Epaminondas saves the life of friend Pelopidas, H. Vogel. Public domain image from the Cyclopædia of Universal History, John Clark Ridpath, published in 1885. These two coins that I share today are both Federal coinage of the Boeotian league, a league that was formed and dissolved a few times over the centuries. "Ancient democracies and federations of states" is a theme in ancient coins that attracts my interest. The dominance of Thebes in the Boeotian league was a source of political friction. (more notes and references posted: Boeotian Federal Coinage). In the opening image of this post is from the Battle with Sparta at Mantineia in 385 BC when Epaminondas, a Theban, saves his good friend Pelopidas, from being killed. Pelopidas was the lead of an elite 300-person infantry called the "Sacred Band" that contributed to the defeat of Sparta at Leuctra (371 BC). An often quoted passage from Cicero is used to praise Epaminondas, but reading the passage in context I wonder why this particular passage would deserve so much attention given how little Cicero really explains his statement. "The Greeks held skill in vocal and instrumental music as a very important accomplishment, and therefore it is recorded of Epaminondas, who, in my opinion, was the greatest man among the Greeks, that he played excellently on the flute;" -Cicero, The Tusculan Disputations, 1.2 The first coin is a hemidrachm from Boeotia after the Pelopennisian War (between Athens and Sparta) and overlapping with the time when the Boetians, led by Thebes,fought against Sparta in 371 BC in the battle of Leuctra. Boeotia, Federal Coinage, circa 395-340 BC, hemidrachm (Silver, 14mm, 2.59g) Obv: Boeotian shield Rev: BO-I Kantharos; above, club; to right, bunch of grapes Ref: BCD Boiotia 31 Fast forward more than a century, for a coin from near the end of the Boeotian league after the crushing destruction of Thebes by Alexander the Great (335 BC), the reestablishment of the city by Cassander (315 BC), and with the Roman republic on the rise. I find this coin particularly elegant despite the imperfect centering with its iridescent portrait of Poseidon and winged Nike. Boeotia, Federal Coinage, Drachm, circa 225-171 BC, 19mm, 5.05g Obv: Laureate head of Poseidon right. Rev: BOIΩTΩN, Nike standing left, holding wreath and trident; monogram to inner left. Ref: BCD Boiotia 127; HGC 4, 1175. Post your coins from Greek leagues and federations, coins of Boeotia, coins of Thebes or anything else you find interesting or entertaining.
The shape and image of the Boeotian shield is always pleasing and it can be tricky to get one with the shield all on the flan. Nice score Sulla and lovely toning THEBES, Boeotia AR Obol, 371-338 BCE, Boeotian shield with club across end /Young Herakles head r, BMC. 169-170, somewhat off-ctr, dark patination worn off in center of shield; ex BCD with his meticulous detailed tag (bought from Baldwin's 1976). Rare Ex: Frank Robinson Here's a rarity from the Salamis. Site of the major sea battle that I've yet to share. It's Ajax THE greater's shield... and it's Boeotian! Islands off Attica. Salamis 350-318 BC. Bronze Æ 14mm., 2,78gr. Head of nymph Salamis right, wearing stephane / SA_LA Shield of Ajax. very fine SNG Copenhagen 455. Purchased from Art & Coins #2 Jan 2022 And here's another league, the Achaian league: ACHAIAN LEAGUE. Messene. Circa 175-168 BC. AR Triobol 2,00gr, Laureate head of Zeus right / Large X monogram; C-X in fields; below thunderbolt all within laurel wreath. BCD Peloponessos-. VF. Purchased from Art & Coins #2 Jan 2022
Interesting topic! I will confess to knowing much less about the League/Koinon/Federation coins than I would like to (especially the Thessalian, which is next on my reading list). I guess I had always assumed they were largely military leagues established for smaller cities to defend themselves (or the bigger cities to demand tribute from them), perhaps sometimes for trade. I suppose it must vary, but now that you bring it up, that's a topic I'd like to learn more about. Here a pair of my "Koinon of Thessaly" coins -- that is, Thessalian League during the Roman period (RPC 1439 & 1440). The first one depicts Nero-as-Apollo-Citharoedus (radiate) on the reverse ("Nero fiddling..." in commemoration of his musical tour of Greece around 65-66/7 CE and his "liberation of Achaea"), the second a distinctively Thessalian reverse type, a taurokathapsia scene: Burrer 1.1, referenced in RPC 1439: RPC 1440 for type (described as "bovine centaur" in Rogers 81!): Plus an Augustus that interesting but less visually exciting I've also got some of the Federal Coinage of Phokis from the 5th Cent BCE -- hemiobols with bull/helmet and obols with bull/ram designs: BCD Phokis 198 (9mm, 0.40g): (plus AE usually dated to the 4th) Another one is a billon fraction -- I forget if they're now considered 36th or 48th staters, but really tiny. (I should get a coin-on-fingertip photo to give perspective, but don't have the coin at home presently.) Circa 525-513 BC. Two eyes / Incuse punch. Rosen 548 (5.5mm, 0.26 g): Numismatic literature I usually have a slightly better grip on than the historical, where I sometimes feel a bit lost at sea when trying to figure these things out. My understanding is that there may not be much known about the latter (Koinon of Lesbos c. 500 BCE) during this period, but hopefully I'll find something. I don't read German well, so I already know that Burrer's Münzprägung und Geschichte des thessalischen Bundes in der römischen Kaiserzeit isn't going to be enough to get a grip on the Thessalian League! I'm open to suggestions, though, if anybody throws one out.
Love them! Especially that teeny tiny coin from Lesbos. Though, despite many sources sitting them as eyes I firmly believe they are of two shields. I know, I know, @Ryro you're shield obsessed, is what everyone reading this is thinking.... and you're right However, use your eyes and tell me what you really think is going on these little Lesbian coins LESBOS. Uncertain. BI 1/36 Stater (Circa 500-450 BC). Obv: Two eyes or grain ears (shields??) Rev: Quadripartite incuse square (swastika-shaped). SNG Copenhagen 292; HGC 6, 1074. Condition: very fine. Weight: 0.26 g. Diameter: 3 mm. Sure, I see why folks identify them as eyes: But, come onnnnnnn. So, then I suppose this boar from Lesbos is butting is head against an eye and not a shield LESBOS Uncertain. Billon Obol (Circa 500-450 BC). Obv: Head of boar right, eye (shield) in front. Rev: Quadripartite incuse square. SNG Copenhagen 290. Darkly toned.Minor earthen deposits.Good very fine. 0.99 g. 7 mm. Purchased from Biga Feb 2022
Hi Curtis, sources on Boeotia linked in my Notes, here are a couple of resources that I have been using recently. Both not easy to find in paper at least and "textbook" priced. One more than 1/2 a century old, and both providing broad overview of the subject with some specifics on Thessaly at various points in time (Larson has more specifics on Thessaly): Larsen, J. A. O. Representative Government in Greek and Roman History, Berkeley: University of California Press, first published in 1955. A Companion to Ancient Greek Government, Edited by Hans Beck, John Wiley & Sons, first published 2013. I also tend to use academia.edu, jstor.com, scribd.com, archive.org as places to find published articles and books (each with strengths and weaknesses in terms of content). Chapter 30 by Jeremy McInernay @ UPenn, Polis and Koinon, Federal Government in Greece, from the book above (Beck 2013) I am also interested in other sources, references, as well as suggestions and opinions on quality of various references.
Very attractive coins and an interesting write-up! I am still lon the look for a coin of Thebes or the Boeotian league, but my collection contains coins minted for some other Greek leagues. Achaian League (Arcadia, Pallantion), AR hemidrachm, early 1st century BC. Obv: head of Zeus r. Rev: AX (Achaian League) monogram; Π-A-Λ in fields, upright trident below; all within wreath. 16mm, 2.20g Ref: Clerk 217; BCD Peloponnesos 1592; Benner 1. Thessaly, Thessalian League, AR drachm, mid-late 2nd century BC. Obv: head of Apollo, laureate, r.; behind ΓAYANA (eroded). Rev: ΘΕΣΣΑΛΩΝ; Athena Itonia striding right, hurling spear, shield on arm; in fields, , Π-Ο-Λ-Y; to r., grape. 18mm, 3.90g. Ref: BCD Thessaly II 819. Phokis, Federal Coinage, triobol, ca. 490–485 BC. Obv: frontal bull's head. Rev: head of Artemis r. set diagonally in incuse square, Φ-O[-K-I] around. 13mm, 2.63g. Ref: see BCD Lokris–Phokis 189; see Williams 1972, no. 17.
Here is a relevant coin. It wasn't so easy to find a shield this nicely centered. Boeotia (Boeotian League, including Thebes), AR Stater 379-338 BC. Obv. Boeotian shield / Rev. Amphora, ΔΑ-IM (Daim-, magistrate [=Daimachus?]) across fields. BCD Boiotia 523 [Classical Numismatic Group, The BCD Collection of the Coinage of Boiotia, Triton IX Auction, Session 1, Lot 523 (not this coin) (10 Jan. 2006, New York)]; Hepworth 18 [Hepworth, R., "The 4th Century BC Magistrate Coinage of the Boiotian Confederacy" in NK 17 (Hungarian Numismatic Society, Numismatic Gazette (Budapest)) (1998)]; BMC 8 Central Greece 126 (at p. 81) [Head, B., A Catalog of the Greek Coins in the British Museum, Central Greece (Locris, Phocis, Boeotia, and Euboea) (London, 1884)]; Head, Boeotia p. 64 [Head, B.V., On the chronological sequence of the coins of Boeotia (London, 1881)]; Myron Hoard pl. D, 13 [Svoronos, J. "Θησαυρoς νoμiσματων εκ τoυ χωριoυ Mυρoυ Kαρδιτσης της Θεσσαλιας" in Arcaiologikon Deltion 2 (1916)]; SNG Copenhagen 323 [Sylloge Nummorum Graecorum, Copenhagen, The Royal Collection of Coins and Medals, Danish National Museum (Copenhagen, 1942-1979)]. 18.5 mm., 12.19 g. [Purchased from Harlan J. Berk, Ltd., 214th Buy or Bid Sale, Dec. 2020, Lot 59.] Link to Vimeo video of this coin: .
Plus two from the Thessalian League under Roman control, both ex. the BCD Collection: Thessalian League (under Roman Republic from 146 BCE, Province of Macedonia). Late 2nd-mid 1st centuries BCE, AR Stater ( = Double Victoriatus* = 1.5 denarius), Magistrates Sosipatros and Gorgopas. Obv. Laureate head of Zeus right / Rev. Helmeted Athena Itonia advancing right, holding shield with left hand and preparing to hurl spear with right hand; vertical legend ΘΕΣΣΑ-ΛΩN to left and right of Athena; [ΣΩ]ΣIΠ-ATPOΣ above spear; ΓOPΓΩΠΑΣ in exergue. BCD Thessaly II 861.2 [CNG, The BCD Collection of the Coinage of Thessaly, Triton XV Auction, Jan. 3, 2012, Lot 861.2 (this coin)]; HGC 4, 209 [Hoover, Oliver, Handbook of Coins of Northern and Central Greece: . . . Thessaly . . . ., Sixth to First Centuries BC, The Handbook of Greek Coinage Thessaly Series,Vol. 4 (2014)]; SNG Soutzos 397 [Tsourti, E. and Trifiro, M.D., Sylloge Nummorum Graecorum, Greece 5: Numismatic Museum, Athens, The A. G. Soutzos Collection (Athens, 2007)]; Klose pp. 339 & 346, 2 (same dies) [Klose, D.O.A, "Zur Chronologie der thessalischen Koinonprägungen im 2. und 1. Jh. v. Chr., Ein weiterer Schatzfund aus Südthessalien," in Peter, Ulrike. ed., Stephanos nomismatikos: Edith Schönert-Geiss zum 65. Geburtstag (Berlin, 1998), at pp. 333-350]. 22 mm., 6.08 g., 2 h. [According to BCD: From Franke Hoard, Greece, found Summer 1983.] Thessaly, Thessalian League (under Roman Republic from 146 BCE, Province of Macedonia). Mid-late 1st century BCE, AR Stater ( = Double Victoriatus* = 1.5 denarius), Magistrates Italos and Diokles. Obv. Head of Zeus right, wearing oak wreath, [ITAΛOY] [behind head, off flan] / Rev. Helmeted Athena Itonia advancing right, holding shield with left hand and preparing to hurl spear with right hand; vertical legend ΘΕΣΣΑ-ΛΩN to left and right of Athena; ΔIO-KΛHΣ above spear, N-I across field. BCD Thessaly II 874.4 [CNG, The BCD Collection of the Coinage of Thessaly, Triton XV Auction, Jan. 3, 2012, Lot 874.4 (this coin)]; HGC 4, 210 [Hoover, Oliver, Handbook of Coins of Northern and Central Greece: . . . Thessaly . . . ., Sixth to First Centuries BC, The Handbook of Greek Coinage Series,Vol. 4 (2014)]; McClean II 4797-4798 [Grose, S., Catalogue of the McClean Collection of Greek Coins, Fitzwilliam Museum, Vol. II, The Greek Mainland, the Aegean islands, Crete (Cambridge, 1926)]. 20 mm., 6.09 g., 12 h. [According to BCD: From Hoard found Dec. 1996, West of Karditsa, Thessaly, Greece.] * [Applicable to both Thessalian coins] CNG did not use the term “Double Victoriatus” in the Triton XV catalog, and apparently has not used it in general since at least 2006, because of the absence of evidence that that term, rather than simply "stater," was used contemporaneously in Thessaly. And one coin from the Koinon of Lycia, whatever that meant by Trajan's reign: Trajan AR Drachm, AD 98/99, Koinon of Lycia. Obv. Laureate head of Trajan right, ΑΥΤ ΚΑΙϹ ΝΕΡ ΤΡΑΙΑΝΟϹ ϹΕΒ ΓƐΡΜ / Rev. Two lyres with owl perched on top of them, standing to right, ΔΗΜ ΕΞ ΥΠΑΤ • Β [COS II]. RPC [Roman Provincial Coinage] Vol. III 2676 (2015); RPC III Online 2676 at https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/coins/3/2676; SNG von Aulock 4268 [Sylloge Nummorum Graecorum, Deutschland, Sammlung Hans Von Aulock, Vol. 2: Caria, Lydia, Phrygia, Lycia, Pamphylia (Berlin, 1962)]; BMC 19 Lycia 9-11 at p. 39 (ill. Pl. IX No. 11) [Hill, G.F., A Catalogue of Greek Coins in the British Museum, Lycia, Pamphylia, and Pisidia (London, 1897)]. Purchased Jan. 6, 2022 at Roma Numismatics E-Sale 93, Lot 717. 18 mm., 2.87 g., 6 h.
What a great pair of coins from BCD Thess. II -- I love that the chain of custody for each can be traced virtually completely to their discovery. I wonder what the "Franke Hoard" is. I don't see any other references to it, but I'd assume Franke = PRF = Dr. Peter Robert Franke. Being a prominent scholar of Greek coins, maybe at some point he acquired and cataloged a hoard of League Staters without a known findspot, and BCD named it after him. I've got at least one Thessalian coin that was BCD's from Franke in 1979 (a Phalanna bronze, so not from this hoard), and I've seen quite a few others noted, so clearly they were in regular contact.
It doesn't surprise me that a Boetian shield would be in your wheelhouse I look forward to hearing the story of the Salamis rarity. Great additions to the thread @Orielensis - the Thessalian Apollo is particularly attractive. Wonderful coin, the picture doesn't do it justice - the video really shows it off. I am also a fan of your Thessalian League coins with great provenance. Thanks for posting! Thanks for contributing the Akarnania-Boetian v. Sparta connection, @Andres2!
Love the toning on both of those. Wouldn't it be cool to have a coin of Epaminondas? Pricey though. Not many of the Theban staters can be dated to the short period of Theban hegemony, right after the battle of Leuktra. This KA-BI variety is one of them (the reason I bought it): It dates to 368-364 BCE.
Not sure exactly where mine fits -- it's a BCD 502 (but with the ornate handled-amphora of a 503) -- usually dated ca. 379-368 BCE (overlapping the c. 371 BCE battle of Leuktra I think), but at least once I've seen them dated later (363-338 BCE). It's one of the many areas I need to learn more about! (Sometimes I accumulate faster than I read!) Wish it was better centered (one type where I actually prefer a compact flan) but I could accept the broad flan with a lovely amphora: PHOTO CREDIT: Nomos Web-Auction 16. ~22mm, 12.08g. I do have a later little bronze that's reportedly from the Boeotia Federal Coinage (it came with BCD's tag but unfortunately haven't photographed them together yet): PHOTO CREDIT: Kolner e-7, lot 16. ~14-15mm, 1.64 g. ca. 338-300 BCE. FWIW, on the topic of Confederacy / Federation in Boeotia I've been Googling around a bit blindly, but have been working through a pair of non-numismatic papers avail. online (one is in a Festschrift, the other translated from an Italian conference proceedings I believe). "Thebes, the Boiotian League, and the Rise of Federalismin Fourth Century Greece," by Hans Beck (1997/2000/n.d.): "Poleis and Confederacy in Boiotia in the Early Fourth Century BC," by J. Pascual (2006):
