Sicilian Mosaic Part 12: Naxos and Leontinoi
Naxos was the first Greek city founded on Sicily. Today we take a look at its coins, as well as the coins of Leontinoi, founded by Naxos, and Catane.
Tag Archive for: Greece
Under the eyes of Artemis
The upcoming sale of Numismatica Genevensis SA on November 30, 2010 offers a unique gold stater struck by the citizens of Abydos. Here’s the story behind…
Greek mercenaries in Persian service
In auction 304, the Osnabrück auction house Künker offers a series of early Persian coins showing portraits of kings and satraps, including four of the enigmatic tetradrachms of Athenian type with small portraits or Aramaic lettering. They are likely to have been produced under Persian orders for paying Greek mercenaries.
Big price for an emergency coin
The city of Syracuse issued a marvelous gold coin during its war against the Carthaginians. A perfect specimen of this emission sold for 66.700 Euro during the last auction sale of Gorny & Mosch…
Helios, the Colossus of Rhodes – and the Rhodian tetradrachms
Ten Rhodians, ten ships, says an ancient proverb. It tells of the source of the riches of this island, which had one of the most important harbors of the ancient world. It was protected by the Colossus of Rhodes, a statue of Helios, who is also depicted on Rhodian coins.
And this is where Aristotle was wrong…
Aristotle, in his work on the structure of the Tarentine government, likewise described the coins of the city. He remarked that they depicted Taras, son of Poseidon, riding a dolphin. Was he right? Or is there another, more possible, option?
80,000 Euros for a work of two Sicilian die cutters
For an impressive amount of money some extraordinary Greek coins were auctioned at Gorny & Mosch’s, Giessener Münzhandlung on October 10. One of them is a remarkable tetradrachm from Syracuse whose story you will read here…
A King Named Teutamados
Beyond his name, there’s very little known about Teutamados. What we do have, however, is a splendid tetradrachm minted for him. Based on this, he was evidently a Paionian ruler.
The Delian League and the Athenian Money
In 479 BC the Greeks defeated the Persians at Plataiai. At that time nobody dared to hope that the fight was so soon to end. On the contrary, every Greek city was afraid of the Persian king, who had vast resources at his disposal. He was feared to raise another army in order to conquer the whole of Greece. Something had to be done to prevent that.
Human Faces Part 2: Athena and Athens
Why is it that for centuries – or rather thousands of years – the head has served as the motif for the side of a coin? And why has this changed in the last 200 years? Ursula Kampmann poses these questions in her book ‘MenschenGesichter,’ from which the texts for our new series are taken.
