My First Animal On A Coin.

I guess we can give you half credit for this one, Jim. Nice coin.

The rendition of Dionysos is reminiscent of those on Thasos tets of the second and first centuries BC.

Just cross-cultural influences, I suppose. Roughly the same part of the world, after all. No doubt each was well aware of the other's coinage.

What a menagerie! Fantastic representation of the animal kingdom in this thread...along with some awesome history lessons. Totally worth the "walk" through this Zootopia! I tried to choose a favorite, but there were simply too many impressive coins.

The avians are well-represented, but I couldn't help throwing this Roman eagle into the mix. An Aurelian tetradrachm of Alexandria. I could, however, be mistaken. This ID is from memory (as I let this specimen go many years ago) and the legend is dicey.

Catching up here Jim...You have been busy!
Some excellent additions to the zoo!
Grappling Lions (Cool portrait!), horse with that "Iconic" Boetian shield, Centaur with a sweet Dionysos, butting bull on a tiny flan and that's a lovely Apamaie eagle!
Wonderful informative posts as always, thoroughly enjoyed reading through them...Thanks

P.S.....No Bees?

Thanks, Paul. I've been lucky recently with a few coins I've bid on, but prices do seem to be on the rise again. The Ephesos "bee" coins in particular appear to be rising in cost pretty fast. Even fairly rough ones are going for more than they were a couple of months ago. I daresay there will be more in the future though, as there are hundreds of different varieties.

I was really pleased with the Septimius Severus portrait, as it's the only coin of his that I have.


Thanks again, Bob.

Apart from the divergence from my usual bronze offerings, this chunky AR stater from Kelenderis held a lot of interest for me. There is the obvious animal interest with the horse on the obverse and the goat on the reverse. Some sites referred to a nude youth on the obverse, while others referred to Ephebus taking part in a calpe or anabates race. I was to learn that ephebus was a term for any male who had attained the age of puberty, but in Athens it became a technical term for young men aged between 18 and 20, and calpe or anabates was a dismounter race, with mares at the gallop, where the rider dismounted and ran with the horse over the last stretch.

I didn't find much about Kelenderis, apart from the following from the Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites:
KELENDERIS, later Gilindire (Aydincik) Rough Cilicia Turkey.
On the coast 46 km W of the modern Anamur and the center of a region known to Pliny (HN 5.92) as Kelenderitis. Said by Apollodoros to be a foundation of Sandokos of Syria and therefore presumably of native origin, Kelenderis was colonized, doubtless in the 8th c. B.C., by Samians. Included in the Delian League between 460 and 454 as a way station on the route to Egypt, with an assessment probably of one talent, it thereafter has no recorded history. Its coinage began in the mid 5th c. and continued until the time of Decius. Survival into the 5th c. of our era is attested by Hierocles and the Notitia. Of the recorded inscriptions, nearly all funerary and datable to the 2d and 3d c., not one is now to be seen.

The ruins today are overlaid by the expanding modern village. Fortifications may still be detected, nevertheless, around the modern lighthouse on the small promontory which forms and commands the harbor; but the chief harbor was undoubtedly the fine, landlocked bay with its famous spring 1.6 km to the W at Soguk Su. Here there are ancient ruins, notably a bath at the head of the bay and archaeological debris on the peninsula at its mouth. The most notable monument is the great built tomb among olive trees to the E of the modern town. There are handsome but much destroyed rock-cut tombs at Duruhan 9.6 km to the N.


Cilicia, Kelenderis. AR Stater. Circa 430-420 BC.
Obverse: Ephebus holding whip, dismounting from horse galloping to left; Π below horse's belly. Reverse: Goat kneeling to left, head to right; KEΛE above. Silver. Diameter: 19 mm. Weight: 10.78 gr.
Tentative reference: SNG BnF 52.

Thanks, @erafjel.

Your Allobroges coin is in superb condition, and the reverse with the horse and rider makes a nice addition to the animals thread. I have no knowledge of these coins, so find the write-up fascinating. Thanks for posting.

Thanks, Paul. It is a pity that the strike wasn't a bit harder, and more of the imagery might have shown. Then again, I might not have been able to afford it if it had been.

This coin from Rhegion (Latin Rhegium), now modern day Reggio, is tiny, but this once very powerful city has a wealth of often turbulent history. Situated on the Fretum Siculum, or the modern day Strait of Messina in the south of Italy, directly opposite the strait from Zankle (the ancient name of Messina), It grew into a major maritime city. The city had great academies, and was home to the poet Ibykos and the sculptor Klearkhos. The site of Rhegion has been settled by a variety of different peoples since the 3rd millenium BC. Rhegion it's self was founded about the beginning of the first Messenian War in 743 BC, by Aeolian Chalcidians from Euboea and by Doric Messenians.

Repeated attempts by Hannibal to make himself master of the city were repulsed, but it was occupied successively by the Visigoths, Goths, Byzantines, and Saracens.

Around the time that this coin was struck there were hostilities between Rhegion and Syracuse. Syracusan tyrant Dionysius I besieged Rhegium without success in 390 BC, returning to starve the city into surrender in 387 BC. The city was demolished, its leading citizens executed, and the survivors were sold as slaves. Dionysius II refounded the city with new settlers about 356 BC. Though the coinage of the restored city retained the traditional lion mask, the head of Apollo was rendered in a different "Hellenistic" style.

Another disaster was to unfold with the arrival of Pyrrhus in Italy in 280 BC. The Rhegians did not trust the Carthaginians, and viewed Pyrrus' progress with apprehension, so asked Rome for assistance under the terms of the Roman alliance. The Romans were occupied with the war against Pyrrhus and sent 4,000 Campanian troops under the command of an officer named Decius as a garrison. These troops had not been in possession of the city for long when they massacred the male citizens, reduced the women and children to slavery, and took the city for themselves. The Romans were unable to avenge this act of treachery till Pyrrhus finally withdrew from Italy in 272 BC. The consul Genucius then, with the support of Hieron of Syracuse, laid siege to Rhegion, and eventually took the city by force. A great number of the Campanians died in the defence, and the rest were executed.

Rhegion - Bruttium. 415-387 BC.
Obverse: Laureate head of Apollo right. Reverse: Facing lion's scalp. Bronze. Diameter: 9 mm. Weight: 0.6 gr.
Reference: HNItaly 2524; SNG ANS 698-701

Yes a neat "wee" coin Jim .
Very nice portrait and I do like these simplistic reverses..
Enjoyed the write up Thanks..
As you know I have a similar Hera obverse with lion scalp reverse from Ionia Samos do you happen to know why the scalp was used as a symbol? Just to show power?