My First Animal On A Coin.

Wonderful bulls, horses, and coins, as well as interesting story, Novicius!

This Kings of Galatia - Amyntas coin caught my eye with its lion reverse. Amyntas was a contemporary of Strabo, and Strabo had written a fair bit about him in his Geography with regard to Galatia. I'd like to share some paragraphs that I found of particular interest.

To the south of the Paphlagonians are the Galatians, of whom there are three tribes; two of them, the Trocmi and the Tectosages, from the tribe of that name in Celtica. The Galatians took possession of this country after wandering about for a long period, and overrunning the country subject to the Attilic and the Bithynian kings, until they received by a voluntary cession the present Galatia, or Gallo-Gracia, as it is called. Leonnorius seems to have been the chief leader of these people when they passed over into Asia. There were three nations that spoke the same language, and in no respect differed from one another. Each of them was divided into four portions called tetrarchies, and had it's own tetrarch, it's own judge, and one superintendent of the army, all of whom were under the control of the tetrarch, and two subordinate superintendents of the army. The council of the twelve tetrarchs consisted of of three hundred persons, who assembled at a place called the Drynemetum. The council determined causes relative to murder, the others were decided by the tetrarchs and the judges. Such, anciently, was the political constitution of Galatia; but, in our time, the government was in the hands of three chiefs, then of two, and at last it was administered by Deiotarus, who was succeeded by Amyntas. At present, the Romans possess this as well as all the country which was subject to Amyntas, and have reduced it into one province.

Next to Galatia towards the south is the lake Tatta, lying parallel to that part of the Greater Cappadocia which is near Morimeni. It belongs to the Greater Phrygia, as well as the country continuous with this, and extending as far as the Taurus, and of which Amyntas possessed the greatest part. Tatta is a natural salt-pan. The water so readily makes a deposit around everything immersed in it, that upon letting down wreaths formed of rope, chaplets of salt are drawn up. If birds touch the surface of the water with their wings, they immediately fall down in consequence of the concretion of the salt upon them, and are thus taken.

Such is the description of Tatta. The places around Orcaorci, Pitnisus and the mountainous plains of Lycaonia, are cold and bare, affording pasture only for wild asses, there is a great scarcity of water, but wherever it is found the wells are very deep, as at Soatra, where it is even sold. Soatra is a village near Garsabora (Garsuara?). Although the country is ill supplied with water, it is surprisingly well adapted for feeding sheep, but the wool is coarse. Some persons have acquired very great wealth by these flocks alone. Amyntas had above three hundred flocks of sheep in these parts. In this district there are two lakes, the greater Coralia, the smaller Trogitis. Somewhere here is Iconium, a small town, well built about which is a more fertile tract of land than the pastures for the wild asses before mentioned. Polemo possessed this place.

Derbe, the royal seat of the tyrant Antipater, surnamed Derbaetes, is on the side of the Isaurian territory close upon Cappadocia. Laranda also belonged to Antipater. In my time Amyntas attacked and killed Antipater Derbaetes, and got possession of the Isaura and Derbe. The Romans gave him the Isaura where he built a palace for himself, after having destroyed Isauria Palaea (the Old). He began to build in the same place a new wall, but before its completion he was killed by the Cilicians in an ambuscade, when invading the country of the Homonadeis.

For being in Possession of Antiocheia near Pisidi, and the country as far as Apollonias, near Apameia Cibotus, some parts of the Paroreia and Lycaonia, he attempted to exterminate the Cilicians and Pisidians, who descended from the Taurus and overran this district, which belonged to the Phrygians and Cilicians (Lycaonians). He razed also many fortresses, which before this time were considered impregnable, among which was Cremna, but he did not attempt to take by storm Sandalium, situated between Cremna and Sagalassus.

Cremna is occupied by a Roman colony.

Sagalassus is under the command of the same Roman governor, to whom all the kingdom of Amyntas is subject. It is distant from Apameia a day's journey, having a descent of nearly 30 stadia from the fortress. It has the name also of Selgessus. It was taken by Alexander.

Amyntas made himself master of Cremna and passed into the country of the Homonadeis, who were supposed to be the most difficult to reduce of all the tribes. He had already got into his power most of their strong-holds, and had killed the tyrant himself, when he was taken prisoner by an artifice of the wife of the tyrant, whom he had killed, and was put to death by the people. Cyrinius (Quirinus) reduced them by famine and took four thousand men prisoners, whom he settled as inhabitants in the neighbouring cities, but he left no person in the country in the prime of life.

Kings of Galatia. Amyntas, 36-25 BC.
Obverse; head of bearded Herakles right, club at neck, monogram behind. Reverse; BAΣIΛEΩΣ / [A]MYNTOY above and in exergue below lion prowling right. Bronze. Diameter: 21 mm. Weight: 6.91 gr.
Reference: RPC I, 3502.

Always interesting reads from you, Novicius!


That is an interesting and unusal motif!

I didn't have a decent hound coin, so this one from Madytos filled the gap. There appears to have been a limited number of coins struck, and almost all have a bull obverse and a hound reverse. The research into Madytos and the coinage proved pretty interesting, including the meaning of the dog device.

Strabo has Madytos listed as between Elaious and Sestos,to the east of Cape Kynos Sema and the site of Hekuba's tomb,and west of Cape Sestias; together with Sestos it lay at the narrowest part of the Hellespont.

From Hansen & Nielsen 2004-Lexique Poleis:
Madytos was colonised by Lesbians, presumably in C7, and in any case before the arrival of the Athenian colonists under Miltiades the Elder. Some Madytians are listed in the Athenian casualty list of c.465, indicating that the city was a member of the Delian League. Madytos belonged to the Hellespontine district and is recorded in the tribute lists from 445/4 to 421/0 a total of twelve times, six times completely restored, paying 500 dr., attested until 440/39, later raised to 2,000 dr., attested from 435/4. In 430/29 Madytos is listed among those cities in the Hellespontine district whose tribute of 1,920 dr. took the form of pay, presumably a contribution to the maintenance of the hellespontophylakes. It possessed a good harbour, which served as a base for the Athenian fleet in 411. In 346/5 Madytos joined other cities of the Chersonesos in awarding Athens a golden crown.

Minting System and Typology from Corpus-Nummorum:
Madytos probably minted a small bronze series around the middle of the 4th century BC, like the other locales of the Chersonese. A single example of a silver emission from the city has survived. It depicts the same motifs as the bronze series and can probably be dated similarly to the middle of the 4th century BC. Coinage from the Roman period is not yet known.

The predominant coin design of Madytos is a kicking bull (to right or left) on the obverse in combination with a sitting dog to the right (and once to the left) on the reverse. The dog probably symbolizes Cynossema and refers to the tomb of Hecuba, which is said to have been near Madytos. Hecuba, wife of Priam and mother to Paris and Hector, was abducted from Troy by Odysseus. In order to not serve Odysseus as a slave, she threw herself from his ship into the sea near the Thracian Chersonese. Hecuba turned into a dog and died. A tomb in the shape of a dog was erected for her on land near the city of Madytos. This served as a point of orientation for sailors and is depicted on the reverse of the city's bronze coins.

These two main images are accompanied by various countermarks and so far once by a monogram. The countermark is often an ear of corn, which is commonly used to refer to the mints of the Chersonese of this period and probably indicates the richness of the grain on the peninsula. These countermarks and the monogram are type-forming. On the reverse, the legend ΜΑΔΥ is regularly added. Up to now, two types are known to differ from this pictorial scheme: one type, probably created at the same time as the bronze coinage described above, shows an Athena head on the obverse and the usual dog motif on the back. Another type with a woman's head to the left on the obverse, which can be interpreted as Hecuba, depicts a lyre on the reverse. According to F. Imhoof-Blumer, this type was minted later than the rest of the series; it may be dated to the 2nd century AD or later.

Madytos - Thrace. circa 350 BC.
Obverse; Bull butting right. Reverse; Hound, (dog) sitting right, star behind. Reverse inscription: MAΔY. Bronze. Diameter: 12 mm. Weight: 3.55 gr. Unusually thick flan at 4.5mm.
Reference: BMC 2 var. (ethnikon). Star instead of the usual ear of corn.

Thanks, @erafjel. That is an interesting point about dogs and cats, as I don't remember ever seeing a cat on one of these ancients. I only have one other dog (hound) coin, this one from Segesta in Sicily. it is in very poor shape, but I doubt if I'll find another.

Sicily, Segesta, c. 430/409 BC.
Obverse: Head of nymph right, hair bound with fillet and arranged in chignon. Reverse: Hound standing right, pellet above. Bronze. Diameter: 18 mm. Weight: 4.90 gr.
Reference: Sear 1172v.

Just got caught up on posts I missed. Excellent updates - and a real nice upgrade from Gergis. Well done, Jim.

The latest addition to the menagerie is a tiny but attractive coin featuring Apollo and a dolphin from Pantikapaion (Panticapaion). Apparently fairly uncommon, as it was not easy to find a similar one till this one showed up on ACSearch:
https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=10655399
Some points of interest regarding Pantikapaion were found in "Hansen & Nielsen 2004-Lexique Poleis", and a few are shown below.

Brief extracts from Hansen & Nielsen 2004-Lexique Poleis:
Pantikapaion (Pantikapaites)/Bosporos (Bosporites) - Pantikapaion was situated in the European part of the Kimmerian Bosporos (Strabo 11.2.10). In the opinion of some scholars the early name for the city was Kremnoi, mentioned by Hdt. 4.20.1 as an emporion (Hind (1997) 111-15).

Pantikapaion was founded c.575. Written sources attest that it was Milesian, and archaeological evidence agrees. C.480 Pantikapaion became the capital of the Bosporan Kingdom, created primarily by the need to withstand Skythian pressure on the Greek cities situated on the Kerch and Taman peninsulas.

To establish the exact extent of the territory of Pantikapaion is very difficult, because, after the creation of the Bosporan Kingdom, three types of land ownership were established: civic community land, royal land and temple land. Excavations during the last decade have yielded several dozen very rich farmhouses in the eastern Crimea. They probably belonged to the royal family and to rich citizens of Pantikapaion.

In the Greek homeland every polis, except island poleis, belonged to an ethnos. The Greek colonies, however, were not gathered together in regions inhabited by a specific ethnic group. Neighbouring poleis were often settled with colonists belonging to different ethne and sometimes colonists from different ethne joined to found a colony. Nevertheless, even the colonies tended to appear in regional clusters: all the poleis in Spain and France were primary or secondary colonies of Phokaia in Asia Minor. Kyrene was the founder of all the other poleis in Libya and kept them as dependencies. Some of the poleis in Sicily were founded by Dorians and some by Ionians, but the Sikeliotai came to think that they all formed a larger community, and in C5-C4 Syracuse succeeded in controlling almost all the poleis in Sicily and some of those in Italy as well. In Skythia Pantikapaion became the hegemonic centre of the Bosporan kingdom and dominated all neighbouring poleis. And along the north coast of Asia Minor, Sinope played a similar dominant role.

Pantikapaion struck coins of silver from C5e onwards and of gold in C4. Silver and bronze C5e onwards: denominations: drachm, hemidrachm, diobol. Types: obv. lion's scalp facing; rev. incuse square with symbol; legend: ΠΑΝ or ΠΑΝΤ or ΠΑΝΤΙ, on some ΑΠ or ΑΠΟΛ. Silver and bronze C4: obv. head of Pan or satyr; rev. head of bull, or griffin, or lion,or lion with spear in mouth; legend: ΠΑΝ or ΠΑΝΤor ΠΑΝΤΙ. Gold in C4: denominations: stater, hemistater. Types: obv. bearded head of Pan or satyr; rev. griffin with spear in mouth standing on ear of corn; legend: ΠΑΝ (Frolova (1992); Price (1993) 836-917; SNG Cop. Thrace 17-24). The full form of the city-ethnic, ΠΑΝΤΙΚΑΠΑΙΤ#8486;Ν, appears on coins of C3 and later (SNG Cop. Thrace 27). Coins of c.460-440 with the inscription ΑΠΟΛ (as well as ΠΑ/ΑΠ) cause problems. The prevailing view is that these coins were struck at the mint of the temple of Apollo in Pantikapaion (built in the second quarter of C5) as an "alliance" issue of the cities of the Kimmerian Bosporos. These coins were not minted for long—until the last quarter of C5, when the need for the confederation of Bosporan cities had passed (Y. G. Vinogradov (1997) 22-23; Tolstikov (1984a) 47-48 n. 47; Frolova (1995))

Cimmerian Bosporos (Modern-day Kerch in Ukraine) Pantikapaion. c 200-150 BC.
Obverse: Laureate head of Apollo right. Reverse: Dolphin swimming left. Reverse inscription: ΠAN. Bronze. Diameter: 11 mm. Weight: 1.27 gr.
Reference: HGC 7, 139. MacDonald 137. SNG BM Black Sea 909. SNG Stancomb 568.

Thanks, Erafjel. I do find the history behind these coins fascinating.