Neandria - A Small Bronze from a Place Where Not Much Happened

Over the past few months I have been trying to range further afield in my collecting, buying small, cheap Roman Provincials and Greek bronzes, not knowing what in the heck I'm getting, then trying to figure them out. This has been a very pleasant pastime, and I have learned a lot (and have a long way to go).

I thought I'd share a recent purchase, a tiny AE from Neandria (also spelt Neandreia) in the Troas. The coin has a mottled green patina that makes it hard to see and photograph, but I was charmed by its simplicity - Apollo, a grain kernel, a bunch of grapes, and NEAN. "The size of an aspirin," I thought, when I opened the package, but actually it is smaller than an aspirin (take that, Panama Pill!).

Knowing nothing of Neandria, I started surfing the web, to find that Neandria, unlike most of the Greek, Balkan, and Asian Minor sites I look up, never got ravaged. People lived there peacefully for a thousand years or so, then they were told to move off by Antigonus I Monophthalmus - before that, it must've been a pretty nice place to live, actually

From Wikipedia (mentioning coins!):

"In ca. 310 BCE Antigonus I Monophthalmus founded the city of Antigonia Troas (after 301 BCE renamed Alexandria Troas) as a synoecism of the surrounding cities of the Troad, including Neandreia.[18] The earliest coinage of the newly synoecized city adopted the coin types of Neandreia, which displayed a grazing horse, and this remained Alexandria Troas' emblem on its coinage for the rest of antiquity.[19] From this point on, Neandreia had no independent political existence, hence in the 1st century CE Pliny the Elder listed it among the settlements in the Troad which no longer existed in his day."

Before that, there was some Persian/Athenian swapping going on, but no massacres that anyone is aware of, no archaeological "burnt layers" no mass graves. And afterwards no Roman or Gothic devastation, no Byzantine or Muslim occupation. The place pretty much was abandoned c. 301 B.C. (although some historians think there was a military garrison kept there up to early Roman times, but they left scant evidence of occupations). The walls, though ruined, are unmodified Hellenistic (or earlier) construction. Also, I thought it interesting, that Neadria's coin types lived on in the issues from Alexandria Troas.

Another wonderful source is the Aeternitas Numismatics site; a tour of Neanrdria's site is described, the rather desolate, but beautiful ruins, spread out over a wide area. Great photos too. The sojourner in the Aeternitas blog has this to say about the coins:

"The rest of the fourth century BC was a time of a certain prosperity for the city of Neandria. This is indicated by the important constructive activity archaeologically detected and the fact that the city issued bronze and silver coins in sufficiently high amounts so that today they are not considered rare. These emissions mostly show the god Apollo on the obverse, considered for this reason the tutelary deity of the city, and elements of agricultural-livestock type (the economic base of the city) on the reverse such as barley grains, oil amphoras or wine, clusters of grapes, rams and horses."
https://www.aeternitas-numismatics.com/single-post/Neandria-Turkey

My humble coin is below (with aspirin comparison). Any other Neandria coins out there, or for that matter, Alexander Troas with Neandria types? Or just any obscure places of antiquity?



Troas, Neandria Æ 10
(c. 350-310 B.C.)
Laureate head of Apollo right / NEA[N], ethnic vertically upward to left of grain kernel; bunch of grapes on stem to right.
SNG Copenhagen 448; SNG Tübingen 2652.
(1.54 grams / 10 mm)

Flunking the aspirin comparison test:

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

Here is an obol that came in a group lot


Neandreia, circa 400 BC, AR 0.56g, obol
Obv: Laureate head of Apollo right
Rev: [N]EA above ram standing left, all within incuse square.

If you are having a hard time, a better example can be seen here.

Usually you can get good info on a city, possibly an explanation for why the coin date guesses were chosen from Historia Numorum. There is not much for this city at http://snible.org/coins/hn/troas.html#Neandria though.

Another good way to get information on a city is to go to https://www.amazon.com/Inventory-Archaic-Classical-Poleis-Investigation-dp-0198140991/dp/0198140991 and enter the name in the "Look Inside -> Search inside this book" option.

 

Nice coin and write up @Marsyas Mike ! Thank you. Fun to have little tykes of the coin world!

I captured mine because, at the time, I did not have any coins depicting sheep or a Ram. I rose sheep when I was growing up, and as well as when I expatted in the UK several years ago.


TROAS Neandria AR Obol 4thC BCE 0.56g 8mm Laur hd Apollo r - NEA N Ram stdng right within incuse sq SNG Cop 446

 

Here is the one I have from Alexandria Troas, also the size of an aspirin!
Troas, Alexandria
3rd-2nd Century BC
Obverse: Laureate head of Apollo right
Reverse: ALE Horse feeding right, Sigma below
BMC: 10-14 var (size with this control not listed)
Size: 9.5mm, 0.72gSCARCE SMALL TYPE Greek Coin of Alexandria Troas "Apollo & Horse" 9.5mm
It is prettier in hand as a miniature.
Nice history write-up @Marsyas Mike

 

Thanks for the writeup. I love these little lost places and the coins we have of them. We may know of nothing that happened there on a historically significant scale, but who knows, if only our coins could talk...

Here's mine, differing from yours only in the direction of the grain ear. I always have trouble taking pictures of these tiny coins, so I'm using the seller's pics.

TROAS, Neandria.
AE11. 1.0g, 11mm. TROAS, Neandria, circa 4th century BC. SNG Ashmolean 1175; SNG Copenhagen 449. O: Laureate head of Apollo right. R: NEAN, Grain ear; grape bunch to right.

 

Thank you all for sharing. These are some really nice examples of coinage from this small place.

 

I looked at quite a few of these online and yours is about the nicest in terms of style that I've seen. Nice patina too.

Many of these are rather crude; mine seems to be somewhere in the middle range of crudeness.