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Message:: [QUOTE="Curtisimo, post: 3250494, member: 83845"]Regrettably, I haven’t been around on CT as much lately nor have I had as much time to spend on my coin hobby in general as I would like.  For one, I generally like to complete my study of a coin before I post to the forum.  However, considering I am running out of year I figured I’d share a coin that I bought recently hoping to dive deeper into the question of the chronology… Well, it’s becoming plain that it will be quite some time before I will be able to acquire the necessary references, and more importantly, find the time to read them.  In the meantime I figured you all might enjoy seeing my newest acquisition along with the handful of facts that I do know about it. [ATTACH=full]852746[/ATTACH]Greek Colonies in IllyriaDyrrachion AR Stater, struck ca. 450-350 BCDia.: 21.5 mmWt.: 9.78 gObv.: Cow suckling calfRev.: ΔΥΡ around star pattern within linear square; club in fieldRef.: BMC 22, SNG Copenhagen 421Ex Numismatica Ars Classica sale 641 2012, lot 224 Dyrrachion… or is it Epidamnus?The city of Epidamnus / Dyrrachion was founded ca. 627 BC by settlers from the city of Corcyra with assistance from Corinth.  The original name of the city was Epidamnus.  This is the name by which Thucydides describes it in his history of the Peloponnesian War.  Over time, it seems that it became common to refer to the city by the Greek name for the coastline that it was located on: Dyrrhachion (Δυρράχιον).  This is likely a compound of the Greek words δυσ (bad) and ῥαχία (rocky shore / waves).  This regional name was then adopted by the Romans, as Dyrrachium, when they took control of the region because Epidamnus had an inauspicious sound to Latin speakers. [ATTACH=full]852751[/ATTACH]The rocky coast of Dyrrachion.  The sheltered harbor made the site of the city advantageous for trade. One of the things that drew me to this coin is that this city features prominently in Thucydides account of the causes for the Peloponnesian War.  Epidamnus was run by a tight oligarchy which in the second half of the 5th century was blamed for the bad outcome of a war with the native Illyrians [1].  The people formed a democracy and threw out the oligarchs who then allied with the city’s Illyrian enemies to besiege the city.  The democrats sent for help to Corcyra but were rebuffed.  They then went to Corinth to ask for help.  Corinth was hostile to Corcyra (who was originally a colony of Corinth) and so agreed to help Epidamnus as an insult to Corcyra.  The Corinthians broke the siege of Epidamnus but soon after lost a naval battle to Corcyra who had determined not to let the insult go unanswered. [ATTACH=full]852753[/ATTACH]Map of the Peloponnese War.  The site of Epidamnus is shown on the Adriatic Coast (Wikipedia). The Corcyians and Epidamnian oligarchs took the city, dispanded the democracy and sold many of thier political enemies into slavery or took them as hostages (including many of the newly arrived Corinthian settlers). An enraged Corinth decided to draw on the support of its Peloponnesian allies in preparation for a huge counterattack on Corcyra.  Corcyra quickly recognized it was no match for the combined strength of the Peloponnesian League and so rushed to beg help from the Athenians.  The Athenians were afraid that the large Corcyrian navy would fall into the hands of Spartan allies and be used to challenge its naval supremacy and so agreed to allow Corcyra into the Delian League.  An indecisive battle between Corinth and its allies and Corcyra with Athenian assistance soon followed.  In this way Sparta and Athens found themselves drawn ever closer to a conflict due to the internal struggles of this relatively minor city-state. Thucydides doesn’t tell us much about the later fate of Epidamnus and its internal struggles after the outbreak of the Peloponnesian War. The Chronology of this TypeThis coin design draws directly from the design used on the archaic staters of Corcyra, which in turn, seem to be a direct progression from the designs found on the archaic coins of Euboia.  In this way we can identify the reverse design as a star pattern [2].  The fact that this coin design draws directly from Corcyra is interesting as it tells us something about the affiliation of the regime that issued the coin: namely that they were pro-Corcyra.  There is also a series of staters struck at Dyrrachion that are of the Corinthian type (possibly Peloponnesian War issues?). The problem is that I don’t know how to date this stater issue and it seems that many of the auction houses are undecided as well as there is often conflicting attribution information depending on which auction you are looking at.  For my above I have stuck with the ca. 450-350 BC dating since that is the attribution used by the auction I purchased it from (also used on Wildwinds).  This attribution seems to be based on Gorse [3] (others?).  I have not been able to read this reference yet so I do not know if the arguments for this dating are convincing.  This dating would partially overlap with the narrative given by Thucydides and so would be very interesting in light of the Corcyrian inspired design and the events described above. The “asklapiadas” site suggests a date in the mid 4th century based partly on “hoard contents” but does not list specific sources [4]. BMC Thessaly simply lists “4th Century”.  One theory is that Dyrrachion and Appolonia were left to fend for themselves monetarily after the Pelopponesian commander Mnesippus occupied Corcyra ca. 375 BC.  Another is that the first local coins struck at Dyrrachion should be associated with Timolean’s campaign to Sicily ca. 344 BC. To be honest, I don’t yet have an opinion on which of the chronologies is more likely… opinions welcome. Coin Production and FabricAnother aspect of this coin that I need to spend some time researching is the fabric.  On this example there is a very prominent seam around the edge that is made all the more prominent due to uneven corrosion.  I am fairly convinced of the authenticity of this piece and that it was struck but I would like to better understand the mechanism by which this fabric was produced. [ATTACH=full]852760[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]852761[/ATTACH] The seam obviously suggests casting.  The flans for these coins would have to have been cast but where they typically cast in a two part mould as this coin suggests?  If so this coin could be the product of a misaligned mould.  It is surprisingly hard to find information on the production methods of individual Greek city states.  I find this to be an interesting question and I welcome any commentary or suggested references. References[1] <a href="http://classics.mit.edu/Thucydides/pelopwar.1.first.html" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://classics.mit.edu/Thucydides/pelopwar.1.first.html" rel="nofollow">http://classics.mit.edu/Thucydides/pelopwar.1.first.html</a> [2] <a href="https://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=223773" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=223773" rel="nofollow">https://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=223773</a> [3] Gorse, S.W., Catalog of Mclean Collection of Greek Coins, Vol. 2, Cambridge University Press (1926). [4] <a href="http://asklapiadas.ancients.info/index.html" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://asklapiadas.ancients.info/index.html" rel="nofollow">http://asklapiadas.ancients.info/index.html</a> Please post your coins <ul> <li>from Apollonia and Dyrrachium</li> <li>that you still need to study further</li> <li>related to the Peloponnese War</li> </ul>[/QUOTE]

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