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 Replies: 67 / Views: 9,609 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5155 Posts |
Theamata- the sights, the things to see, later to be referred to as a 'wonder'. the guide of the Ancient Traveler, In this Smackdown we take tour of the cities made famous in Antiquity for their magnificent feats of innovation, architecture and engineering. Over the centuries their have been many lists, in this case we will use the most current list of 7. Based largely on the list contrived by Antipater of Sidon c. BC 140. The list is as follows... The Temple of Artemis @ EPHESUS The Great Pyramid @ GIZA The Colossus @ RHODES The Hanging Gardens @ BABYLON The Lighthouse @ ALEXANDRIA The Statue of Zeus @ OLYMPIA The Mausoleum of Maussollos @ HALICARNASSUS The coin can be of any metal and struck at any point in the history of that city The wonder does not need to be standing at the time the coin was circulated. The coin needs to be minted or attributed to that specific WONDER CITY. Smack down format as follows... 1) At most (2) two entries per member. 2) Voting: Vote for three in order of preference, Gold (4pts), Silver (2pts), Bronze (1pt). 3) Host computes the vote totals and announces the winner. Host may enter, but cannot be the winner. Winner chooses next Smackdown subject and is the next host. 4) You do not have to enter a coin to vote but please do try to enter something. 5) Base your votes on any criteria you like 6) Final decision if two pairs have the same score and the same number of golds will be the hosts choice. 7) Enjoy. Entries Begin Immediately and submissions end at Saturday September 15 at 11:00 pm US Eastern time and voting will last two days and end at 11:00 pm EST USA, Monday September 17, 2012.  |
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
5155 Posts |
My two examples... Coin# 1 Persia, Satrap of Caria,Halicarnassus AR 23.6mm Tetradrachm (13.63g) Maussollos 377-353 BC Obverse: 3/4 facing head of Apollo Reverse: Zeus? / Ba'al? Standing Right with Labrandus (Double Headed Axe) MAYSSOLL? REF: SNG Cop 590 Coin# 2 Rhodes AR Didrachm (6.64g) 387-304 BC Obverse: 3/4 facing head of Helios Reverse: Hibiscus (ROSE) Monogram E   |
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Valued Member
Canada
472 Posts |
Father of Mausolus, struck in Halicarnassus : Satraps of Caria, Hekatomnos AR Tetradrachm (392-376 BC) Obv.: Zeus Labraundos holding labrys over shoulder and spear. Rev.: Lion crouching. SNG Kayhan 868-9.  Struck in the years when the Colossus was detroyed (226 BC) : Islands of Caria, Rhodes AR Tetradrachm (229-205 BC). Tharsytas, magistrate. Obv.: Radiate head of Helios facing slightly right. Rev.: Rose with bud to right; to left, eagle standing right on torch. Ashton 215. SNG Keckman 550.  |
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Pillar of the Community
3352 Posts |
=> a few very nice coins right off the bat! ... Batman, your first coin is extremely cool!!  Hmmmm? ... hopefully I'll be able to find two coins that meet the qualifications!!  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1549 Posts |
The only common items will be Alexandria. There are coins showing the lighthouse but those are not common. Someone please show a Giza. A question: If these wonders were so wonderful, why were so few coins issued showing them?
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Pillar of the Community
3352 Posts |
stevex6 Coin #1Rhodes AR HemidrachmDate: 408-390 BC Diameter: 13.0 mm Weight: 1.7 grams Obverse: Head of Helios facing Reverse: Rose in incuse square Characteristics: Rare early issue   NOTE => here is a previous thread associated with this particular coinhttps://goccf.com/t/126261 stevex6 Coin #2Carinus Potin TetradrachmAlexandria Mint Date: Year 2 (283-284 AD) Diameter: 18.9 mm Weight: 7.3 grams Obverse: Laureate bust of Carinus Reverse: Eagle between standards   NOTE => here is a previous thread associated with this particular coin https://goccf.com/t/121568
Edited by stevex6
09/13/2012 5:57 pm
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Moderator
 Australia
16867 Posts |
Quote:
A question: If these wonders were so wonderful, why were so few coins issued showing them? Partly because ancient coins served as propaganda tools, depicting the great deeds of the people that struck the coins. The Wonders, for the most part, were built by "other people who lived long ago", which the coin-issuing later owners of the Wonders were reluctant to take credit for. And partly because by the time the list of Antipater was compiled, 3 out of 7 of the Wonders were already crumbling into ruins: the Colossus barely lasted a generation, the Hanging Gardens (if they ever actually existed - there has never been any archaeological proof) did not survive the collapse of the Neo-Babylonian civilization, and the Great Pyramid, though still standing and with most of the outer casing stones still intact back then, was so old and mysterious that nobody really knew for sure what it was actually built for. Do you know when the very first Egyptian coins to ever depict the pyramids was struck? 1984. That's AD 1984, only 28 years ago. WorldCoinGallery example. And since Egypt apparently does not have its own mint these days, these coins cannot count in the contest as "Giza". Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4253 Posts |
I have to rely on my Romans to fit the bill of this Smackdown and I know they will be up against some tough Greek competition. But here are what I consider my best two from cities of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World: Coin 1: Titus Alexandria Tetradrachm, Dattari 426, struck in year 2 (79-80 AD): OBV: AVTOK TITOY - laureate head right REV: Bust of Serapis right, LB before 12.7g, 25mm   Coin 2. Marcus Antonius Ionia Silver cistophoric tetradrachm, RPC I 2201, struck at Ephesus in 39 BC: OBV: M ANTONIVS IMP COS DESIG ITER ET TERT, head of Antony right, wreathed in ivy, lituus below, all within wreath of ivy and grap REV: III VIR R P C, bust of Octavia right on cista flanked by snakes 11.8gm, 26mm VF with ancient scraches, nice dark toning   |
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
2624 Posts |
I watched a lecture by an archaeologist the other day who came out with some extremely unorthodox views...
First he talked about the Mayans and the Inca's all believing that certain pre-existing monolithic structures had been made by gods. Then he claimed that the pyramids predated the Egyptians and that had they really been made as tombs for kings the insides would be more heavily adorned by hieroglyphics etc. He then made some points about the 12 astrological constellations and how they knew so much about the solar system and the stars.
(There was a planetarium discovered on the sea-bed able to predict eclipses dating to the Greeks, I saw an amazing documentary on that one)
Up to this point it was an interesting and feasible lecture...then he explained that they knew so much for one of two reasons... either a more advanced civilisation had existed before and passed the knowledge down or we had been visited by aliens :)
So if the aliens put the pyrimids there that would explain why they didn't put them on the coins :P
Sorry if that seemed slightly off topic, but it was kind of relevant to Sap's reply...anyway good coins lets see more!
Edited by DavidUK
09/13/2012 09:29 am
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1316 Posts |
Very nice coins so far.....I'll be watching and learning, I don't have any of the 7 wonders coins....  |
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
4208 Posts |
Im surprised I could enter this one - I couldnt find an Alexandria one, but I do have an Ephesian bee coin. Obverse, Stag with Astralogus, magistrates (illegible) name left. Reverse, Bee with E P. circa 295-380BC. Appears to be unpublished, I cant find an AE17 with astralogus. This dates from the building period of the third temple of artemis and all the way back to the second temple. I cant be sure of which without getting the magistrate's name.  Sorry for the picture - its not really oval, its very round. Edited by Ben
09/13/2012 2:22 pm
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Moderator
United States
23731 Posts |
  Tetradrachm CARUS 282-283 AD A K MA KAPOC CEB LA (year one) Alexandria mint Emmett 3999   TETRADRACHM CARINUS 283-285 AD AK MA KAPI NOCK LA (year one) Alexandria mint BMC244 Edited by echizento
09/13/2012 2:26 pm
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
10045 Posts |
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Up to this point it was an interesting and feasible lecture...then he explained that they knew so much for one of two reasons... either a more advanced civilisation had existed before and passed the knowledge down or we had been visited by aliens :) This was an idea promoted by a hack 'archaeologist' from the 70's--Erich von Daeniken--who suggested that grand achievements by ancient cultures couldn't possibly be due to their intelligence and culture; therefore aliens must have done it. Even today, there's a flock of amateurs pushing this same cultural arrogance to sell books and lectures. Certainly, the engineering of the great pyramids using 21/2-ton blocks is problematic. But, if that was accomplished with 'alien technology', wouldn't you think the Egyptians might use power tools rather than hand-chisels to shape the blocks--or use a more efficient and durable material such as metals, polymers, or some composite?  If aliens ever visited the earth, the archeological record doesn't show any evidence. Admittedly OT--but that's my contribution for this smackdown--having worked for an university archaeology publisher for some years.  |
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
2838 Posts |
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...who suggested that grand achievements by ancient cultures couldn't possibly be due to their intelligence and culture This really annoys me, the problem is that most Archaeologists are not practical people but academics. The ancients were advanced but in different ways to today and it usually takes a decent Engineer to debunk their crack-pot alien/fantastical theories. People like Jean-Pierre Houdin did it with the Pyramids and Wally Wallington with Stonehenge. Both Engineers just used simple construction principles and a bit of common sense to show what can be achieved with just a bit of thinking and a bit of organisation. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Pierre_Houdinhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wally_Wallington |
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Pillar of the Community
3352 Posts |
Whoa => you've got a couple of winners there, Bing!! => oh, and nice coins by everybody else as well ...  Edited by stevex6
09/13/2012 5:37 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4253 Posts |
Thanks Jerry. A couple of my favorites for sure.
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Replies: 67 / Views: 9,609 |
Posted 09/13/2012 07:07 am
