Featured The horse of Erichthonius on coins of Alexandria Troas

The mythical account of Troas (modern northwestern Turkey) is briefly as follows. Teucer, the first king of the Troad, had a daughter who married Dardanus, the chieftain of Dardania, to the northeast of the Troad. The union produced two sons, Ilus and Erichthonius. Erichthonius was, in turn, the father of Tros, from whom the country and people were named Troas and Troes, respectively. Tros had a son, Ilus (apparently named after his uncle), who founded a city known as Ilium or Troy, after Ilus and Tros, and thus became its first king. After him ruled Laomedon, and after him, Priam of Homeric fame.[1]

The city Alexandria was founded ca. 310 BCE by Antigonus, and was settled by colonists from Cebren, Colone, Hamaxitus, Neandrea, and Scepsis. At first, the city was called Antigoneia, but renamed Alexandria about 300 BCE in memory of Alexander the Great.[2]


Alexandria Troas lies on the Mediterranean coast of the Troad, north of the Gulf of Adramyttium.[3]

In the time of Augustus, Alexandria became a Colonia, and was a significant port for traveling between Anatolia and Europe.[4] According to the account in The Acts of the Apostles, Paul of Tarsus sailed to and from Europe for the first time from Alexandria Troas.[5] Ignatius of Antioch also traveled through this city before continuing to Rome, where he was subsequently executed.[6]

Its colonial bronze coinage extends from the period of Commodus to Gallienus. Reverse types principally deal with the cult of Apollo Smintheus, but also include the Lupa Romana, the statue of Marsyas in the Roman Forum, an eagle standing on the head and neck of a bull, and a horse feeding. See this thread for examples from my collection.

The horse type is a personal favorite. The grazing horse type first appears on autonomous issues as far back as ca. 300 BCE.[7] This motif reappears on Roman provincial issues and is quite commonly encountered on coins issued during the reigns of Valerian and Gallienus, on the coins bearing the portrait of those emperors as well as on the anonymous issues depicting the bust of Tyche. The reverse type is thought to represent one of the horses of Erichthonius, father of Tros, discussed above.[8]

Post your coins of Alexandria Troas!


Valerian I, AD 253-260,
Roman provincial AE 19 mm, 4.83 g, 7 h.
Troas, Alexandria Troas, AD 253-260.
Obv: IMP LICINI VALERIANV, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust, right.
Rev: COL AVG TRO, horse feeding, right.
Refs: BMC 17.29, 159; cf: Bellinger A 436, SNG von Aulock 7573, SNG Copenhagen 191, Mionnet Suppl. V 313-314 (variations of inscriptions).


Time of Valerian I to Gallienus, AD 253-268.
Roman provincial Æ 20.1 mm, 4.49 g, 1 h.
Troas, Alexandria Troas, AD 253-268.
Obv: CO-L TROAD, turreted and draped bust of Tyche, right, with vexillium inscribed AV/CO over shoulder.
Rev: COL AVG, Horse grazing right, TRO in exergue.
Refs: Bellinger A486; SNG Copenhagen 108-113; SNG von Aulock 1466; SNG Tübingen 2533; BMC 48 var.

~~~

1. Smith, William. A Classical Dictionary of Biography, Mythology, and Geography. London, Murray and Walton, 1868, p. 791.

2. Wroth, Warwick. A Catalog of the Greek Coins in the British Museum: Troas, Aeolis and Lesbos. London, Gilbert and Rivington, 1894, p. xiv.

3. Shepherd, William. Historical Atlas. New York, Henry Holt and Company, 1911, p. 9. Available online here.

4. Wroth, op. cit., pp. xv-xvi.

5. Acts 16:8-11 and 20:5-12.

6. Ignatius of Antioch. Ad Philad. 11:2; Ad Smyrn. 12:1.

7. Wroth, op. cit., p. xviii; pl. iv, 10-11.

8. Ibid, p. xviii, citing M. C. Cavedoni (Spicil. Num., p. 151).

 

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Very interesting pre Trojan war backstory on a type I have myself! Thanks for sharing.
Here's mine:

Gallienus,
Troas, Alexandreia.
AD 253-268. AE (21mm, 5.18g). Laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust of Gallienus to right / COL AVG TRO, horse grazing to right. Bellinger A451 var

 

Thanks for the write up @Roman Collector and nice coins!.....I've just realised I have no coins to contribute...But I learnt something today! Appreciated...Paul

 

I always liked the bold and boisterous third century coins of Alexandria Troas. Here are mine:



AE Valerianus (253-260), Alexandria Troas. Obv. Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right. IMP LICI VALERIAN. Rev. Grazing horse r. COL AVG/ TRO. 20 mm, 4.26 gr. Bellinger A436 var (legend).


AE Gallienus (253- 268). Alexandria in Troas. Obv: Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust r. Rev: Lupa Romana standing left, suckling Romulus and Remus. COL AVG/ TRO. 20.5 mm, 5.20 gr. Bellinger A459. SNG Cop 200-201; BMC 184; Lindgren I A343A.



AE Trebonianus Gallus, Alexandria Troas. Obv. Laureated bust t.r. Rev. Marsyas with wine skin t.l. COL AVG TROAD. 21 mm, 7.54 gr.

And the last one, a bronze in poor style, one of the last minted in that sad city, overrun by the Goths in 262. See here.



AE23 Gallienus, Alexandria Troas. Obv. Laureate and cuirassed bust r. [IMP LICIN GALLIEN?], Rev. Turreted bust of Tyche to right, vexillum behind her head inscribed AV/CO. TROAS. 23 mm, 11.71 gr., 6h. Ex I. Vecchi 12 (5 June 1998), lot 1088. Bellinger A466.

 

Great write-up @Roman Collector ! Nice coin as well - along with many others in this thread.

 

VALERIAN I
AE20
OBVERSE: IMP LICI VALERIAN, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right
REVERSE: VCOL AVG TRO, horse grazing right
Struck at Alexandria Troas, 253-60 AD
4.86g, 21mm
SNGCop 191v

 

Caracalla
AE AS 24 mm 8.75g
M AVREL A-NTONIN / COL A-LEXAND AVG
Apollo holding olive branch, right foot on cippus
Bellinger A298. 213-215 AD

 

Thanks for the writeup, RC!

I’ve shown these two often, the first one adds to the horse the herdsman Ordes, who plays a part in the local legend of Apollo Smintheus.


SEVERUS ALEXANDER
AE24. 6.97g, 24.6mm. TROAS, Alexandria Troas, 222-235 AD. RPC Online temp #3994; cf. Bellinger A338 (obv A338, rev A225 Type 44). O: IMP SEV ALEXANDER AVG, laureate, draped & cuirassed bust left, holding spear & shield decorated with head of Medusa. R: COL AVG, horse grazing right, herdsman (Ordes) behind holding pedum (shepherd's crook), tree to left, TROAC in exergue.

SEVERUS ALEXANDER
AE25. 6.37g, 25mm. TROAS, Alexandria Troas, circa AD 222-235. RPC Online temp #3987 var. (obv legend); Bellinger A335. O: IM AR ƧE AΛEXANDROS, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right. R: COL AV-G TROA, drunken Herakles stumbling right, an arm around the shoulder of Pan to his right, a satyr on his left holding his hand and another behind him supporting (or restraining) him with both arms.

 

“drunken Herakles stumbling right, an arm around the shoulder of Pan to his right, a satyr on his left holding his hand and another behind him supporting (or restraining) him with both arms.”

What a fantastic, improbable subject for a coin’s reverse.

 

I have a couple of earlier issues that seem to be different denominations, though BMC doesn't differentiate between the two:

Troas, Alexandria Æ 13mm
Circa 3rd Century BC
Obverse: Laureate head of Apollo right
Reverse: AΛΕΞΑΝ, Horse grazing left, monogram below; thunderbolt in exergue
References: BMC 10, Scarce
Size: 13mm
Weight: 2.19g


Troas, Alexandria Æ 17mm
300-200 BC
Obverse: Laureate head of Apollo right
Reverse: ALEΞΑΝ, Horse grazing left; star below; thunderbolt in exergue.
References: BMC 10, Scarce
Size: 17mm
Weight: 5.82g

 

@Roman Collector - thanks for the interesting post and coins. The references are are always appreciated for further reading. I am continually amazed at the availability of books like Wroth in archive.org. The Shepherd Historical Atlas is also fun to explore. You got me thinking: "how many cities were named after Alexander?". To which the internet answered: more than seventy - and one named after his horse - the list may not include Alexandria Troas, as it was named for him not by him. Here's a quiz with 19 modern cities once named for Alexander.

 

My only Alexandria Troas


RI Valerian I 253-260 CE AE 20mm Alexandria Troas mint Horse Grazing

 

It really does looks like the aftermath of some legendary keg party. From the 5th century BC onwards, Herakles was a popular character in satyr plays and other works of art which would bring out somewhat less heroic aspects of his character for comedic effect. He would often be depicted in a state of inebriation, getting himself into all manner of misadventure. I suspect this coin's reverse may have been copied from a painting or statuary in Alexandria Troas that celebrated a scene from a play by Sositheus. Sositheus was one of the most famous poets and dramatists of his time, who also happened to be a master of the sort of satyrical drama that would have featured a scene such as this. He worked at the court of Ptolemy II of Egypt, but was a native of Alexandria Troas. Caveat: this is all pure speculation on my part.

 

Great coins everyone. Here's one of my favorites of Alexandria Troas.

Caracalla
Ob: M AVR ANTONI-NVS PIVS AVG; laureate and draped bust right
Rv. COL A-V-G / TROAD Temple of Apollo Smintheus in perspective side view. The side wall with bricked cuboids, the front four-columned, in the middle intercolumnium, statue of Apollo Smintheus right, holding patera and bow. In the gable field globe.
Bellinger, T. 119, A273. SNG cop. 134. Price-Trell 259, 322.

From an attribution of another example found online:
"The cult of Apollo Smintheus extended only to asia minor with Alexandria as its centre.

After the fall of Troy the Greeks start to spread to the East. They settled on the Aegean islands and the western coast of Asia Minor. The worship of Apollo in this region had a curious origin. When the old Teukri under their king Teucer came from Crete to the coast of Asia Minor, the oracle told them to stay there where they could see their enemies creeping out of the ground. When they came to Hamaxitos, a city in this region, the mice creeping out of the ground gnawed on their shields during the night. So they saw the oracle of the god fulfilled, settled down and erected a statue of Apollo with a mouse laying at his feet, which in the Aeolian dialect was called Smintha."

 

I don't have any horses from Troas but I do have a magnificent griffin


TROAS, Alexandria. Trebonianus Gallus
CE 251-253
AE 21 mm, 4.76 gm
Obv: IMP VIB TREB GALVS AV; laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right
Rev: COL AV / TROA; Apollo, head right and holding , seated facing on griffin springing right, head left
Ref: RPC IX 407; Bellinger A403

@Roman Collector, I didn't follow how the horse on those Troas coins is dubbed "the horse of Erichthonius". Can you help me understand?

 

Yes, that griffin IS magnificent!

In regard to the horse of Erichthonius, that was some speculation by Cavedoni in the 19th century and noted by Warwick Wroth in BMC 17, p. xviii:

 

Good read! I had wondered about these horses:
Provincial Rome - Troas
Caracalla, r. 198-217 A.D.
Alexandria Troas, AE 27, 26.89 mm x 8.9 grams
Obv.: M AVRE-L ANTONI. Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust of Caracalla right
Rev.: COL AVG. Horse grabbing right, TROA in ex.

 

The horse depicted on the Troas coins looks like the horses depicted on the earlier coins of Thessaly , coincedence or copied ?

 

Dear @Roman Collector!

Many thanks for your interesting article. The coins of Alexandreia have long been a specialty of mine. The types with the grazing horse are among the standard types of Alexandreia. But if you take a closer look at these types, you will see that it is not just a grazing horse. It is a horse that has found something. I do not know what it is about. It Looks like a plant.


This can be seen especially well in the depictions with a shepherd who does not simply guard the horse, but observes exactly how the horse has found something.


So I suspect that these representations belong to a founding myth of Alexandreia. The horse, closely watched by the shepherd, has found something, and this is where Alelexandreia is supposed to be founded.

The other founder type of Alexandreia is the type with the eagle and the bull's head. It strongly reminds of the founder mythology of Antiochia ad Orontes where the eagle kidnaps the bull's head from the altar and then drops it where Zeus wants the new city to be founded. (Bellinger, Troy: The Coins)

If this is true, then Alexandria has two different foundation myths.

Jochen

 

@Jochen, that's as ever an insightful piece of history from you. It's certainly as if the horse finds something. On some pieces it looks like a plant, on others like - just a spot, a field. And the herdsman, when present in the above pieces, looks like a man who sees his horse has struck oil. And the horse is obviously overjoyed, too - if ever a horse (of course, of course!) could smile, this one does.

Only today I bought another of these beautiful, clearcut coins with the round-rumped horse of Erichthonius (I went for the nice portrait of Gallienus).



AE19 Gallienus, Alexandria Troas. Obv. Laureate and cuirassed bust r. Rev. Grazing horse t.r. COL AVG (though it somehow looks as if AVG is mirrored)/ TRO. 19 mm, 3.4 gr.