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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;zumbly, post: 2477915, member: 57495&quot;]Another little Greek pickup, one of my favorites so far this year.&nbsp; The wonderfully-styled lion&#039;s head carrying a spear in its jaws is an arresting, if somewhat inscrutable, choice for a city badge, and I admit the main reason I was drawn to it.&nbsp; The Herakles reverse, though, is where more of the tale of the Oitaioi and their city is told...</p><p><br /></p><p>In 426 BC, five years after the Peloponnesian War began, the Spartans established a colony at Trachis, four miles west of Thermopylae, renaming it Herakleia Trachinia, after the demigod Herakles.&nbsp; It was the hope of the Spartans that the strategic location of the city would serve them in their war against the Athenians.&nbsp; Their dominion over the city, however, proved to be short-lived.&nbsp; In 409 BC, the Spartan harmost (military governor) of Herakleia, Labotas and seven hundred of his soldiers died in a battle against the Oitaioi, a mountain tribe that lived on nearby Mount Oita.&nbsp; Then, in 394 BC, an army from Thebes and Argos captured Herakleia and slaughtered all the Spartans they could find living there.&nbsp; Thereafter, the Spartans may have regained control over the city briefly, but by 370 BC, they had been completely ousted. </p><p><br /></p><p>At around 350 BC, the city passed from the hands of the Trachinians to the Oitaioi.&nbsp; The coins that were being struck in the city at the time already bore the device of the lion&#039;s head on the obverse and attributes of Herakles on the reverse.&nbsp; The Oitaioi continued with the lion&#039;s head device, gave it more artistry, and placed on the reverse a distinctive standing young Herakles holding a club in both hands.&nbsp; There had long been a veneration of Herakles in the region, notably at Mount Oita, where, according to legend, Herakles, poisoned by a tunic stained with hydra&#039;s blood given to him by his wife Deianira (she didn&#039;t know that it was poisoned, but good to note - beware wives bearing strange shirts!), had uprooted trees to build his own funeral pyre before dying of the poison.&nbsp; Archaeological digs on Mount Oita have discovered evidence of a cult dating to at least the 6th century BC worshipping there, with finds including burnt figurines, pottery inscribed &#039;to Herakles&#039; and small bronze statues of Herakles.</p><p><br /></p><p>The Oitaioi continued striking coins at Herakleia Trachinia well into the 2nd century BC, but not always with these types. </p><p><br /></p><p><b>Feel free to post your coins of the Oitaioi, Thessaly or Herakles.</b></p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]522638[/ATTACH]</p><p><b>THESSALY, The Oitaioi</b></p><p>AR Hemidrachm. 2.75g, 16.3mm. THESSALY, The Oitaioi, Herakleia Trachinia, circa 360-344 BC. Valassiadis 1; BCD Thessaly I 1211 (same rev. die); BCD Thessaly II 487 (same rev. die); HGC 4, 129 (same obv. die as illustration). O: Head of lion left, with spear in jaws. R: OIT-[AO]N (retrograde), Herakles standing facing, holding club. </p><p><i>Ex BCD Collection, his tag noting &quot;W. of C&#039;m Hd&quot; (West of Cierium Hoard)</i>[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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