• Varbanov 2054

 

Another Jovian
Coin: Bronze AE3
D N IOVIAN-VS P F AVG - Pearl diademed, draped, cuirassed bust left
VOT V MVLT X - Within wreath
Mint: Heraclea (363-364 AD)
Wt./Size/Axis: 2.64g / 20mm / -

 

I thought that for certain there would be pages of this coin from Histiaia but only TIF seems to have posted one.

H is for Histiaia:

EUBOIA, Histiaia.
AR Tetrobol.
3rd-2nd Century B.C.
1.88 grams, 13.5 mm
Obv: Head of Nymph Histiaia facing
right with hair rolled & wreathed
w/ vine.
Rev: IΣT I AIEΩN Nymph Histiaia
seated rt. on stern of galley holding
a naval standard.
Grade: gVF with deep cabinet toning
Other: similar to Sear 2496
Frequently faked & copied.
[possibly 197-146 BC or Macedon
imitation prior to 168 BC]
From Eye Appealing Coins
4/2013, purportedly Ex Heritage

 

Collect, I wish there was a "Gorgeous" button.

 

I have one of these coins, unfortunately it is in three pieces and came in a mixed lot of uncleaned bronzes. Regardless, it is still one of my favourite coins.

 

Me too!!!

 

Histiaia looks much like Persephone on JBGood’s coin here: https://www.cointalk.com/threads/ki...e-athenian-owl-etc.263516/page-2#post-2148968

Tomorrow we get to see the coins of Istros .

 

=> I never spoil the surprise and look ahead (but now that you mention it, I do have a coin from Istrus, so at least I know that I won't be shut-out!!)

Too bad "Ionia" isn't a city!! (man, I would rock this thread!!)

Cheers, coiners!! (man, we have some pretty sweet lookin' stuff, eh?)

Oh => great coin, C89

 

The Sheldon Cooper character on The Big Bang Theory once said; "Of course I'm thinking ahead, anything else would just be remembering" or something like that.

 

ahahaha => yah, my wife calls me "Sheldon Cooper"

*phew* => thankfully, coin-geek is just barely smart-enough!!? (but what's he thinkin'?!!)



... man, if only he was just a wee bit smarter, eh? (*gawd* ... it's kinda like witnessing a fricken car-crash!!)

 

And we're done with "H" - Heraclea of the late Roman period being the most prolific mint for us.

Hadrianopolis, Thrace (6)
Hamaxitos, Troas (1)
Hecatompylos, Parthia (1)
Heraclea (Perinthus) (13)
Herakleia Pontika, Bithynia (1)
Herakleia Trachinia, Thessaly (2)
Hierocaesarea, Lydia (2)
Himera, Sicily (2)
Histiaia, Euboia (2)
Homolion, Thessaly (1)

Total cities shown: 10
Total coins shown: 31

Now, time to share those "I" city coins!