Dear friends of ancient mythology! Here is my newest coin: The coin: Troas, Ilium, Crispina (wife of Commodus), AD 178-182. AE 25, 13.7g, 24.6mm, 30°. Onv.: KPICΠEINA - CEBACTH Bust of Crispina with Stephane, topknot at neck, draped, r. Rev.: ΠPIAMOC - IΛIEΩN. Priamos in long robe and wearing Phrygian cap enthroned r., leaning with raised left hand on long sceptre. Ref.: Bellinger T193; von Fritze, Ilion 92; BMC 72; RPC IV/2, 193 (#10). This specimen is an electrotype copy of the coin from the Bibliotheque National in Paris from the 19th century. What is an Electrotype Copy? This procedure is a galvanic impression of a model. A model is made from the original, usually from plaster, the surface of which is then made conductive. This model is placed in a galvanic bath. Under the influence of electricity, the metal atoms of the bath are deposited on the surface of the model. The model itself remains inside (so-called core electroforming). This process was invented at the end of the 18th century by the anatomy professor Luigi Galvani and then further developed in the 19th century. Shortly after the development of the process, it was made usable for arts and crafts purposes. Large museums used this method to produce copies of coins to exhibit or sell to collectors. Our coin was produced in the 19th century by the Bibliotheque National de France for collectors. The groove on the edge of the coin is always typical. Name: Priamos' original name was Podarkes. After the treacherous Laomedon, the second king of Troy, cheated Apollo and Poseidon, who had built him the walls of Troy, of their deserved reward, probably the famous horses of the gods, Apollo sent him the plague and Poseidon a huge sea monster. The oracle advised that Hesione, the daughter of Laomedon, should be sacrificed to the monster in order to save the city. She was abandoned on the beach and Laomedon promised her saviour the divine horses. Herakles killed the monster. But again Laomedon resorted to deceit and refused him the prize. Then Herakles made war on Troy, ravaged it to the walls and killed Laomedon and his sons, except Priam, the youngest. Him Hesione bought (Greek πριασθαι) with her veil interwoven with gold (Apollodor). After a short time as a slave, Heracles set him free. Hesione, however, was kidnapped by Telamon to Greece, which was one of the main reasons for the Trojan War. This story, however, is a folk etymology. It is more likely that the name Priamos comes from the Aiolian per(r)amos (= basileus, king) (Hesych). Genealogy: Priamos, the last king of Troy, was the youngest son of the Trojan king Laomedon and Strymo, a daughter of Scamander, according to others of Plakia, a daughter of Atreus. His brothers were Tithonos, Lampos, Klytios and Hiketaon (Homer Iliad), his sisters Hesione, Killa and Astyoche (Apollodor). After the death of Laomedon, Heracles left him the kingdom, although he was still a child then (Hygin), and he succeeded his father on the throne. He rebuilt the destroyed Troy, stronger and more formidable than it had been before. Priamos as oriental ruler enthroned l. Detail from the painting "Helen and Priamos at the Skaean Gate" (1808) by Richard Cook (1784-1857). Family: Priamos founded the most child-rich royal family in the history of heroes. His first wife was Arisbe, the daughter of Merops. With her he begat Aiakaos, but later left her to Hyrtakos and took Hekabe (Lat. Hecuba), a daughter of Kisseus or Dymas, as his wife. With her he had 19 children. In addition, he had 50 concubines, from whom he had a myriad of other children. Hygin lists 54! Homer speaks of 50 sons, of whom he is said to have had 19 by Hekabe alone, together with 12 daughters who were married, apart from the unmarried ones. All of them were raised by Hekabe. After the death of Hector, 9 sons were still alive. Hekabe According to Hygin, Hecabe became a slave to Odysseus after the fall of Troy. In the end she threw herself into the sea and was transformed into a dog. Today this is interpreted as a sign of kinship with Hekate. The fall of Troy plunged Hekabe from the highest maternal happiness and pride of a queen into deepest misery and slavery, depriving her of her husband and all her children. She is the embodiment of the deepest misfortune and misery of women in war. Her fate was not only treated by Euripides ("The Trojan Women"), but also by Sartre ("Les Troyennes, 1965). "That's Hecuba to me!" in the sense of "I don't give a damn!" goes back to Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act 2, Scene 2. It was used by Bismarck, among others, in 1887 when the Oriental question was at issue. Of the 22 daughters, the most mythologically significant is Kassandra. It is said that Apollo promised her the gift of prophecy if she gave herself to him. She rejected the god's love and Apollo condemned her, saying that she should only ever prophesy impending disaster, but that no one should believe her. The curse was fulfilled at the birth of Paris, when she demanded that Hekabe's child be killed because in a dream of Hekabe the city perished in a firestorm. In the Iliad, Priamos tells that in his youth he fought against the Amazons at Sangarios together with the Phrygians Otreus and Mygdos. Virgil mentions visits to Salamis and Arcadia. At the beginning of the Trojan War, Priamos was a powerful and wealthy king. His empire stretched from Lesbos through Phrygia to the Hellespont. Phrygians and Thracian neighbours were his confederates (Pauly), perhaps also his vassals. Aineias, who always had a tense relationship with him, joined him only in the 10th year of the war. Due to its strategic position, Troy controlled the access to the Black Sea and thus controlled the Greek grain transports. During the Trojan War Priamos did not play a major role during the Trojan War. He was the venerable head of a numerous family and a mild, just king (Roscher) to the point of weakness, appearing at the end as a life-weary old man who rarely intervened in the course of events. This corresponded to his view that this was a war of the gods, which was also decided by the gods. Because of his piety, he was a favourite of Zeus. In the Agora he presided as king, but was ruled by his sons. These he angrily insulted as cowards, liars, gluttons who robbed the people of their cattle. The real ruler was his eldest son Hektor. At a teichoscopy (wall show), where he looked down from the wall on the battlefield in front of the city, he admired the courage and bravery of the Achaeans. He was held in high esteem by them. Priamos tries to persuade Hector to turn back. Priamos does not emerge again until the end of the Iliad, when he sees the Greeks raging among the Trojans and they turn to wild flight. He orders the gates to be opened. Only Hektor remains outside. When Achilles rushes at him, he begs Hector to come in too. He curses Achilles, who had already murdered so many of his sons. If only the last hope of Troy would not sink. Therefore Hektor should come in, for he must preserve his own. He tells him of his own fate, how his corpse will be torn apart by dogs. He uses all his eloquence to persuade his son to return to the city by pointing out the disaster threatening the city. This is Priamos' longest speech. But it was in vain, the inexorable fate was fulfilled. The supplication of Priamos to Achilles After Achilles had killed Hektor in single combat, he tied his body to his chariot and dragged it three times around the walls of Troy. Then, out of grief over Patroklos' death, he dragged Hektor's body three times a day around Patroklos' tomb. But Apollo protected him from rot and injury. Now followed the most difficult walk of the unhappy king. Guided by Hermes, he went to the camp of the Greeks and sank down at the feet of the unforgiving victor. But Achilles received him with dignity and succeeded in releasing Hektor's body. This event has remained a popular subject in poetry and art ever since. The Death of Priamos After the conquest of Troy, he was dragged away from the altar of Zeus by Neoptolemos, the son of Achilles, despite assurances that he would be spared, and after killing their son Polites while she was still watching, he was brutally murdered in front of Hekabe. This is only one of the terrible crimes the Greeks committed against the defeated Trojans. The Treasure of Priamos The so-called Treasure of Priamos was discovered by Heinrich Schliemann on 31 May 1873 during his excavations in Troy. It was named after the mythical king. It contains a total of over 8000 objects. Schliemann donated the treasure to the German people in 1881 and since 1885 it has been in the Ethnological Museum in Berlin. After the Second World War it was brought to the Soviet Union as looted art, which was confirmed in 1993. Until then, it was considered lost or destroyed. In the meantime, Turkey has also registered property rights (Wiki). But Schliemann was under an illusion. In fact, the "Treasure of Priamos" dates from the early Bronze Age and is more than a thousand years older than the presumed reign of the Troy king described by Homer. Sophia Schliemann with the Great Hanger from the "Treasure of Priamos", 1873. Art history: Depictions of Priamos are not common in antiquity. Mostly the supplication to Achilles and then his murder by Neoptolemos are depicted. This also applies to depictions from modern times, as the selected depictions show. (1) Priamos before Achilles Attic red-figure scyphos, Classical period, c. 490 BC, attributed to the Brygos painter, found in Cerveteri, today in the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna (2) Alexander Andreyevich Ivanov (1806-1859): "Priamos asks Achilles to hand over Hektor's body", 1824. (3) The death of Priamos "Priamos is killed by Neoptolemos, the son of Achilles", detail of an Attic black-figure amphora, Late Archaic, ca. 520-510 BC, from Vulci Sources (1) Homer, Iliad (2) Apollodor, Bibliotheka (3) Hygin, Fabulae (4) Euripides, The Trojan Women (5) Virgil, Aeneid Secondary literature (1) Wilhelm Heinrich Roscher, Ausführliches Lexikon der griechischen und römischen Literatur, Leipzig (online too) (2) Benjamin Hederich, Gründliches mythologisches Lexikon, Leipzig 1770 (online too) (3) Karl Kerenyi, The Mythology of the Greeks, dtv (4) Robert von Ranke-Graves, Greek Mythology, rororo (5) Der Kleine Pauly, dtv (6) William Shakespeare, Hamlet (7) Jean-Paul Sartre, Les Troyennes (8) RPC IV.2 (9) Aghion/Barbillon/Lissarrague, Reclams Lexikon der antiken Götter und Heroen in der Kunst, 1994 Online sources (1) Wikipedia (2) theoi.com Best regards Jochen
The Vienna skyphos by the "Brygos painter" is a true masterpiece for me. It represents the episode in Ilias book 24 l.475 ff. when Priamos suddenly appears out of the blue in front of Achilles who was quietly having dinner, forgetting all the suffering he had inflicted, because of his selfish "wrath", to his friends and foes as well..."The wrath sing, goddess, of Peleus' son, Achilles, that destructive wrath which brought countless woes upon the Achaeans, and sent forth to Hades many valiant souls of heroes, and made them themselves spoil for dogs and every bird"... In Homer, "(Achilles) was newly ceased from meat, even from eating and drinking, and the table yet stood by his side. Unseen of these great Priam entered in, and coming close to Achilles, clasped in his hands his knees, and kissed his hands, the terrible, man-slaying hands that had slain his many sons." Priamos is an old man, Achilles is a very young man, the youngest hero of the whole Achaean coalition (it is said in the poem). A noble old man begging a youth, humiliating himself in front of a youth, was a very shocking scene for the Greeks (and for all other cultures). "Achilles (was) seized with wonder at sight of godlike Priam, and seized with wonder were the others likewise, and they glanced one at the other." then... "But Priam made entreaty, and spake to him, saying: “Remember thy father, O Achilles like to the gods"... Touché. Achilles is still very young and commits a lot of mistakes, being far from his old father Peleus whom he will never see again. His reaction at Priamos' words : "So spake he, and in Achilles he roused desire to weep for his father; and he took the old man by the hand, and gently put him from him. So the twain bethought them of their dead, and wept; the one for man-slaying Hector wept sore, the while he grovelled at Achilles' feet, but Achilles wept for his own father"... The Brygos Painter chose to represent Priamos entering Achilles' tent, just before kneeling in front of him and kissing his hands. This quiet Priamos showing no emotion is the very image of dignity. This is new : this scene was very often represented on vases, but Priamos was always depicted in an emotional mood, rushing to Achilles. Like on this vase : (Toledo Museum) or on this one : (Harvard University) The very solemn and quiet Brygos Painter's Priamos is different. And Achilles turns his head. Why? Is it because he has not yet noticed Priamos' presence, or is it because he is afraid of making eye contact? I remember in Odyssey Book 16 l. 179 Telemachus' reaction when he first realizes that the man before him is actually his father returned at last : "And his dear son marvelled, and, seized with fear, turned his eyes aside, lest it should be a god." Maybe the Brygos Painter remembered this verse too, and drew Achilles reacting like Telemachus "lest it should be a god". This final scene of the Iliad is the climax of the epic. Achilles is no longer the arrogant talented teenager who respects nothing and nobody, thinking only of himself... He lacked a father to teach him some wisdom, he has found one he did not expect: Priamos ! Never underestimate the shock it is for a young man to be suddenly told : "Luke, I am your father" . More seriously, this Iliad climax was later reproduced by Tirso de Molina, Molière, Lorenzo da Ponte with Mozart: it is the moment when Don Giovanni is having dinner when suddenly the statue of the old Commendatore appears in front of him...
@GinoLR Thank you for your contribution and especially for the deep insight into the scene in which Priam asks Achilles for the body of Hector. I too wondered why Achlll turned away from Priam on the Vienna skyphos. But I did not pursue this. Your explanation has something going for it. Jochen
