Dear Friends of ancient mythology! I have seen that TIF has a better preserved specimen of this type. But here is mine. And I have been working intensively on this type as you will see. The coin: Phoenicia, Tyros, Julia Maesa, grandmother of Elagabal, AD 218-222 AE 30, 9.05g, 315° obv. IVLIA MAE - SA AVGV bust, draped, diademed, r. rev. TVRIORVM Galley, on the left side rudder and big aphlaston with shield, with ten oars sailing r., on board Dido, draped, stg. frontal, head l., holding cornucopiae in l. arm and has r. hand outstretched to a second figure, bent over the board and emptying a sack into the sea, [on her right side a sailor stg, frontal with lowered r. hand and holding staff in l. arm (destroyed by cleaning] Below the galley Murex shell l. and prawn r. ref. Rouvier 2408 Notes: The motive of the rev. is found too on coins of Elagabal, Gordisn III, Valerian I and Gallienus. But I don't know wether this list is complete. The legend is Latin because Tyrus was a Roman colony. The Murex snail left below the ship is one of the two snail species from which in ancient times was made the purple. At the first time Phoenicia has the monopoly to do that hence its immense wealth. For 1g purple were needed 10000 snails! Until now you can find at the beach of Sidon's southern harbour shells in the height of some meters. The name Phoenicia is derived from the Greek word 'phoinix' meaning purple. In its own language the country was called Kanaan. Mythology: The myth of Dido and Aeneas is one of the most famous and most tragic love stories of ancient times. Sadly to say that that is only a Roman fiction! Here we have what is known actually: First we meet Dido at Timaios: She was called Greek Theiosso (never known from other sources), Phoenician Elissa; Deido (= the wandering) she was called in Libya because of her odyssey (Serv. auct. Aen.; but 'Dido id est virago Punica lingua' = Dido means hero virgin in Phoenician language). Dido was the daughter of Mutto, king of Tyros, (or Methres, Serv. Aen.; or Belus, Vergil), and the sister of Pygmalion. When she was married to her uncle Sychaeus (Vergil) or Acherbas (Iustinus), Pygmalion killed him of greed. Dido fearing that her brother could take the treasuries of her husband, fled together with several nobelmen to Libya. When she was forced by her own people to marry the Libyan king Hiarbas (Iustinus) or Iarbas (Vergil) to avoid a threatening war she entered a pyre and stabbed a digger in her heart. The excerpt of Timaios is considerable shortened, more detailed is Iustinus, and the well known story by Vergil in his Aeneide; also Serv. and Ap. Lib. report it: referring to Jacoby all without direct dependency from Timaios, but a source couldn't found yet. Iustinus reports names, which are missed in the fragment of Timaios, and tells details: Dido escaped her brother by fraud, who by appeals of their mother and threat of the gods decided not to pursue her. She landed on Kypros, where 60 virgins - following old rules - were addicted to her companions and then were raped as ancestor mothers of Carthage (the number referring to the number of Carthagian noble families?). In Libya she bought so much land "as could be encircled by the skin of a cow, wheron she cut the skin to small stripes, from where the castle of Carthage was called Byrsa = skin". But more correct it seems to be 'Bosra', meaning Phoenician 'castle'. Carthago means Phoenician 'New Town'. It developed as we all know to the most powerful city in the Western part of the Mediterranean and outlasted even the decline of its mother-town Tyrus. This all occured at the end of the 9th century BC. Josephus put it in the year 860 BC. Now to the depiction on the coin: On the right side of Dido stood a sailor, sadly damaged by cleaning. The figure on the left of Dido is throwing a sack int the sea. And here is the background (Justinus, lib. XIII): When Dido's brother Pygmalion has heard that Dido wanted to leave Tyros with all the treasures of her killed husband he sent some of his people to her which should accompany her on the voyage to New-Tyros. When Dido together with these people entered the ship she forced them to throw sacks filled with sand over the railing into the sea. After done that she told them that these have been the sacks full of her treasures. Fearing the punishment of their new king Pygmalion these people decided to leave Tyros too and sailed with Dido to New-Tyros. Referring to this myth the figure at the helm of the galley is obviously throwing a sack filled with sand into the sea! Disputed is who has invented Dido's encounter with Aeneas and the famous lovestory. Formerly it was suggested that it were the first two books of Naevius; recent authors agreed with new arguments. But others voted for an invention of Vergil due to the doubts of Heinze. Sadly we could not obtain safety; the love and following hostility between Dido and Aeneas belongs rather to the reasons of the Punic-Roman antagonism, despite Vergil's excellent description. Statements like those of Macrobius or Anth. Plan. Vergil has talked Dido down, should not be taken in account. Dido was the paradigm of faithfulness and was seen so even long after Vergil too! And the art and impact of Vergil was much bigger than that of Naevius. Pure speculation is the suggestion that Dido represents the Carthagian city-goddess Tanit (Dea caelestis). History of Art: From ancient times are known some mosaics with motives of Dido's myth. In the baroque above all her death was the favourite subject. Rubens has worked on it and then Tiepolo. I have attached a pic of his famous painting, The Death of Dido from about 1757. Today it is found in the Pushkin Museum of Arts in Moscow (copyright The Yorck Project). We see Dido, in desperation, lying stretched out on the stake next to an altar, supported by her servants, who weep over her. Aeneas with helmet is inserted into the picture on the right. Sources: (1) Anth. Plan.: Anthologia Planudea, collection of Greek poems and epigrams compiled by the Byzantine writer Maximos Planudes, 1301 AD (2) Ap. Lib.: Apollodorus of Athens (died after 120/119 BC) an important Greek gramatist. The most famous work, which is connected with his name, is the Bibliotheke, written 61/60 BC at the earliest, therefore cannot be of him. (3) Iustinus, Marcus Iunianus, Roman historian (possibly in the 2nd or 3rd century AD). His work Historiarum Philippicarum libri XLIV describes the rise and fall of various empires. Was much used in the Middle Ages. (4) Josephus, Flavius, The Origins of Judaism (5) Macrobius, Ambrosius Theodosius (385/390- after 430), late antique philosopher and grammarian. Representative of neo-Platonism. One of his three surviving works are the "Saturnalia". (6) Naevius, Gnaeus (around 265 BC in Campania - 201 BC in Utica) was a Roman dramatist and epicist. Wrote the Bellum Punicum in 7 books, including the history of Aeneas up to the foundation of Rome (7) Ovidius Naso, Metamorphoses (8) Serv. auct. Aen.: Servius, Maurus Honorarus, Latin language teacher from the 4th century AD which wrote interpretations about Vergil. (9) Timaios of Tauromonion (ca.345-ca.250 BC), Greek historian on Sicily. Son of Hegemon Andromachos. Wrote in 38 volumes of his "Histories" the history of Greece, Sicily and Italy. Known mainly through the Suda. (10) Vergil, Aeneid Literature: (1) Benjamin Hederich, Gründliches mythologisches Lexikon, 1780 (2) Richard Heinze, Virgils epische Technik, 1913 (3) Der kleine Pauly Best regards
Ah! Yes, in the context of this coin's design and the story of Dido, I think you are correct! Thank you so much for that research-- the coin's design now makes sense. I am amending my coin's description to reflect this scenario . PHOENICIA, Tyre. Julia Maesa CE 218-224/5 AE 27, 12.71g (11h) Obv: IVLIA MAE - SA AV[G] Draped bust right, wearing stephane Rev: TVRIORVM Dido standing left on deck of galley sailing right, extending right hand and holding cornucopia in left; to left, sailor throwing sack of sand overboard; to right, sailor extending right hand and holding curved staff in left; stern decorated with a shield and aphlaston, [two murex shells] in exergue Ref: CNG e320, 12 Feb. 2014, lot 323 (same dies). Rouvier 2408 More coins featuring Dido: PHOENICIA, Tyre. Elagabalus CE 218-222 AE29, 13.4 gm Obv: Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right Rev: Dido building Carthage; she stands to front before the arched gate of the city, looking left, holding a rule and transverse sceptre; above the gate, a mason at work, [below, a man digging with pick]; murex shell in upper field, palm tree to right Ref: Rouvier 2375; BMC 409; AUB 245; Price & Trell 748 This coin is shown on Mark Staal's website, on the page discussing coins depicting Dido. https://www.cointalk.com/threads/ancients-the-building-of-carthage.254625/ Gordian III Valerian I
Wow, if you listen to the lyrics of Dido’s “White Flag”, you can really correlate it to the Dido and Ship coin, and a lament to the Dido and Aeneas myth... cool (yeah, I posted her before, as I have no Dido coins. However, I sat and listened to it as I read the above posts...)
2 more coins from my collection: (1) Phoenicia, Tyros, Valerian I, AD 253-260 AE 28, 13.17g, 27.97mm, 0° obv. [IMP C P VALERIANVS A]VG Bust, draped and cuirassed, laureate, r. rev. [COL T]VRO ME - T Dido, in long double chiton, himation over l. arm, wearing stephane, stg. l. on Phoenician galley sailing l., holding aphlaston in l. arm and reaching with r. hand to person bending l. over side of prow; at her r. side another small person (helmsman) bending down to the rudder and stretching hand to Dido; stern decorated with a shield below galley murex shell ref. Rouvier 2502 scarce, F/F+, dark green patina with some earthen incrustations (2) Phoenicia, Tyros, Gallienus, AD 253-268 AE 27, 14.52g, 27.33mm, 0° obv. IMP C P LIC GALLIENVS AVG Bust, draped and cuirassed, seen from front, laureate, r. rev. [COL] TVRO ME - [T] Dido, in long double chiton and himation over l. arm, wearing stephane, stg. l. on galley sailing l., holding aphlaston in l. arm and reaching with r. hand to a person bending l. over side of prow; at her r. side a second small person stretching hand to Dido; below galley murex shell ref. cf. Rouvier 2048 (Maesa, rev. only); unpublished? about VF, devices highlighted by sand Patina Best regards
