CHF Editor Ancient Greece & Rome, Coin History

The Silver Griffin from the Land of Wine & Song: Ionia Teos Silver Diobol

Western Philosophy: It Happened Here First 

When considering Ionia on the west of Asia Minor’s Aegean coast (modern day Turkey) we are drawing our attention to the birth of coinage. 

The kingdom of Lydia held much sway in this area giving protection to those city-states under its influence. It is the Lydian kings who are credited with innovating coinage and it is believed that the very first coins were made in one of these ‘vassal’ Ionian city-states. 

In this area, rich in abundant agriculture, there was also an innovation of thought from the minds of figures like ​Thales​, ​Anaximander​, Anaximenes​, Heraclitus and Pythagoras. Athens may take the crown as the cradle of western civilisation but Ionia can lay claim to having formed the basis of Greek philosophy and historical writing. 

This school of Ionic rational thought cast aside the supernatural and fostered the study of geography, nature, and research into matter and the universe. It was a movement which, quite literally, dominated the intellectual life of Greece. Also permeating through the fabric of Greek culture was the Ionic language which became the basis of Koine or ‘common speech’, being found in practically all Greek writing, including the New Testament, right through to the modern day. 

Ionic architecture, sculpture and bronze casting also made a mark upon the culture of ancient Greece too. The ‘Ionic migration’, as it was called by later writers, was dated to 140 years after the Trojan war and, according to Greek tradition, the colonists had hailed from the other side of the Aegean Sea. 

A myth was woven into this migration in which the colonists were led by Neleus and Androclus, sons of Codrus, the last king of Athens. By the 8th century B.C. these settlers from the Greek homeland had confirmed their possession of the coastline and had consolidated themselves into 12 major cities; Phocaea, ​Erythrae​, Clazomenae​, Teos, Lebedus, ​Colophon​, ​Ephesus​, ​Priene​, Myus, and Miletus on the mainland along with the islands of ​Chios​ and ​Samos​ in the eastern Aegean Sea. At a later date the prosperous city of Smyrna was also added to this list. 

Each city joined together into a league known as the Ionic or Panionic League. This was a league which differed from most in that they were joined by religion and culture as opposed to politics and war. Each year a colourful festival would take place on the northern slope of Mount Mycale in Ionia called the Panionia. The festivities took place at a temple dedicated to Poseidon, the Panionium, meaning ‘of the Ionians’ and it was this celebration which gave to Ionia its identity as a distinct people of the Greeks. 

Guinness, Gods and Greats 

In the centuries B.C. Ionia would find itself a part of various empires after the Lydian kingdom fell to Cyrus the Great in 546 B.C. Cyrus’ conquered lands, known to history as the Achaemenid Persian empire, would, within 70 years, set a record which, to this day, is unsurpassed. 

In 480 B.C. Xerxes I (of Hollywood movie ‘300’ fame) took the Achaemenid empire up to 44% of the world’s population with a whopping 50 million people all living within its borders. This is now recognised as a Guinness world record and a record of which the ancient Ionians were a part. It wasn’t to last and a precocious young king of Macedonia would take the Persian empire by storm and make it his own; none other than Alexander the Great. 

After the Battle of the Granicus River took place in 334 B.C. all the western half of Asia Minor came under Alexander’s rule. Most of the Ionian cities submitted to him and enjoyed great prosperity, all except Miletus. Miletus, the only city in the Ionian League to deny homage to Alexander, was leveled after a long siege and never quite regained its previous splendour. 

The majority of the Ionian League city states obligingly struck Alexander’s tetradrachms at their mints, a coin which today is one of the most easily recognisable of the entire ancient world. His successors and the kingdoms that they founded in the western part of Asia Minor would also strike coins at the Ionian city-state mints. The Antigonids, Seleucids and Attalids all ruled over Ionia before it came under Roman rule in 133 B.C., then becoming a part of the Province of Asia. 

Under the Roman Empire the principal cities of Ionia experienced a revival of prosperity, and many of the impressive ruins on their sites date from that time. Ephesus, Miletus, Smyrna​, and Chios were among the most splendid cities of the Roman world and continued to flourish in Byzantine​ times.

Our focus, however, is on the Ionian city of Teos, related by one ancient writer as the birthplace of Dionysus, god of entertainment, art and wine. Here at this thriving seaport was built in the third century B.C. the largest temple dedicated to the Dionysian cult in the ancient world. It was a magnificent structure built entirely in marble, a rock for which Teos was famous for in Roman times being quarried nearby and shipped to Rome until around 170 A.D. 

In myth, Teos itself was said to have been founded by Athamas, after whom the city was originally named. Athamas was the descendent of a Boeotian king, also called Athamas, who, after falling into disfavour with the goddess Hera, was inflicted with insanity. It was the responsibility, placed upon King Athamas’ queen, Ino, by Hermes, to help raise the infant Dionysus. As already mentioned, Dionysus was omnipresent in Teos, becoming the city’s patron deity. Actors and musicians flocked to Teos and mixed with the priests of Dionysus’ temple who themselves were theatrical actors. A guild was created which provided paid performances in other cities. Known as the city of artists, Teos’ players guild was the first in history and so it seems appropriate that a musical instrument, in the form of a chelys, should appear on the city’s coinage. 

Heavenly Strings 

The chelys is known to most in modern times as a lyre and its origins lay deep in mythology with the personal messenger of Zeus and companion of dead souls to the underworld, Hermes. Hermes was born to Zeus and the Pleiad, Maia, who had joined in love in Maia’s luxurious cave. The infant Hermes was born the next day at dawn and immediately set out to make his mark on the world. Upon exiting his mother’s cave, he happened upon a tortoise and devised a plan to make a beautiful new instrument. Hermes hollowed out the tortoise shell, acquired some reeds, ox’s hide and sheep gut and behold, the first chelys had been created. Almost immediately Hermes had tuned the new instrument and was strumming a stream of enchanting songs in praise of his divine mother and father. 

Soon after, the precocious baby became intent on other pursuits. Craving meat he hatched a plan to steal some of his half-brother, Apollo’s, sacred flock. In a stroke of deceptive genius, Hermes, under the cover of darkness, herded some of Apollo’s cattle backwards whilst wearing wicker shoes to cover his tracks. An old man in his luxuriant vineyard noticed Hermes carrying out his devious act. The infant god, aware of this, promised the old man a plentiful harvest and a quality batch of wine should he kept quiet. 

Soon after, Hermes tended the cattle, slaughtered and skinned two of them before creating a fire and roasting the meat as an offering to the gods. Having made the ritual sacrifice, as one of the gods Hermes couldn’t eat the meat, only savour the aroma. Upon returning to his mother, Hermes tried to act like a helpless baby but his mother wasn’t fooled and so admonished him. His answer was sharp and clever, claiming that he would one day be the prince of thieves and win honour for them among the Olympian gods. 

Apollo, upon realising the theft immediately set about finding the culprit. Luckily for Apollo, the old man at the vineyard hadn’t been wooed by Hermes’ promises and so revealed all when questioned. Apollo noticed an eagle with outstretched wings which conveyed to him that the culprit was a son of Zeus. This and a little detective work lead to Maia’s cave where Apollo confronted the baby god. Despite receiving a barrage of lies from Hermes, who explained the impossibility of his actions as he had only been born the previous day, Apollo wasn’t convinced. He wanted justice to be served so brought Hermes to Mount Olympus to answer to Zeus. 

Zeus belly laughed upon hearing the excuses being put down before him by Hermes, he then ordered that Hermes, in his role as guide, lead Apollo to the stolen cattle. The orders were duly carried out and upon being reunited with his cattle, Apollo reconciled himself with his half-brother. 

Hermes, perhaps with a hint of remorse, took his chelys and serenaded Apollo with songs so enchanting and beautiful that Apollo exclaimed it was definitely worth fifty cows! At this, Hermes gave the chelys to Apollo explaining that he should become a master of the musical art, and Apollo, in turn, gave Hermes a shining whip and put him in charge of cattle herds. 

The two returned to Mount Olympus where Zeus united them in friendship. From this point onwards the chelys would become an everlasting signature of Apollo who wouldn’t be seen without it. Writers have alluded to the fact that among the Ionian city-states nowhere was Apollo more worshipped and revered than Teos. This would cause one to justifiably speculate that the chelys on Teos’ coinage actually represents the A-list Olympian god himself. 

Griffin d’Or 

Adorning the other side of Teos’ beautiful diobol silver coinage is a very regal looking griffin which, too, has a direct link back to Apollo. With the body, tail and hind legs of a lion and the head and wings of an eagle, the griffin, or grypas in ancient Greek, combined the king of the skies and of the land into one creature. Apollo, as god of the sun, took these impressive beasts to be his own sacred companions, drawing his chariot majestically across the sky. 

This image is actually depicted on a second century A.D. coin of the emperor Commodus from Lydia. The exalted status as the companion of a god was coupled with an association with treasure and priceless possessions. Various ancient accounts tell of a one-eyed people called the Arimaspians who fought with the griffins for the gold which they fiercely protected. It was said that griffins lay eggs containing golden nuggets and with their strong beaks they were easily able to locate and dig nuggets of gold from the earth. 

Stories relate how griffins were sacred in India too. Here they were said to attack and defeat elephants and dragons but, as related in an ancient text by Greek teacher, Philostratus; ‘the tiger alone is beyond their powers of attack, because in swiftness it rivals the winds.’. 

Other cultures also held the griffin as sacred way before one appeared on a silver diobol of Teos. Griffin-like hybrids with four legs and a beaked head appeared in ancient Iranian and Egyptian art dating as far back as before 3,000 B.C. Griffins appeared in the art of the Persians, sometimes being represented on jewellery as a protector from evil, witchcraft and even secret slander. 

Staying with this theme, griffins were associated with another Greek god, Nemesis, the maiden goddess of retribution, proportion and avenger of crime. Just like Apollo, Nemesis rode in a chariot drawn by griffins. Nonnus, a Greek poet living in Egypt under the Roman empire wrote a particularly chilling mythological account of Nemesis paying a visit to Niobe, the boastful daughter of a Lydian ruler called Tantalos; ‘She (Nemesis) had harnessed racing Grypes (Griffins) under her bridle; quick through the air she coursed in the swift car, until she tightened the curving bits of her four footed birds, and drew up on the peak of Sipylos in front of the face of Tantalos’ daughter (Niobe) with eyeballs of stone.’. In this role, griffins were viewed as beasts of vengeance and they helped Nemesis to exact retribution right the way across the globe. 

It was for this reason and for all the other attributes of majesty and power afforded to griffins by the Greeks, Persians, Egyptians and Indians that, to this day, they remain a staple part of the global cultural fabric. Griffins are represented in architecture, emblems, heraldry, logos, in computer games, films and cartoons, they are literally all around us! 

It’s no coincidence that the famous author of Harry Potter, J.K.Rowling named one of the houses at Hogwarts ‘Gryffindor’. Not many people realise that this name is a representation of the French ‘griffin d’or’, meaning ‘golden griffin’. As a parting thought the griffin was also known as an animal of intense sexual power, sometimes mating with mares on heat resulting in a beast called a Hippogriff. Those in the know will be aware that a Hippogriff named Buckbeak was expertly ridden by Harry Potter in The Prisoner of Azkaban. 

ARTICLE RECAP:

The Silver Griffin from the Land of Wine & Song

  • These coins were struck more than 2,300 years ago in Teos, an ancient Greek city located on an Ionian isthmus on the Aegean Sea. The city was famous for its wine and was famous its temple in honor Dionysus, the Greek god of wine and good times.
  • Mythical Griffin: This obverse of this coin features the mythological Griffin, a beast with the body, tail and back legs of a lion, and the head and wings of an eagle. In the lore of the ancient Scythians, Griffins were said to be fierce guards of their gold.
  • The coin’s reverse depicts a Chelys, an ancient musical instrument made from a tortoise shell. The symbolism of a musical instrument points to the focus on ‘wine, women, and song’ which the lusty Dionysus was infamous for.
  • The coin is also inscribed with the THI, which means “of the Teans” and ALYPION, the name of the magistrate responsible for minting and issuing these coins.

The ancient Greek city of Teos was once a vibrant trading port on the coast of Ionia (now part of western Turkey.) After being abandoned during a time of invasion, the town was later reinhabited and became known for its wine, exciting theater and its Temple dedicated to Dionysus – the god of wine, fertility and wild drunken revelry. 

The Griffin is a mythical creature half lion and half eagle. Considered the king of all creatures, Griffins were associated with wealth, and they were believed to lay eggs that contained gold nuggets. The griffin was sacred to Apollo, to whom most of Ionian cities worshiped, but nowhere more so than in Teos, where the city’s population held Apollo in particularly high regard.

The Chelys: As already mentioned, Dionysus was Teos’ patron deity. Actors and musicians flocked to Teos and they mixed with the priests of Dionysus’ temple who themselves were theatrical actors, creating a guild which provided paid performances at other cities. Known as the city of artists, Teos’ players guild was the first in history. It seems appropriate, then, that a musical instrument in the form of a Chelys should appear on the city’s coinage. Because the instrument was closely associated with Apollo, it is also possible that it was chosen for the coin as a symbol of Apollo.

CHF Editor Ancient Greece & Rome, Coin History

The Gold Staters of Carthage

by Jonathan Mann

Gold Stater of Alexander the Great (323 BC)

Courage and conquest

What remains of the ancient city of Carthage, near the modern city of Tunis in North Africa, was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1971. The ruins tell a story of total destruction and annihilation. Here lived a people who were one of the most influential civilisations in the ancient world, a people who almost changed the course of Western civilisation so how could it be that virtually all trace of their being was put to the torch? This is the story of Carthage, its rise to glory and its demise at the hands of one of Rome’s great generals, Scipio Aemilianus. Apart from the beautiful coins produced within Carthage’s powerful empire, all that survives are the accounts of ancient Greece and Rome, both vengeful enemies of the state. We hear of a group of depraved monsters, greedy, treacherous and brutal who readily sacrificed their own children to cruel gods. However, we need to remember that both ancient Greece and Rome had an axe to grind. Carthage was one of the largest and richest cities in antiquity and the power it held within the mediterranean was a threat. Carthage was founded a hundred years earlier than Rome in c.814, it’s said by an exiled priestess fleeing her native city of Tyre in ancient Phoenicia, now Lebanon. The Greeks named her Dido and legend told of how she came to found Carthage and become its queen. Upon landfall in north Africa she led her people to a local Berber chieftain in the hope of acquiring some land to settle and make home. The chieftain replied that she could have  “as much land as could be encompassed by an oxhide.”. Thinking on her feet, Dido cut the hide into strips and stretched them around a large hill name Byrsa or “hide”, an alternative name for Carthage. In carving out the earth for their new settlement the Tyrians discovered an ox’s head and all activity came to a halt. This was a bad omen that foretold the city would be wealthy but “laborious and always enslaved”. The decision was taken to dig elsewhere and fortune smiled upon the tired colonists for a horse’s head was found in the freshly dug earth. In Phoenician culture the horse was a symbol of courage and conquest, foretelling that Dido’s new city would rise to greatness. And so it was that Carthage, a name which derived from the Phoenician Qart-Hadasht meaning “New City”, came into being. 

Mother of pearl, coral, amber and ebony

For centuries Carthage was a mere outpost of its mother city, Tyre, but by 509 B.C. it was independent enough to negotiate a commercial treaty with the new Republic of Rome. Bringing with them their Phoenician penchant for seafaring and trade, the Carthaginians set about establishing themselves in the mediterranean as its most dominant power. One of its main advantages was the supremely dominant position it held in the Gulf of Tunis. Here it was close to Sicily, Italy, Sardinia and Corsica and not too distant from the Balearic Islands, Spain and Gaul (modern day France). From Carthage, trade could be completely controlled. Through domination of the seas it became the overlord of a vast network of trade which stretched to the west of Africa and into northern Europe. It’s even said that Britain’s first contacts with the classical world were through Carthaginian merchants who came in search of tin. Commodities from all over the ancient world flowed in and out of Carthage and its network of cities and satellite states which was larger than any other power in the region. Within his poem, Ithaca, the Greek poet, Constantine Cavafy, gives a vivid recounting of the lush goods which would have abounded in and around these ports; ‘…May there be many summer mornings when, with what pleasure, what joy, you enter harbors you’re seeing for the first time; may you stop at Phoenician trading stations to buy fine things, mother of pearl and coral, amber and ebony, sensual perfume of every kind, as many sensual perfumes as you can’. This great source of richness was coupled with ready access to abundant fertile land and an enterprising culture in the working of it. The writings of Mago of Carthage on farming and animal husbandry were considered as being of such importance that they were among the few to be spared by the Romans after their destruction of the city. This innovation was coupled with Carthage’s revolutionary idea of the ‘flat pack’ ship which was the first to have been produced using a standardised design and construction. This was part of the foundation which saw Carthage secure itself as one of the largest and most powerful navies in the ancient Mediterranean. 

As long as money clinks, my captain i’ll obey

Both Carthage’s army and its navy were lead by powerful families, mainly the Magonids and Barcids, who spent vast sums on piecing together a burgeoning force of foreign mercenary soldiers. One of the main struggles which ancient Carthage sought in expanding its sphere of power and influence was over the island of Sicily and its main city-state of Syracuse. Beginning in the 480s B.C., two centuries of bitter warfare would see Carthage establish a network of fortresses and mints which protected and paid its mercenary forces both in Sicily and in its hard-fought lands in Spain and Sardinia. This network first came into being when Carthage established its coinage c.410 B.C. in Sicily itself. Control of the island and beyond could only be secured if Carthaginian coins chinked in the purses of its soldiers of fortune. To this end, Carthaginian ships made daring voyages as far as West Africa to trade for gold. In around 350 B.C. a super-attractive new gold stater was produced specifically to pay Carthage’s forces. It was adorned with two of the powerful city-state’s most potent symbols, the Phoenician goddess, Tanit, and Dido’s omen of good fortune, the horse. Tanit was Carthage’s patron deity, bestowing protection and good fortune upon it. She was a mother goddess, representing fertility, love, the moon, stars and sky, cycles of life, strength, abundance and much more. Tanit was worshipped throughout North Africa, Spain, Malta, Sardinia and Rome but her most well known temples were found in Carthage itself. Her bust closely resembles coins which were produced by Carthage’s nemesis in Sicily; Syracuse, which depict their own deities such as the nymph Arethusa. It should be said that these coins of Syracuse have been identified by numismatists as being the very pinnacle of ancient art, unsurpassed until at least the nineteenth century, so this is a proud numismatic heritage to speak of. Tanit wears a wreath of grain, referencing fertility and abundance. Her neutral facial expression is said to denote nobility and a transcendence of earthly concerns, just like the Greek coins from which she is modeled. According to Carthage’s enemies, this beauty and divine wonder was underpinned by a much darker side. Ancient writers say that zealous Carthaginians gladly gave their children’s lives as sacrifices to honour their patron goddess, Tanit, and her consort Baal-Hamon. Nowadays, however, these claims have been questioned as ancient attempts to paint the Carthaginians in a bad light although it is still a possibility. This being as it may be, Tanit’s status as the primary deity of ancient Carthage is undeniable. The choice of a horse as her counterpart on Carthage’s gold staters too shows the significance which they gave to this majestic animal. To the Carthaginians it may have been a proud representation of their foundation story, a subject which was commonly depicted on coins of the ancient city-states. However, because the myth was recounted by a later Roman writer named Justin, its uncertain whether or not the Carthaginians knew of it. Another interpretation of the horse is that it refers to the military purpose of the staters. On some Carthaginian coins the horse is shown with the goddess of victory, Nike, who holds a wreath and a caduceus. The wreath was a symbol given to victors in contests and battles and so the horse may represent the military might and success of Carthage. Military success, though, in the ancient world required money and a lot of it. 

Weathering the storm

The wars in Sicily against Syracuse and beyond required huge resources and over time Carthage’s gold staters contained more and more silver. From 320 B.C. they have been classed as electrum which is a mixture of silver and gold. A further draw on resources came when North Africa was invaded by Agathocles of Syracuse in 310-307 B.C.. Agathocles sought to subdue Carthage and use its wealth to fund his wars. Allied with Libyans and Berbers, Carthage was able to see off Agathocles and continued to prosper until it came into conflict with a new enemy, then just a small city-state on the Tiber River in Italy; Rome. While the electrum staters ceased to be produced in around 280 B.C., their designs remained the staple of Carthage’s coinage right until the bitter end. Carthage would soon, in 264 B.C., embark on a series of three wars with Rome, known as the Punic Wars (deriving from the Phoenician word for the citizens of Carthage and in Latin reading Punicus), which would ultimately spell disaster and utter destruction for this once great city-state. Not even the efforts of one of their most famous names, the distinguished general, Hannibal Barca, could save them. After the loss of the first Punic War in 241 B.C. Carthage’s treasury was so depleted that it was reduced to coining debased silver and over-valued bronze coins. Under the terms of the treaty devised by Rome, Carthage had to pay 1,000 talents of gold immediately, plus another 2,000 talents over the next decade, amounting to an eye-watering 78,000 kilograms of bullion, or some 8.3 million gold staters! The second Punic War was meted out between 218B.C. and 201 B.C. and again Carthage was overcome. This time Rome stripped Carthage of its hard-fought colonies, denied it of its navy and forced it to pay another huge indemnity. 

Carthago delenda est

By the time of the third Punic War of 149 B.C. to 146 B.C. Rome had come to the end of its tether. Its elite came to believe that only total annihilation of Carthage could ensure Rome’s security. It was in the build-up to this last and most famous phase of the wars that Roman Republican politician, Cato, ended all his speeches with the words; Carthago delenda est, ‘Carthage must be destroyed’. And so it was that the might of the Roman Republic came down on Carthage in the form of a three-year siege, beginning in 149 B.C. The city had a population estimated at 700,000 and the vast majority of them were wiped out. In the spring of 146 B.C the Romans launched their final assault and over seven days systematically destroyed the city and slay its inhabitants. Only on the last day was the order given by Rome’s commander, Scipio Aemillianus, to take prisoners. 50,000 citizens were rounded up to be sold into slavery. Carthage’s top-of-command, Hasdrubal, pleaded for his life and freedom. This was observed by his wife who cursed her husband and with her children walked into a temple engulfed with flames. The ancient historian, Polybius, was present at the final destruction of Carthage alongside Scipio and it’s said that; ‘Scipio, when he looked upon the city as it was utterly perishing and in the last throes of its complete destruction, is said to have shed tears and wept openly for his enemies.’. Such was the destruction that apparently not one stone was left on top of another. The site was cursed and according to a 19th century myth, sown with salt to prevent any crop ever growing there again. Despite this inglorious end and scornful treatment, a century after the war ended, Julius Caesar planned to rebuild Carthage as a Roman city but little work was done. Augustus revived the project in 29 B.C. and by the time of the Empire it had become one of the main cities of Roman Africa. It appears from the history books that Rome had a grudging respect for Carthage as confirmed by the Roman politician, Cicero, who wrote; ‘Carthage would never have held an empire for six hundred years had it not been governed with wisdom and statesmanship.’. Such sentiments developed into full-scale equanimity on 5 February 1985 in a symbolic peace treaty which was signed by the mayors of Rome and modern Carthage, 2,131 years after the war ended.

Jonathan Mann is a numismatist specializing in medieval British coinage and is a member of the British Numismatic Society. His experience comprises over a decade in the British coin trade, as well as a position at the UK’s leading coin auctioneer, Spink & Sons as their hammered coin specialist. Jon has also represented Mayfair auctioneer, Dix Noonan Webb as their rep in the north of England. One of his biggest claims to numismatic fame is being responsible for handling and cataloguing a gold sovereign of Henry VII which set a world record as the highest price ever achieved at auction for a Tudor coin; £372,000. Jon is also proud to have represented the finder of the 2014 Lenborough hoard of Anglo-Saxon coins, helping him and the landowner to achieve an award of £1.35m from the British Museum Treasure Valuation Committee.