Greek style Illyrian coins

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Good question AussieCollector. My favorite site for Illyrian coins is this one:

http://asklapiadas.ancients.info/02General.html

According to this site, these areas were colonized by Greeks, so although not technically ruled by Greeks, they kind of were Greek. Anyway, there is a lot of historical information, and a lot of detail on these somewhat confusing issues. The site above gives a very detailed dating scheme that I am guessing is not to everyone's liking, but impresses me with the research and thinking behind it.

As it so happens, I just got a new one of these this past week - I have a few, which I scoop up when the price is right and they are reasonably well struck (some are a bit crude, especially the later issues):



Illyria - Apollonia
Drachm - Class A6Lc2a
(56 B.C.)
(Nikandros and Andriskos)
NIKANΔPOΣ above cow standing left with calf, monogram (ANΔΡΚ) in exergue / AΠOΛ / AN / ΔPIΣ / KOY double stellate pattern in square.
Ceka 83; SNG Cop. 379.
(2.93 grams / 18 mm)

 

Your example looks good to me, but I am no expert. I have a couple of them that are very cruddy, low weight and apparently low quality. I've seen fourrees as well - some have been posted on CT. The quality of these got pretty poor and I imagine the counterfeiters were busy.

A while back I was poking around on line to see why there are so many of these coins - I read somewhere that if you have a garden in Serbia you are bound to dig one of these up! There is speculation that they were used in the massive slave trade with Rome, which is why they got smaller in time, basically matching the denarius. It is also interesting that the minting of these came to a stop around the time Caesar and Pompey duked it out at the Battle of Dyrrhachium. Did Rome take over the coinage? Were Roman troops paid with these for a while in lieu of denarii? The site I referenced above has more information on this and other topics.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Dyrrhachium_(48_BC)

 

Actually, you've inspired me to look at my small collection a little closer. If I am attributing these right, I have one like yours, but uglier. Per the website I linked above, these seem to be quite late (just before Caesar and Pompey landed).

The silver seems good(ish) on mine and the weight is okay (I consider OK on these to be 3 grams +), but it is pretty sorry-looking:



Illyria - Apollonia
Drachm - Class A7ALc2b
(50 B.C.)
ARIS[TWN], Cow standing left head looking back suckling calf /
APOL AI NE A around double stellate pattern.
Ceka 24.
(3.08 grams / 17 mm)

Going from bad to worse, below are two other Illyrian uglies I have. The dark one on the right weights only 2.12 grams; I'm guessing ancient counterfeit. The other one is a good weight, but suffers, like the light one, from gross off-centering, like a lot of these do.



Illyria - Dyrrhachium
Drachm - Class D5
(54 B.C.)
[ME] NISKO , cow standing right, suckling calf, rudder below / [DUR] AR CIP [POU]double stellate pattern in square.
Ceka 318
(3.17 grams / 18 mm)

Illyria - Apollonia
Drachm - Class A7ALc2b
(52 B.C.)
(Niken and Autoboulos)
NIKHN above cow standing left suckling calf / APOL AUT[O BOU] LOU around double stellate pattern.
Ceka 88
(2.12 grams / 16 mm)

 

Here's a less often seen one, a hemidrachm with Apollonia's famed nymphaeum fires on the obverse and Pan's lagobolon on the reverse.

ILLYRIA, Apollonia
AR Hemidrachm (or 1/2 Victoriatus). 1.5g, 14.8mm. ILLYRIA, Apollonia, circa mid-late 1st century BC. Maier 121; BMC 44. O: AI-NEA, fires of the Nymphaeum of Apollonia. R: AΠOΛΛΩ-NIATAN, lagobolon (rabbit-bashing stick).
Notes: In his 'Life of Sulla', Plutarch describes an event that occurred while Sulla was camped in the vicinity of Apollonia while preparing for his invasion of Rome. Some of his men had caught a satyr while it slept in the nearby Nymphaeum and brought it before Sulla. Translators tried in vain to question the creature, who would only reply in the hoarse, bleating cries of a goat. In horror and disgust, the great Roman general ordered that it be taken away from his sight. It was probably just poor Pan, looking for his lost rabbit-basher.

And a matching drachm...

ILLYRIA, Apollonia
AR Drachm. 3.0g, 17.8mm. Circa 120/00-80/70 BC. Aibatios and Chairenos, magistrates. Maier 120; SNG Cop 398. O: AIBATIOΣ, cow standing left, suckling calf standing right below; in exergue, grain ear. R: ΑΠΟΛ-XAI-PH-NOΣ, Fires of the Nymphaeum and lagobolon (rabbit-bashing stick) within double linear frame.

 

Wow. Those are really cool, zumbly. I didn't even know they made 'em like that.

I am also impressed that the ancients had a special tool, and name, for what we can only call a "rabbit-bashing stick." I wonder if Sulla's satyr had been drinking when he misplaced his lagobolon? Satyrs were known for hitting the old wineskins, so I've heard.

 

I don't know much about Illyria in particular, but I think your confusion stems in part from (perhaps inadvertently) equating the concept of Greece as a nation-state, with the ancient Greek world. Greece itself was never a single state but varying groups of allied city states. The cultural, political, and religious influence of the Greeks, as well as their colonial presence, each provide a different set of criteria for defining what was "Greek."

Here's an interesting map showing Ancient Greek colonies, c 550BC (from wikipedia):

 

They look like frogs sitting around a pond.

 

The link you posted above has a short section on these. It suggests that it was a very short and late series, perhaps issued right at the end of the long-running Cow and calf series/stellate pattern series. Illyrian drachmae and the Roman victoriati had been struck on the same standard, and some time after production of victoriati ceased, the decision was made to issue new coinage at Apollonia struck to the standard of the denarius instead. Those are not too common either. Better preserved examples are around 3.7-3.8g. My poxy one below is at the low end of the weight range.


ILLYRIA, Apollonia
AR Drachm. 3.26g, 20.4mm, ILLYRIA, Apollonia, circa mid-late 1st century BC. Maier 135; SNG Copenhagen 405 var. (magistrate). O: Laureate head of Apollo left; APXHN to left. R: Three nymphs dancing around the Fire of the Nymphaeum of Apollonia; NIKANOP in exergue.