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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;TIF, post: 2079644, member: 56859&quot;]Since I can&#039;t have [USER=44357]@AncientJoe[/USER]&#039;s, this one will have to do <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie8" alt=":D" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]386526[/ATTACH]</p><p><font size="3"><b>SIKYONIA, Sikyon</b>, 335-330 BCE.&nbsp; AR stater, 23 mm, 12.3 gm.&nbsp; Chimera standing left; wreath above, ΣE below.&nbsp; Dove flying left; A to left; all within wreath.&nbsp; BCD Peloponnesos 220; Traité III 775, pl. CCXX, 11.&nbsp; CNG 342, <i>ex &quot;collection of a Southern Pathologist, purchased from C.H. Wolfe, 3 May 1989&quot;</i></font></p><p><br /></p><p>I&#039;ve been hunting for the right one for a year now.&nbsp; Sure, I&#039;d like it to have better details... but the the centering and toning are very nice and the price was right.&nbsp; I can live with this <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie8" alt=":D" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" />.</p><p><br /></p><p>The serpent head on the chimera&#039;s tail isn&#039;t visible on this coin-- it&#039;s off the flan and this die doesn&#039;t have a very distinct serpent head anyway.</p><p><br /></p><p><a href="http://www.colosseocollection.com/p444364358/hef402e2#hef402e2" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.colosseocollection.com/p444364358/hef402e2#hef402e2" rel="nofollow">AJ&#039;s writeup</a> nicely summarizes the coin and politics.&nbsp; Here are some additional tidbits.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>Location:&nbsp; northern Peloponnesus, northwest of Corinth</b></p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]386636[/ATTACH]</p><p><font size="3">Map from <a href="https://vismor.com/misc/atlas/classical_geography_butler/show_map.php?file=peloponnesus&amp;title=Attica%20and%20the%20Peloponnese" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://vismor.com/misc/atlas/classical_geography_butler/show_map.php?file=peloponnesus&amp;title=Attica%20and%20the%20Peloponnese" rel="nofollow">vismor.com</a></font></p><p><br /></p><p>I tried to make a <a href="http://www.tifcollection.com/#!coins-of-peloponnesus/c1b2d" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.tifcollection.com/#!coins-of-peloponnesus/c1b2d" rel="nofollow">somewhat interactive map</a> but couldn&#039;t load it here.&nbsp; On my website I have a page with this map and all of my coins from the area.&nbsp; The pictures are clickable.</p><p><b><br /></b></p><p><b>What is a chimera?</b></p><p><br /></p><p>Mythical creature composed of several animals.&nbsp; This coin&#039;s chimera is a fire-breathing lion/goat/serpent.&nbsp; It is first mentioned in Homer&#039;s <i>Iliad</i> and origin myths are varied, as is often the case with such things.&nbsp; One hypothesis about the myth&#039;s origin is that it stemmed from the natural geologic feature of &quot;burning rocks&quot;:&nbsp; metamorphic rock venting flaming methane.&nbsp; Located in Lycia (modern-day southwest Turkey), this is also the region where the chimera myth began.</p><p><img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f6/FiresChimera2.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>Sighting a chimera was a bad omen.&nbsp; Fortunately I haven&#039;t seen any in my neighborhood this week, coins notwithstanding. <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie8" alt=":D" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>Side note:&nbsp; chimeras <b>do exist!&nbsp; </b>Animals (and humans!) can in certain circumstances can be conceived with or develop two different sets of DNA.&nbsp; Some male tortoiseshell cats exhibit this trait.&nbsp; Sure, it&#039;s not as cool as having a snake-tail or goat-back, but it&#039;s still pretty cool...unless you&#039;re Lydia Fairchild or Karen Keegan, whose children were almost taken away when initial DNA testing appeared to show they couldn&#039;t be the mothers of their children.&nbsp; When DNA was sampled from different tissue, the chimerism was found and crisis averted.</p><p><br /></p><p>...</p><p><br /></p><p>Post your chimeras, coins of Sikyon, or anything else you think works <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie1" alt=":)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" />[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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