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Themistokles: The First Portrait Coin in History or a Very Drunk Blacksmith?
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<p>[QUOTE="Curtisimo, post: 6366134, member: 83845"]I find the coins struck at Magnesia on the Meander under Themistokles in the later part of his life to be fascinating. When I began to research this coin I found that information on Themistokles after his ostracism is not very easy to find. This is especially true of his coins since many of the primary references are in languages other than English. Therefore, I decided to put together this write up in order to provide a general historic background for the life of Themistokles after his exile and especially to give a more accessible means of categorizing and understanding his fractional coinage and in particular the “tight-cap” head type.</p><p><br /></p><p>I caution that I am not claiming that this write up is anything close to a comprehensive or a completely accurate treatment of the subject. It is simply a compilation of my own understanding after my research. I will also warn you all ahead of time that this is going to be a loooooong post… even for me.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1252033[/ATTACH]</p><p><font size="3">Ionia, Magnesia ad Maeandrum</font></p><p><font size="3">Themistokles, AR Hemiobol, struck ca. 465-459 BC</font></p><p><font size="3">Dia.: 8 mm</font></p><p><font size="3">Wt.: 0.24 g</font></p><p><font size="3">Obv.: Head of Hephaestus right, wearing laureate pilos; Θ-Ε flanking</font></p><p><font size="3">Rev.: ΘΕ monogram in dotted square border within incuse square.</font></p><p><font size="3">Ref.: Nollé & Wenninger 5a; Cahn & Gerin 8 = SNG München 585; SNG Copenhagen; Very rare.</font></p><p><br /></p><p><font size="7"><u><b>1 Historical Background</b></u></font></p><p><br /></p><p><font size="6"><span style="color: #808080"><u><b>1.1 The Flight of Themistokles</b></u></span></font></p><p>The exploits of Themistokles during the Persian Wars are well known enough that I need not rehash them here. After the war, he made many enemies both in Athens and elsewhere in the Greek world. The Athenians were always prone to popular jealousy of their most prominent citizens and Themistokles seems to have made matters worse for himself by acting in an arrogant manner. For instance, he named two of his daughters after his accomplishments in the battle of Salamis: Mnesiptolema (“war memorial”) and Nicomache (“battle victory”).</p><p><br /></p><p>Perhaps most importantly, he made enemies of the Spartans. Themistokles was initially on very good terms with the Spartans immediately after the war and they bestowed many honors on him. However, he used this goodwill to pull off a diplomatic delaying tactic in order to allow the Athenians enough time to build city walls over the objections of the Spartans. This enraged the Spartans who felt betrayed.</p><p><br /></p><p>In either 472 or 471 BC Themistokles was famously ostrasized from Athens.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1252019[/ATTACH]</p><p><font size="3">Fig. 1: I took this photo in the small museum in the Painted Stoa in the Agora of Athens. These Ostraca were found discarded in a well and are from the famous ostracism of Themistokles ca. 472/1 BC. Many of the shards were written by the same hand implying the enemies of Themistokles had them made ahead of the vote to be handed out. (Author’s photo)</font></p><p><br /></p><p>Themistokles lived in Argos during the first part of his exile. However, the enemies he had made in Sparta saw this as their chance for revenge. They accused him of being in league with the Spartan regent Pausanias as a traitor for the Persians and demanded that he stand trial. The Athenian assembly assented to this demand.</p><p><br /></p><p>Understanding that he was in mortal danger, Themistokles decided to flee. It is easy for us to forget that Themistokles wasn’t alone in exile. He had the majority of his family with him as well. Themistokles had five sons by his first wife, Archippe (died before 480 BC): Neocles (died young), Diocles (stayed in Athens), Archeptolis, Polyeuctus and Cleophantus. He also had several daughters by his unnamed second wife with at least two of them, Mnesiptolema and Nicomache, having been born in Athens. In total Themistokles had ten children but some of them may have been born in exile, such as his youngest daughter Asia. Therefore, when Themistokles decided to make a run for it he had a wife and at least five young children that had to flee with him.</p><p><br /></p><p>He first decided to flee to Korkyra because he previously had very good relations with the leaders of that city. However, the Korkyreans did not want to alienate themselves from both Sparta and Athens and so arranged for him to be sent back to the mainland opposite the island. Agents from both Spartan and Athenian were in close pursuit.</p><p><br /></p><p>Themistokles was now out of friends that he could turn to and so he decided to take a desperate action by travelling with his family to the court of one of his enemies; King Admetus of Molossia. Admetus was away from the palace at the time and so Themistokles presented himself as a suppliant to his wife. This story has an interesting parallel with the story of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scheria#:~:text=Scheria%20or%20Scherie%20(%2F%CB%88s,before%20returning%20home%20to%20Ithaca." target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scheria#:~:text=Scheria%20or%20Scherie%20(%2F%CB%88s,before%20returning%20home%20to%20Ithaca." rel="nofollow">Odysseus and the Phaeacians</a> in the Odyssey. Since Themistokles was often characterized as the Athenian Odysseus if this story isn’t true it should be. Admetus’ wife (not named by Thucydides) advised Themistokles to present himself to her husband with his son on his lap (probably Archeptolis). Thucydides tells us this was the most submissive form of supplication possible in Greek culture of the time. Admetus chose to accept Themistokles as a suppliant.</p><p><br /></p><p>Even though agents of Sparta and Athens arrived in his court and threatened him with war if he did not hand Themistokles over, Admetus flatly refused to do so. Instead, he arranged for Themistokles and his family to be transported over-land to the city of Pynda on the opposite coast of Greece so that he could make arrangements to escape to Persia.</p><p><br /></p><p>From Pynda he and his family took a ship bound for Ionia. Unfortunately the ship was blown off course in a storm and ended up on the island of Naxos at the same time the Athenian fleet was besieging the city there (471-469 BC). Themistokles was forced to threaten the captain of the ship that if they were caught he would tell the Athenians that the captain had accepted a bribe to transport him. He also promised that if the captain would keep the crew from leaving the ship until the weather cleared that he would reward him when they reached Ionia, to which the captain agreed and was later rewarded as promised.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1252020[/ATTACH]</p><p><font size="3">Fig. 2: Map of the route taken by Themistokles during his flight from Greece.</font></p><p><br /></p><p>Themistokles and his family arrived in Ephesus and with the help of friends in that city made contact with the Great King Artaxerxes I (via letter according to Thucydides)[1]. Thucydides imagines Themistokles reminding Artaxerxes of his success against the latter’s father during the war but insisting that he had provided his family a great service by not pressing the Greek advantage when Xerxes was retreating (who could possibly say this guy wasn’t humble!?). He asked for a year to learn the language and customs of Persia, after which he could serve the Great King.</p><p><br /></p><p><font size="6"><span style="color: #808080"><u><b>1.2 In Service to the Great King of Persia</b></u></span></font></p><p>Whether or not the sources have any of the above details correct it is without dispute that Themistokles was accepted into the service of the Persian king and rewarded with the governance of several cities. Thucydides lists them as Magnesia on the Maeander for bread, Myus for fish and Lampsakos for wine. The 2nd century writer Athenaeus adds the small towns of Perkote and Palaiskepsis to the list for bedding and clothing respectively. This convention of cities providing products for the maintenance of a ruler is probably a memory of earlier Persian taxation practices but it is just as likely that by this time that Themistokles was paid a percentage of money or bullion that was due to the Great King from these cities.</p><p><br /></p><p>Themistokles chose Magnesia on the Maeander as his capitol and took up residence there in around 465 BC. Magnesia was located in the most fertile river valley in Asia Minor and was situated at the confluence of the Lethaios and the Meander Rivers. It was originally settled by Greeks from Thessaly known as the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetes" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetes" rel="nofollow">Magnetes</a> led by the founding hero Leukippos in the 8th century BC. It was founded in the area of an older Carian settlement. In fact, this mixed population of Greeks and Carians may have been one of the reasons that Themisokles was selected to act as ruler (or tyrant perhaps) of the area because his mother was of Carian descent.</p><p><br /></p><p>In Themistokles’s time the city did not have walls. It consisted of a central settlement on the open plain on the north bank of the Meander River connected to a number of sanctuaries and shrines of both Greek and native origin in the surrounding area. There was a Persian palace in the city from at least the 520s BC because Herodotus notes that the Persian Satrap Oroetes lived there [4]. Themistokles likely took up residence in this palace and almost certainly took up Persian dress and customs as well. He built a shrine to the local goddess Dindymene and situated his daughter Mnesiptolema as the head priestess [3].</p><p><br /></p><p>He also struck the silver coins which are the primary interest of this write up. Thucydides notes that the wealth that Themistokles accumulated from his Persian territory amounted to 50 talents a year [1][3]. To put that number in perspective it is almost 10% of the entire yearly income that Athens assessed from its allies in the Delian League. A good portion of that wealth may have come from mining operations instigated by Themistokles himself in the mountains north of the city. He was, after all, familiar with the mining at Laurion near Athens considering the mines were located in his native demos and his family may have been involved the mining operation there [3]. Mount Thorax was only a few miles away from the original location of Magnesia and its modern name in Turkish suggests its connection to silver mining (Gümüş-Dâg = Silver Mountain). Even though the coins are rare today the output of the Magnesia mint under Themistokles was probably fairly substantial.</p><p><br /></p><p><font size="6"><span style="color: #808080"><u><b>1.3 Death and Aftermath</b></u></span></font></p><p>In or near the year 459 BC Themistokles died in his new home in Magnesia. Thucydides says that he simply died of an illness. Both Thucydides and Plutarch also related the tradition that Themistokles committed suicide when he was ordered by Artaxerxes I to participate in a war against the Greeks and specifically Athens and her allies.</p><p><br /></p><p>After his death Themistokles passed on his authority over Magnesia on the Meander to his son Archeptolis. The evidence of the coins, which were later struck in the son’s name, shows this without dispute. There is also a partial inscription from Lampsakos that indicates that another of his sons, Cleophantus, may have taken control of that city [3]. There is no evidence for or against the other cities under his control passing to his other surviving children but it is certainly a possibility.</p><p><br /></p><p>None of the children of Themistokles managed to found a dynasty and most of them returned to Athens in the decades after the death of their father. Cleophantus is mentioned by Plato as living in Athens (420s BC) and having a reputation as a great horse rider but an otherwise useless person. Archeptolis married his half-sister Mnesiptolema and ruled in Magnesia for a time. We don’t know what happened to him but we know that by the year 400 BC Tissaphernes was in control of Magnesia. If Themistokles and his sons had styled themselves tyrants it would not be surprising if the sons were expelled by the local populations as often happened in the second generation of a tyranny. It is also possible that the sons fell victim to Persian politics and were pushed out by the expanding power of the satraps of Asia Minor.</p><p><br /></p><p>As for the fate of Themistokles’ city of Magnesia, it was abandoned in about 400-399 BC. The Spartan general Thibron captured it and decided that because it was located in the valley and did not have walls that it was too exposed to defend. He moved the population up into the hills and re-founded the city near a temple dedicated to Artemis. These are the ruins we see today. The original city was covered over by silt and lost to time as the river changed courses over the centuries. This is why the vast majority of the coins of Themisokles are in very poor shape. Any hoards or individual coins near the old city would have been exposed to water and soils that are not good for preservation.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1252021[/ATTACH]</p><p><font size="3">Fig. 3: Probable location of the original city of Magnesia in the foreground by the river. The location noted in the foothills in the background is the location that the city was relocated to by the Spartan general Thibron in ca. 399 BC. This was the location of a temple to Artemis during the time of Themistokles and there was probably a well-travelled path between the city and shrine. </font></p><p><br /></p><p><font size="7"><span style="color: #404040"><u><b>2 The Fractional Coins of Themistokles</b></u></span></font></p><p>Themistokles struck silver didrachms and drachms of an Attic standard as well as fractional coins of uncertain standard. Of the fractional coins struck under Themistokles the type represented by the above example (male wearing tight cap) is probably the most interesting or at least one of the most discussed by scholars. There are multiple interpretations of who is shown on the obverse and in the rest of this write up I will discuss the two main theories. I will also provide a visual guide to attributing the fractional issues.</p><p><br /></p><p><font size="6"><span style="color: #808080"><u><b>2.1 The First Portrait on a Coin in History?</b></u></span></font></p><p>Cahn and Gerin [5] first proposed in 1988 that the coin showing a male head wearing a tight cap and flanked by Θ-Ε was an archaic representation of Themistokles himself. That would make this coin the first portrait coin in all of history.</p><p><br /></p><p>The first argument for this interpretation begins with the coins. Themistokles struck fractional silver coins using five separate designs (see section 2.4 Fig. 8). Three of these feature a male head on the obverse. Of these only the type showing the male head wearing a tight cap have the Greek letters Θ-Ε flanking the portrait. The other designs of male heads don’t have writing of any kind on the obverse. The Θ-Ε is obviously meant as a reference to Themistokles in some way and because this type is always paired with the ΘΕ monogram on the reverse it is hard to imagine anyone being unaware that these coins were struck under Themistokles. The tempting interpretation is that the letters Θ-Ε on the obverse of the tight cap type are meant to designate the head as belonging to Themistokles.</p><p><br /></p><p>Second, the unusual tight cap may be further evidence of a link to portraiture. In the 1980s a marble head was discovered at Herakleia and is believed to represent a satrap under Darios I ca. 530 BC (see Fig. 4). The head is shown wearing a tight cap similar to the coins struck under Themistokles. This shows that there was at least a precedent of stylized portraiture of local dynasts in Asia Minor at the time the coins were struck.</p><p><br /></p><p>Finally, the personality and behavior of Themistokles himself makes the claim of him being the first person bold enough to put his image on coins seem entirely plausible. For instance, it is very likely that Themistokles erected a statue of himself in Magnesia because it is mentioned by Thucydides [1] and is even shown on coins struck during the imperial period (see Fig. 4). Further support for a lifetime statue was discovered in Ostia when a bust was found that many archeologist think is a Roman copy of a Greek original dating to Themistokles lifetime [2]. Making a leap from a statue to a small coin is neither hard to believe nor would it be surprising. Cahn and Gerin [5] note that Themistokles may have chosen to put his portrait on a small coin for local circulation rather that the larger didrachms that would have traded widely in the Greek world for political reasons.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1252022[/ATTACH]</p><p><font size="3">Fig. 4: (Left) Head of a Persian satrap discovered in Herakleia dated to ca. 530 BC. (Right) 2nd century coin of Magnesia showing the statue of Themistokles mentioned by Thucydides. (Photo courtesy of CNG) </font></p><p><br /></p><p><font size="6"><span style="color: #808080"><u><b> 2.2 The Coin Represents Hephaestus in Full-blown Party Mode</b></u></span></font></p><p>In 1999 Nolle and Wenninger [2][3] asserted that the head was not of Themistokles but of a god (Hephaestus) and that all of the other coins struck by Themistokles should be seen as representative of Greek deities and heroes as well. Specifically, they attribute the bearded head to Zeus, the helmeted head to the hero Leukippos, the owl to Athena, the grain of barely type to Apollo and most importantly for our purpose the tight-capped head to Hephaestus (see Fig. 8).</p><p><br /></p><p>The main iconographic argument for attributing the tight capped head to Hephaestus is… the cap. Nolle and Wenninger assert that the tight cap is a pilos and when paired with the wreath depicted on the coin represented a well-known symbol of Hephaestus from a specific myth.</p><p><br /></p><p>In the myth, Hephaestus is angry at his mother, Hera, for rejecting him and casting him down from Olympus. To get revenge he fashioned a throne for her that she would not be able to get up from once she sat down. When Hera became stuck on the throne she sent other gods to Hephaestus to try and convince him to return to Olympus and free her but he refused. Finally it was Dionysius who convinced Hephaestus to return to Olympus by getting him very drunk at a symposium. As part of the revelry, Dionysius placed a wreath around Hephaestus’s pilos cap. Depictions on vase paintings show the procession in which a drunk Hephaestus is carried on a horse or mule back to Olympus wearing a pilos with wreath.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1252023[/ATTACH]</p><p><font size="3">Fig. 5: (Left) Hephaestus seated on a mule being led by Dionysius back to Olympus. Note the wreath on his head. (From the Toledo Museum of Art) (Right) Dionysius approaching the throne that Hera is trapped on. Hera’s legs can be seen on the right of the scene fettered to the throne. Note that Hephaestus is wearing both a pilos and a wreath. (From the Louvre Museum, Paris)</font></p><p><br /></p><p>Nolle [3] makes a convincing argument that Themistokles styled himself as a patron of religious institutions in Magnesia. It is known for certain that he established a cult to Dindymene and appointed his daughter as head priestess because he credited that goddess with helping avert an assassination attempt [1]. The argument is that he could have similarly established or promoted the cult of Hephaestus which would have had the added benefit of a link to the locally popular god Dionysius through the above mentioned myth.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1252024[/ATTACH]</p><p><font size="3">Fig. 6: The Temple of Hephaestus at Athens. Themistokles’s attention to the cult of Athena (as evidenced by the owl coins) and Hephaestus may have had roots in the popularity of the cults in his home town of Athens. (Author’s photos)</font></p><p><br /></p><p>Nolle [3] also asserts that Themistokles was in a very precarious situation when he took control of the city. He would not have wanted to attract the envy of the local Persian nobles and risk losing the support of the great king.</p><p><br /></p><p><font size="6"><span style="color: #808080"><u><b>2.3 My Thoughts on the Subject</b></u></span></font></p><p>I find the arguments made by Nolle and Wenninger that the figure shown is Hephaestus and not Themistokles convincing. The theory they pose also makes coherent sense of not just the tight-cap type but the other fractional types as well. Their conclusions seem to have been broadly accepted in numismatic circles as well but the Themistokles interpretation is the one found on Wikipedia and elsewhere online in the English language.</p><p><br /></p><p>I will also note that there are questions that are not entirely resolved. The letters Θ-Ε only show up on the fractional tight-capped type and on none of the others. Nolle asserts that this should not be understood to name Themistokles in the nominative form, but rather, in the genitive as a sign that the coin was struck under his authority. This would be consistent with the genitive didrachms struck by Themistokles. However, there is not a satisfactory explanation as to why this only appears on the tight-capped type, especially considering the ΘΕ monogram on the reverse already makes the connection to Themistokles apparent. Further, some of the coins struck under Themistokles’s son Archeptolis do have legends in the nominative for reason that are not well understood.</p><p><br /></p><p><font size="6"><span style="color: #808080"><u><b>2.4 A guide for attribution of Themistokles Fractionals</b></u></span></font></p><p>Since many of the primary references on the coins of Themistokles and his family are in German it might be difficult for many of us to quickly and easily attribute these neat little fractionals. Therefore I am including the below table as a guide. Attributions are based on Nolle and Wenninger [2]. The weight ranges in the table are also based on the examples noted in Nolle and Wenninger.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1252025[/ATTACH]</p><p><font size="3">Fig. 7: Table of Denominations and weights</font></p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1252027[/ATTACH]</p><p><font size="3">Fig. 8: Table of Attributions by type. (Coin photos courtesy of CNG)</font></p><p><br /></p><p><font size="7"><span style="color: #404040"><u><b>References</b></u></span></font></p><p>[1] Thucydides: <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0247%3Abook%3D1%3Achapter%3D136" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0247%3Abook%3D1%3Achapter%3D136" rel="nofollow">http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0247:book=1:chapter=136</a></p><p><br /></p><p>[2] Nolle, J and Wenninger, A.; “Themistokles und Archepolis; Eine griechische Dynastie im Perserreich und ihre Munzpragung”; Jarbuch f. Numismatik u. Geldgeschichte 48/49 (1998/99).</p><p><br /></p><p>[3] Nolle, J. “Themistokles in Magnesia. Uber die Anfange der Mentalitat, das eigne Prtrat auf Munzen zu setzen.” In SNR 75 (1996)</p><p><br /></p><p>[4] Herodotus: <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:abo:tlg,0016,001:8" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:abo:tlg,0016,001:8" rel="nofollow">http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:abo:tlg,0016,001:8</a></p><p><br /></p><p>[5] Cahn, H. A. and Gerin, D. “Themistokles at Magnesia.” The Numismatic Chronicle Vol. 148 (1988), pp. 13-20</p><p><br /></p><p>[6] Plutarch: <a href="http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Themistocles*.html" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Themistocles*.html" rel="nofollow">http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Themistocles*.html</a></p><p><br /></p><p><font size="7"><span style="color: #404040"><u><b>Please feel free to pile on</b></u></span></font></p><p>I know that a few of you have Themistokles coins (looking at you</p><p>[USER=84744]@Severus Alexander[/USER] & [USER=56859]@TIF[/USER] ).</p><p><br /></p><p>However, if you don't please please feel free to post your coins of</p><ul> <li><span style="color: #ff0000">Magnesia on the Meander</span></li> <li><span style="color: #ff0000">Coins showing Hephaestus / Zues / founding heros / Apollo / The owl of Athena outside of Athens etc.</span></li> <li><span style="color: #ff0000">Coins showing Hera</span></li> <li><span style="color: #ff0000">Early portrait coins</span></li> <li><span style="color: #ff0000">Coins showing an unknown figure</span></li> </ul><p>[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="Curtisimo, post: 6366134, member: 83845"]I find the coins struck at Magnesia on the Meander under Themistokles in the later part of his life to be fascinating. When I began to research this coin I found that information on Themistokles after his ostracism is not very easy to find. This is especially true of his coins since many of the primary references are in languages other than English. Therefore, I decided to put together this write up in order to provide a general historic background for the life of Themistokles after his exile and especially to give a more accessible means of categorizing and understanding his fractional coinage and in particular the “tight-cap” head type. I caution that I am not claiming that this write up is anything close to a comprehensive or a completely accurate treatment of the subject. It is simply a compilation of my own understanding after my research. I will also warn you all ahead of time that this is going to be a loooooong post… even for me. [ATTACH=full]1252033[/ATTACH] [SIZE=3]Ionia, Magnesia ad Maeandrum Themistokles, AR Hemiobol, struck ca. 465-459 BC Dia.: 8 mm Wt.: 0.24 g Obv.: Head of Hephaestus right, wearing laureate pilos; Θ-Ε flanking Rev.: ΘΕ monogram in dotted square border within incuse square. Ref.: Nollé & Wenninger 5a; Cahn & Gerin 8 = SNG München 585; SNG Copenhagen; Very rare.[/SIZE] [SIZE=7][U][B]1 Historical Background[/B][/U][/SIZE] [SIZE=6][COLOR=#808080][U][B]1.1 The Flight of Themistokles[/B][/U][/COLOR][/SIZE] The exploits of Themistokles during the Persian Wars are well known enough that I need not rehash them here. After the war, he made many enemies both in Athens and elsewhere in the Greek world. The Athenians were always prone to popular jealousy of their most prominent citizens and Themistokles seems to have made matters worse for himself by acting in an arrogant manner. For instance, he named two of his daughters after his accomplishments in the battle of Salamis: Mnesiptolema (“war memorial”) and Nicomache (“battle victory”). Perhaps most importantly, he made enemies of the Spartans. Themistokles was initially on very good terms with the Spartans immediately after the war and they bestowed many honors on him. However, he used this goodwill to pull off a diplomatic delaying tactic in order to allow the Athenians enough time to build city walls over the objections of the Spartans. This enraged the Spartans who felt betrayed. In either 472 or 471 BC Themistokles was famously ostrasized from Athens. [ATTACH=full]1252019[/ATTACH] [SIZE=3]Fig. 1: I took this photo in the small museum in the Painted Stoa in the Agora of Athens. These Ostraca were found discarded in a well and are from the famous ostracism of Themistokles ca. 472/1 BC. Many of the shards were written by the same hand implying the enemies of Themistokles had them made ahead of the vote to be handed out. (Author’s photo)[/SIZE] Themistokles lived in Argos during the first part of his exile. However, the enemies he had made in Sparta saw this as their chance for revenge. They accused him of being in league with the Spartan regent Pausanias as a traitor for the Persians and demanded that he stand trial. The Athenian assembly assented to this demand. Understanding that he was in mortal danger, Themistokles decided to flee. It is easy for us to forget that Themistokles wasn’t alone in exile. He had the majority of his family with him as well. Themistokles had five sons by his first wife, Archippe (died before 480 BC): Neocles (died young), Diocles (stayed in Athens), Archeptolis, Polyeuctus and Cleophantus. He also had several daughters by his unnamed second wife with at least two of them, Mnesiptolema and Nicomache, having been born in Athens. In total Themistokles had ten children but some of them may have been born in exile, such as his youngest daughter Asia. Therefore, when Themistokles decided to make a run for it he had a wife and at least five young children that had to flee with him. He first decided to flee to Korkyra because he previously had very good relations with the leaders of that city. However, the Korkyreans did not want to alienate themselves from both Sparta and Athens and so arranged for him to be sent back to the mainland opposite the island. Agents from both Spartan and Athenian were in close pursuit. Themistokles was now out of friends that he could turn to and so he decided to take a desperate action by travelling with his family to the court of one of his enemies; King Admetus of Molossia. Admetus was away from the palace at the time and so Themistokles presented himself as a suppliant to his wife. This story has an interesting parallel with the story of [URL='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scheria#:~:text=Scheria%20or%20Scherie%20(%2F%CB%88s,before%20returning%20home%20to%20Ithaca.']Odysseus and the Phaeacians[/URL] in the Odyssey. Since Themistokles was often characterized as the Athenian Odysseus if this story isn’t true it should be. Admetus’ wife (not named by Thucydides) advised Themistokles to present himself to her husband with his son on his lap (probably Archeptolis). Thucydides tells us this was the most submissive form of supplication possible in Greek culture of the time. Admetus chose to accept Themistokles as a suppliant. Even though agents of Sparta and Athens arrived in his court and threatened him with war if he did not hand Themistokles over, Admetus flatly refused to do so. Instead, he arranged for Themistokles and his family to be transported over-land to the city of Pynda on the opposite coast of Greece so that he could make arrangements to escape to Persia. From Pynda he and his family took a ship bound for Ionia. Unfortunately the ship was blown off course in a storm and ended up on the island of Naxos at the same time the Athenian fleet was besieging the city there (471-469 BC). Themistokles was forced to threaten the captain of the ship that if they were caught he would tell the Athenians that the captain had accepted a bribe to transport him. He also promised that if the captain would keep the crew from leaving the ship until the weather cleared that he would reward him when they reached Ionia, to which the captain agreed and was later rewarded as promised. [ATTACH=full]1252020[/ATTACH] [SIZE=3]Fig. 2: Map of the route taken by Themistokles during his flight from Greece.[/SIZE] Themistokles and his family arrived in Ephesus and with the help of friends in that city made contact with the Great King Artaxerxes I (via letter according to Thucydides)[1]. Thucydides imagines Themistokles reminding Artaxerxes of his success against the latter’s father during the war but insisting that he had provided his family a great service by not pressing the Greek advantage when Xerxes was retreating (who could possibly say this guy wasn’t humble!?). He asked for a year to learn the language and customs of Persia, after which he could serve the Great King. [SIZE=6][COLOR=#808080][U][B]1.2 In Service to the Great King of Persia[/B][/U][/COLOR][/SIZE] Whether or not the sources have any of the above details correct it is without dispute that Themistokles was accepted into the service of the Persian king and rewarded with the governance of several cities. Thucydides lists them as Magnesia on the Maeander for bread, Myus for fish and Lampsakos for wine. The 2nd century writer Athenaeus adds the small towns of Perkote and Palaiskepsis to the list for bedding and clothing respectively. This convention of cities providing products for the maintenance of a ruler is probably a memory of earlier Persian taxation practices but it is just as likely that by this time that Themistokles was paid a percentage of money or bullion that was due to the Great King from these cities. Themistokles chose Magnesia on the Maeander as his capitol and took up residence there in around 465 BC. Magnesia was located in the most fertile river valley in Asia Minor and was situated at the confluence of the Lethaios and the Meander Rivers. It was originally settled by Greeks from Thessaly known as the [URL='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetes']Magnetes[/URL] led by the founding hero Leukippos in the 8th century BC. It was founded in the area of an older Carian settlement. In fact, this mixed population of Greeks and Carians may have been one of the reasons that Themisokles was selected to act as ruler (or tyrant perhaps) of the area because his mother was of Carian descent. In Themistokles’s time the city did not have walls. It consisted of a central settlement on the open plain on the north bank of the Meander River connected to a number of sanctuaries and shrines of both Greek and native origin in the surrounding area. There was a Persian palace in the city from at least the 520s BC because Herodotus notes that the Persian Satrap Oroetes lived there [4]. Themistokles likely took up residence in this palace and almost certainly took up Persian dress and customs as well. He built a shrine to the local goddess Dindymene and situated his daughter Mnesiptolema as the head priestess [3]. He also struck the silver coins which are the primary interest of this write up. Thucydides notes that the wealth that Themistokles accumulated from his Persian territory amounted to 50 talents a year [1][3]. To put that number in perspective it is almost 10% of the entire yearly income that Athens assessed from its allies in the Delian League. A good portion of that wealth may have come from mining operations instigated by Themistokles himself in the mountains north of the city. He was, after all, familiar with the mining at Laurion near Athens considering the mines were located in his native demos and his family may have been involved the mining operation there [3]. Mount Thorax was only a few miles away from the original location of Magnesia and its modern name in Turkish suggests its connection to silver mining (Gümüş-Dâg = Silver Mountain). Even though the coins are rare today the output of the Magnesia mint under Themistokles was probably fairly substantial. [SIZE=6][COLOR=#808080][U][B]1.3 Death and Aftermath[/B][/U][/COLOR][/SIZE] In or near the year 459 BC Themistokles died in his new home in Magnesia. Thucydides says that he simply died of an illness. Both Thucydides and Plutarch also related the tradition that Themistokles committed suicide when he was ordered by Artaxerxes I to participate in a war against the Greeks and specifically Athens and her allies. After his death Themistokles passed on his authority over Magnesia on the Meander to his son Archeptolis. The evidence of the coins, which were later struck in the son’s name, shows this without dispute. There is also a partial inscription from Lampsakos that indicates that another of his sons, Cleophantus, may have taken control of that city [3]. There is no evidence for or against the other cities under his control passing to his other surviving children but it is certainly a possibility. None of the children of Themistokles managed to found a dynasty and most of them returned to Athens in the decades after the death of their father. Cleophantus is mentioned by Plato as living in Athens (420s BC) and having a reputation as a great horse rider but an otherwise useless person. Archeptolis married his half-sister Mnesiptolema and ruled in Magnesia for a time. We don’t know what happened to him but we know that by the year 400 BC Tissaphernes was in control of Magnesia. If Themistokles and his sons had styled themselves tyrants it would not be surprising if the sons were expelled by the local populations as often happened in the second generation of a tyranny. It is also possible that the sons fell victim to Persian politics and were pushed out by the expanding power of the satraps of Asia Minor. As for the fate of Themistokles’ city of Magnesia, it was abandoned in about 400-399 BC. The Spartan general Thibron captured it and decided that because it was located in the valley and did not have walls that it was too exposed to defend. He moved the population up into the hills and re-founded the city near a temple dedicated to Artemis. These are the ruins we see today. The original city was covered over by silt and lost to time as the river changed courses over the centuries. This is why the vast majority of the coins of Themisokles are in very poor shape. Any hoards or individual coins near the old city would have been exposed to water and soils that are not good for preservation. [ATTACH=full]1252021[/ATTACH] [SIZE=3]Fig. 3: Probable location of the original city of Magnesia in the foreground by the river. The location noted in the foothills in the background is the location that the city was relocated to by the Spartan general Thibron in ca. 399 BC. This was the location of a temple to Artemis during the time of Themistokles and there was probably a well-travelled path between the city and shrine. [/SIZE] [SIZE=7][COLOR=#404040][U][B]2 The Fractional Coins of Themistokles[/B][/U][/COLOR][/SIZE] Themistokles struck silver didrachms and drachms of an Attic standard as well as fractional coins of uncertain standard. Of the fractional coins struck under Themistokles the type represented by the above example (male wearing tight cap) is probably the most interesting or at least one of the most discussed by scholars. There are multiple interpretations of who is shown on the obverse and in the rest of this write up I will discuss the two main theories. I will also provide a visual guide to attributing the fractional issues. [SIZE=6][COLOR=#808080][U][B]2.1 The First Portrait on a Coin in History?[/B][/U][/COLOR][/SIZE] Cahn and Gerin [5] first proposed in 1988 that the coin showing a male head wearing a tight cap and flanked by Θ-Ε was an archaic representation of Themistokles himself. That would make this coin the first portrait coin in all of history. The first argument for this interpretation begins with the coins. Themistokles struck fractional silver coins using five separate designs (see section 2.4 Fig. 8). Three of these feature a male head on the obverse. Of these only the type showing the male head wearing a tight cap have the Greek letters Θ-Ε flanking the portrait. The other designs of male heads don’t have writing of any kind on the obverse. The Θ-Ε is obviously meant as a reference to Themistokles in some way and because this type is always paired with the ΘΕ monogram on the reverse it is hard to imagine anyone being unaware that these coins were struck under Themistokles. The tempting interpretation is that the letters Θ-Ε on the obverse of the tight cap type are meant to designate the head as belonging to Themistokles. Second, the unusual tight cap may be further evidence of a link to portraiture. In the 1980s a marble head was discovered at Herakleia and is believed to represent a satrap under Darios I ca. 530 BC (see Fig. 4). The head is shown wearing a tight cap similar to the coins struck under Themistokles. This shows that there was at least a precedent of stylized portraiture of local dynasts in Asia Minor at the time the coins were struck. Finally, the personality and behavior of Themistokles himself makes the claim of him being the first person bold enough to put his image on coins seem entirely plausible. For instance, it is very likely that Themistokles erected a statue of himself in Magnesia because it is mentioned by Thucydides [1] and is even shown on coins struck during the imperial period (see Fig. 4). Further support for a lifetime statue was discovered in Ostia when a bust was found that many archeologist think is a Roman copy of a Greek original dating to Themistokles lifetime [2]. Making a leap from a statue to a small coin is neither hard to believe nor would it be surprising. Cahn and Gerin [5] note that Themistokles may have chosen to put his portrait on a small coin for local circulation rather that the larger didrachms that would have traded widely in the Greek world for political reasons. [ATTACH=full]1252022[/ATTACH] [SIZE=3]Fig. 4: (Left) Head of a Persian satrap discovered in Herakleia dated to ca. 530 BC. (Right) 2nd century coin of Magnesia showing the statue of Themistokles mentioned by Thucydides. (Photo courtesy of CNG) [/SIZE] [SIZE=6][COLOR=#808080][U][B] 2.2 The Coin Represents Hephaestus in Full-blown Party Mode[/B][/U][/COLOR][/SIZE] In 1999 Nolle and Wenninger [2][3] asserted that the head was not of Themistokles but of a god (Hephaestus) and that all of the other coins struck by Themistokles should be seen as representative of Greek deities and heroes as well. Specifically, they attribute the bearded head to Zeus, the helmeted head to the hero Leukippos, the owl to Athena, the grain of barely type to Apollo and most importantly for our purpose the tight-capped head to Hephaestus (see Fig. 8). The main iconographic argument for attributing the tight capped head to Hephaestus is… the cap. Nolle and Wenninger assert that the tight cap is a pilos and when paired with the wreath depicted on the coin represented a well-known symbol of Hephaestus from a specific myth. In the myth, Hephaestus is angry at his mother, Hera, for rejecting him and casting him down from Olympus. To get revenge he fashioned a throne for her that she would not be able to get up from once she sat down. When Hera became stuck on the throne she sent other gods to Hephaestus to try and convince him to return to Olympus and free her but he refused. Finally it was Dionysius who convinced Hephaestus to return to Olympus by getting him very drunk at a symposium. As part of the revelry, Dionysius placed a wreath around Hephaestus’s pilos cap. Depictions on vase paintings show the procession in which a drunk Hephaestus is carried on a horse or mule back to Olympus wearing a pilos with wreath. [ATTACH=full]1252023[/ATTACH] [SIZE=3]Fig. 5: (Left) Hephaestus seated on a mule being led by Dionysius back to Olympus. Note the wreath on his head. (From the Toledo Museum of Art) (Right) Dionysius approaching the throne that Hera is trapped on. Hera’s legs can be seen on the right of the scene fettered to the throne. Note that Hephaestus is wearing both a pilos and a wreath. (From the Louvre Museum, Paris)[/SIZE] Nolle [3] makes a convincing argument that Themistokles styled himself as a patron of religious institutions in Magnesia. It is known for certain that he established a cult to Dindymene and appointed his daughter as head priestess because he credited that goddess with helping avert an assassination attempt [1]. The argument is that he could have similarly established or promoted the cult of Hephaestus which would have had the added benefit of a link to the locally popular god Dionysius through the above mentioned myth. [ATTACH=full]1252024[/ATTACH] [SIZE=3]Fig. 6: The Temple of Hephaestus at Athens. Themistokles’s attention to the cult of Athena (as evidenced by the owl coins) and Hephaestus may have had roots in the popularity of the cults in his home town of Athens. (Author’s photos)[/SIZE] Nolle [3] also asserts that Themistokles was in a very precarious situation when he took control of the city. He would not have wanted to attract the envy of the local Persian nobles and risk losing the support of the great king. [SIZE=6][COLOR=#808080][U][B]2.3 My Thoughts on the Subject[/B][/U][/COLOR][/SIZE] I find the arguments made by Nolle and Wenninger that the figure shown is Hephaestus and not Themistokles convincing. The theory they pose also makes coherent sense of not just the tight-cap type but the other fractional types as well. Their conclusions seem to have been broadly accepted in numismatic circles as well but the Themistokles interpretation is the one found on Wikipedia and elsewhere online in the English language. I will also note that there are questions that are not entirely resolved. The letters Θ-Ε only show up on the fractional tight-capped type and on none of the others. Nolle asserts that this should not be understood to name Themistokles in the nominative form, but rather, in the genitive as a sign that the coin was struck under his authority. This would be consistent with the genitive didrachms struck by Themistokles. However, there is not a satisfactory explanation as to why this only appears on the tight-capped type, especially considering the ΘΕ monogram on the reverse already makes the connection to Themistokles apparent. Further, some of the coins struck under Themistokles’s son Archeptolis do have legends in the nominative for reason that are not well understood. [SIZE=6][COLOR=#808080][U][B]2.4 A guide for attribution of Themistokles Fractionals[/B][/U][/COLOR][/SIZE] Since many of the primary references on the coins of Themistokles and his family are in German it might be difficult for many of us to quickly and easily attribute these neat little fractionals. Therefore I am including the below table as a guide. Attributions are based on Nolle and Wenninger [2]. The weight ranges in the table are also based on the examples noted in Nolle and Wenninger. [ATTACH=full]1252025[/ATTACH] [SIZE=3]Fig. 7: Table of Denominations and weights[/SIZE] [ATTACH=full]1252027[/ATTACH] [SIZE=3]Fig. 8: Table of Attributions by type. (Coin photos courtesy of CNG)[/SIZE] [SIZE=7][COLOR=#404040][U][B]References[/B][/U][/COLOR][/SIZE] [1] Thucydides: [URL='http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0247%3Abook%3D1%3Achapter%3D136']http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0247:book=1:chapter=136[/URL] [2] Nolle, J and Wenninger, A.; “Themistokles und Archepolis; Eine griechische Dynastie im Perserreich und ihre Munzpragung”; Jarbuch f. Numismatik u. Geldgeschichte 48/49 (1998/99). [3] Nolle, J. “Themistokles in Magnesia. Uber die Anfange der Mentalitat, das eigne Prtrat auf Munzen zu setzen.” In SNR 75 (1996) [4] Herodotus: [URL]http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:abo:tlg,0016,001:8[/URL] [5] Cahn, H. A. and Gerin, D. “Themistokles at Magnesia.” The Numismatic Chronicle Vol. 148 (1988), pp. 13-20 [6] Plutarch: [URL]http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Themistocles*.html[/URL] [SIZE=7][COLOR=#404040][U][B]Please feel free to pile on[/B][/U][/COLOR][/SIZE] I know that a few of you have Themistokles coins (looking at you [USER=84744]@Severus Alexander[/USER] & [USER=56859]@TIF[/USER] ). However, if you don't please please feel free to post your coins of [LIST] [*][COLOR=#ff0000]Magnesia on the Meander[/COLOR] [*][COLOR=#ff0000]Coins showing Hephaestus / Zues / founding heros / Apollo / The owl of Athena outside of Athens etc.[/COLOR] [*][COLOR=#ff0000]Coins showing Hera[/COLOR] [*][COLOR=#ff0000]Early portrait coins[/COLOR] [*][COLOR=#ff0000]Coins showing an unknown figure[/COLOR] [/LIST][/QUOTE]
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