I bought Greek coins?!

Ok yeah, far from my beaten collecting paths of late antiquity and the Middle Ages, but I do have some interest in the ancient Greek world, which led me to purchase (months ago, only just sharing now) these two tiny silver coins from the Greek city of Kyzikos, in the region of Mysia. On one side is a boar head and on the other side a lion head. I'm guessing everyone and their mother that collects Greeks has this type already, but I'm still taking baby steps when it comes to Greek coins (or anything outside my main collecting areas that I want to further explore a bit).These are currently the oldest coins in my entire collection.

Very brief history since, again, this is not normally my area and I'm sure a many of you have a good grasp of the history of Kyzikos (and those of some of the other Greek city-states).

The Pelasgians from Thessaly were the founders of Kyzikos prior to the 8th century BC, but only after the decline of Athens and Miletus after the Peloponnesian War did Kyzikos become a vital center of commerce. During the war, in 410 BC, it was the site of a Spartan naval defeat at the hands of the Athenian navy. A little over two decades later, the city was ceded to the Persian Empire, but was captured by Alexander the Great in 334 BC. Almost 300 years later, Kyzikos, by then know to the Romans as Cyzicus, allied with the Roman Republic and withstood a siege against King Mithridates VI of Pontus. Cyzicus would become a major city of the Roman Empire, and later the Eastern Roman Empire.

When the Muslim Arabs invaded the Eastern Roman Empire in the late 7th century AD, they briefly held Cyzicus, and used the city and the surrounding area as a launchpad for their assault on Constantinople. The Arabs, despite their string of successes in the previous decades, failed to take the capital. Cyzicus remained in Roman hands for the next seven centuries, entering a decline in the later half of the Middle Ages from which it would not recover, a decay that only got worse after the Ottomans took the region.

(hopefully I got the exact attributions correct, I might need help if they aren't)

Kyzikos, Mysia
AR hemiobol
Obv: Forepart of running boar left, tunny fish behind neck
Rev: Lion's head left, jaws wide open, small panther head above
Mint: Kyzikos
Date of striking: 5th century BC
Ref: Rosen 522



Kyzikos, Mysia
AR obol
Obv: Forepart of running boar right, tunny fish behind neck, all within incuse square
Rev: Lion's head left, jaws wide open, retrograde K above, all within incuse square
Mint: Kyzikos
Date of striking: 5th century BC
Ref: BMC 123

 

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VK you feeling OK?
Great little coin.

 

Lol thanks Pish. These aren't the only two Greeks I've gotten this year! Got a couple more I've yet to share.

BTW I've included a map of the location of Kyzikos/Cyzicus.

 

I think there is a virus going around on CT. This virus makes members buy coins way out of their collecting spheres. I think you got that bug @ValiantKnight.

These are great little coins.

 

What an awesomely detailed coin. That lion looks downright ferocious, like some sort of mutant lion.

I think it would be a fun thing for us to collectively do. Buy something we do not normally collect or not have an example of (can be cheap or not) and share it here on CT.

 

Perhaps, but I keep spending on the coins I want in my collection.

 

It could be super-cheap, like $5-10. I could see you maybe buying an ancient Indian or Chinese coin, or something really obscure

 

Nice, a lot of collectors have that Kyzikos coin because it looks nice, and is interesting to have. I think there are also variations though I could be wrong. Here is one I picked up a little while ago.

I have no idea what you are talking about.

 

I did my part recently with the purchase of a Constantine I AE4

 

Kyzikos, Mysia
AR Tritatemorion, 9X12mm, 0.58g; 480-450 BC.
Obv.: Forepart of running boar left, tunny fish facing upward.
Rev.: Roaring lion.

 

You know I am driven by pet peeves including the one against using catalog numbers not checked in the catalog quoted. Rosen was a great collection published by the ANS in 1983. Rosen 522 is the closest Rosen had to these coins but his specimen had a satyr head minor type where Bing's coin has a star over the lion and mine has the backwards K. There are many variations and I do not own a book on them. Since your pigs face opposite directions, I doubt the BMC would match either. My coin has an oval flan so there is not a trace of tunny but may have had one.


I love the catalog of the Rosen collection. It has 770 Greek coins including the large and popular ones that populate high end collections with regularity but also having a good spread of small denominations even sub-obol size. There are many old collection catalogs with more big coins but none that show a better overview of the subject in so few coins. Dewing and Pozzi each had 2000 more coins but nothing like the Rosen minor silver. I have to wonder why Rosen only had that one Kyzikos but the one he had was a type (with Satyr head) I certainly would love to own.

 

By far not my smallest coin, but the Boar-Lion combo is pretty cool to me...


Mysia Kyzikos AR Hemiobol 480-450 BCE 0.4g Boar-Lion Sear 3850

 

Well, I'll pile on too...

 

Atta boy, Jango => keep us guessin' (hey, dat ain't no Ostrogothic pig!!)

I have a very humble example too ...

 

I would love to have one as well. In fact, I would love to have your example too. I love that backwards K. Also great image. I have tried several times with this bugger, but I can't get a decent image. This is the best I can do.

 

Pigs? Ostrogoths? Reminds me of this story!

http://www.lookandlearn.com/blog/12210/the-twilight-of-ancient-rome/

This story comes to us from Procopius, and is also referenced here:

https://books.google.com/books?id=dPig9bm268sC&pg=PT166&lpg=PT166&dq=king theodahad pig story&source=bl&ots=M98qk0UQRR&sig=q7O_UGrtjALMaHExQE5TCinoEJY&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwigxZ-K5Y_OAhUOgx4KHQOzCNMQ6AEIITAC#v=onepage&q=king theodahad pig story&f=false

 

Nothing wrong with Greek coins. I like to pick one up once in a while myself.

I don't have any of the Kyzikos types at the moment, but I did pick up this 1/12th stater of Miletos at the Baltimore show. I have a special place in my heart for any and all fractionals...



Ionia, Miletos, late 6th-early 5th century BC.
AR 1/12th stater, 10x7mm, 1.0g
Obv.: Forepart of a lion right., head turned left.
Rev.: Stellate design within square incuse.
SNG Kayhan 476-81.

 

Incidentally, along the lines of learning something new everyday, I discovered that the civic engineers of Miletos were some of the first to lay out streets in a grid pattern, an idea taken up by the Romans and handed down to modern civilization.



By Hippodamos - Den svenska staden, Public Domain,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8277556

 

Good information to know. Thanks

 

Here is my Kyzicos Boar hemiobol