Historia numorum; a manual of Greek numismatics online

HISTORIA NUMORUM



HEAD



HENRY FROWDE




Oxford University Press Warehouse
Amen Corner, E.G.



HISTORIA NUMORUM



A MANUAL



OF



GREEK NUMISMATICS



BARCLAY V. HEAD

ASSISTANT-KEEPER OF THE DEPARTMENT OF COINS AND MEDALS
IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM.




AT THE CLARENDON PRESS

1887



\All rights reserved \






o



cP



MEMORIAE



lOSEPHI • ECKHEL



SCIENTIAE . NVMORVM â–  VETERVM



INSIGNIS - MAGISTRI



D- D- D



C O N T E N T 8.



PREFACE .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

USTTRODUCTION



PAGE

xiii



§ I. Primitive methods of Exchange by Barter .
§ 2. The Metric Systems of the Egyptians, Babylonians, and
Assyrians ......

§ 3. Tlie Phoenician Traders ....

§ 4. The Lydians ......

§ 5. The Invention of Coinage in Lydia

§ 6. The Babylonic and Phoenician Silver ]Minae

§ 7. Derivation of Coin-weights . . .

§ 8. Transmission of Weight Standards from Asia to Europe by

four principal I'outes
§ 9. Further transmission of Weight Systems to Italy, Sicily
and the West

Greek Coin-types

Symbols

The Chronological Classification of Coins by sty

Inscriptions on Autonomous and Regal Coins

Magistrates' names on Autonomous and Imperial Coins

Public Games and Sacred Festivals .

Titles and Epithets applied to Cities

Alliance Coins

Colonial Coins



§ 10.
§11.
§ 12.
§ 13-
§ 14-
§ 15-
§16.

§ 17.

§18.

§ 19-



Dated Coins



NOTANDA
COERIGENDA

EUROPE

HISPANIA

GALLIA

BRITANNIA

ITALY .

ETRURIA



XXVlll

xxxi
xxxii
xxxiii

XXXV

xxxvi



xlix

Ivi

lix

lix

Ixiii

Ixiv

Ixviii

Ixxiii

Ixxvii

Ixxvii

Ixxviii

Ixxx

Ixxx

I
I

7

9

10

10



CONTENTS.



UiMBKIA .

PICEXUM .

LATIUM

SAMNIUM .

FRENTANI

CAMPANIA

APULIA

CALABEIA

LUCANIA .

BBUTTIUM

SICILY .

MACEDON

A. PANGAEAN DISTEICT

B. EMATHIAN DISTRICT

C. BISALTIAN DISTRICT

D. CHALCIDICE ....

E. STRYMONIAN AND BOTTIAEAN DISTRICTS

F. KINGS OF MACEDON

G. KINGS OF PAEONIA

H. MACEDON UNDER THE ROMANS

THRACE

I. SOUTHERN COAST

K. THRACIAN CHERSONESUS

L. ISLANDS OF THRACE

M. EUROPEAN COAST OF THE PROPONTIS

N. THE DANUBIAN DISTRICT

O. TAUEIC CHERSONESUS .

P. THRACIAN KINGS AND DYNASTS

Q. INLAND CITIES OF THRACE .

R. KINGS OF THE SCYTHIANS

THESSALY

ISLANDS ADJACENT TO THESSALY

ILLYRIA

KINGS OF ILLYRIA ....
ISLANDS OF ILLYRIA ....
ILLYRIO-EPIROTE SILVER COINAGE

EPIRU.S

KINGS OF EPIRUS ....

EPIROTE REPUBLIC ....

CORCYRA

ACARNANIA

FEDERAL COINAGE OF ACARNANIA

AETOLIA



PAGE
17
19
20

24
25
25
36
42

57
75

99

169

174
176
178
181
190

193

207
208

213
213

222
225
229

233
237
239
244
245
246
264

265
267
268
2O9

269

272
274

275
278
282

283



CONTENTS.










ix




PAGE


LOCRIS


285


LOCEI OPUNTII (ePICNEMIDII)










285


LOCKI OZOLAE ....










286


PHOCIS










287


BOEOTIA










291


EUBOEA










301


ATTICA ......










309


MEGARIS










329


AEGINA










331


CORINTHIA










334


COLONIES OF CORINTH










340


PELOPONNESUS ...










342


PHLIASIA .....










344


SICTONIA










345


ACHAIA










347


ACHAEAN LEAGUE










350


ACHAIA (Roman Province) .










352


ELIS .....










353


ISLANDS OFF ELIS










358


MESSENIA










361


LACONIA










363


ISLANDS OFF LACONIA










365


AEGOLIS .....










366


AECADIA .....










372


CRETE










382


ISLANDS OF THE AEGEAN SEA (CYCLADES AND SPORADES)


407


ASIA




422


BOSPORUS




422


COLCHIS




423


PONTUS




423


KINGS OF PONTUS, AND OF PONTUS "WITH BOSPOKUS




427


KINGS OF THE CIMMEEIAN BOSPOEUS .




430


PAPHLAGONIA




431


BITHYNIA




436


KINGS OF BITHYNIA




444


MYSIA .... <^r(VCoayi la^VfU^ rK. (/ w rVj^


^46


THE CISTOPHOEI .


461


TROAS


467


TENEDOS ..........


475


AEOLIS










478



CONTENTS.



LESBOS

HECATONNESi (Islands near Lesbos)

IONIA

SATEAPAL COINAGE IN IONIA
ISLANDS OF IONIA

CARIA .

DYNASTS OF CAEIA
ISLANDS OFF CAKIA

LYDIA .

PHRYGIA

LYCIA

PAMPHYLIA .

PISIDIA .

LYCAONIA

CILICIA WITH ISAURIA

ELAEUSA, ISLAND ADJACENT TO CILICIA
KINGS OF CILICIA

CYPRUS .

GALATIA

KINGS OF GALATIA

CAPPADOCIA

KINGS OF CAPPADOCIA

CAPPADOCIA (Roman Province) .

ARMENIA

KINGS OF ARMENIA

KINGS OF THE REGIONS ABOUT ARMENIA

SYRIA .

THE SELEUCID KINGS

COMMAGENE

CYRRHESTICA .

CHALCIDICE

CHALCIDENE

PALMY RENE

SELEUCIS AND PIERIA

COELE-SYRIA

THACIIONITIS

DECAPOLIS

PHOENICIA

GALILAEA .

SAMARIA .

JUDAEA

Kings, Princes, and Konian I'rocurator.s ut Judaea



kw^-*^



483
488

489
512
513

519
533
534

544

556

571
581
588
595

597
618
618

620

628
628

631
631

633

635
635
636

637
637
652

654
655
655
656
656
662
663
664
665
676
678
679
68 1



CONTENTS.



XI



AKABIA .

KINGS OF NABATHAEA
CITIES OF ARABIA PETKAEA
ARABIA FELIX .

MESOPOTAMIA

BABYLONIA .

ASSYRIA

PARTHIA

ARSACIDAE

PERSIS .
SASSANIDAE •
CHARACENE, &c. .
PERSIA (achaemenidae)
/ BACTRIA AND INDIA



y



SICIIiY



AFRICA ....

EGYPT . . • •

^ THE PTOLEMIES .

GREEK CITIES OF EGYPT
THE NOMES OF EGYPT

ETHIOPIA ....

^CYRENAICA • ■ • •

LIBYA

SYRTICA . • • •

BYZACENE ....

/ ZEUGITANA ....

ISLANDS BETWEEN AFRICA AND

^ NUMIDIA . . . â– 

KINGS OF NUMIDIA
CITIES OF NUMIDIA .

/mauretania

KINGS OF MAUEETANIA
CITIES OF MAUEETANIA



INDEXES

I. GEOGRAPHICAL
II. KINGS AND DYNASTS .
III. REMARKABLE INSCRIPTIONS
(a) GEEEK

(P) LATIN, ETEUSCAN, &C. .
(y) PHOENICIAN, AEAMAIC, PUNIC, AND HEBEEW



\



c-



PAGE
685
685

686
687

688

690

690

691
691

696

697

697

698

701



711
711

718

722

724
725
735
735
736

737

743

744
744
745
746
746
747

751
751
759
763

763

774
774



CONTENTS.





PAGE


IV. TITLES AND EPITHETS OF CITIES and MENTIONS OF SITES 776


(«) GEEEK


. • . . 776


(^) LATIN


780


V. MAGISTERIAL TITLES


782


(0) GBEEK


782


(3) LATIN


. . . . 784


VI. ENGRAVEES' NAMES


785


VII. INDEX RERUM ....


786



Table of Weights
Table of Measurements



806
808



PLATES OF ALPHABETS.

I. Etruscan, Umbeian, Sabellian, Oscan, anb Latin.
II. Greek Earlier, Greek Later, and Lycian.

III. Cypriote.

IV. Phoenician Earlier and Later, Punic Earlier and
Later, Israelite Earlier and Later, Aramaic (Satrap
Coins).

V. Arian Pali (Bactrian Coins).



PREFACE.



In few departments of historical research has more advance been
made within the last half-century than in Greek Numismatics, and in
none perhaps is it more difficult for the student to gain access to the
papers, scattered up and down the pages of the publications of learned
societies, which deal with the subject. The time is fast approaching
when Greek Archaeology and Numismatics will take their due place, too
long denied them, in the curriculum of study at our English and American
Universities. It has therefore become incumbent upon the few who in
this and other countries hold the key of knowledge, to pause for an
interval to take stock of their possessions, to count their gains and
arrange and classify the mass of new material which has been accumu-
lated in years of patient enquiry, to eliminate the ore from the dross, of
which there is no small quantity, and to piece together for the benefit of
younger students the scattered fragments of truth which their predeces-
sors and contemporaries have been at the pains of collecting.

The last thorough retrospect of the science with which we are now
called upon to deal was Eckhel's monumental work Loctrina mimornm
retenim, published at Vienna during the closing years of the last century,
a marvellous compendium of wide research and profound erudition, a work
which can never be altogether superseded, and which the Numismatist
may always consult with advantage for the first principles of the science
of his predilection. But since Eckhel's time much has been accomplished ;
whole fields of study of which Eckhel was entirely ignorant have
been opened up and explored, and hoards upon hoards of ancient coins
have been brought to light, such for instance as the electrum staters of
Cyzicus, of which at the present time no fewer than 1 50 varieties are
known, though not one single specimen had ever come under Eckhel's
observation, a circumstance which led him to doubt the evidence of the
ancient writers and seriously to dispute the fact that such coins had ever
existed {Prolegomena, p. 42). Other series such as those of Elis and of
Corinth, although known to Eckhel, were wrongly attributed by him,
the former to Faleria in Etruria, the latter to Syracuse. Eckhel
again had never seen a gold stater of Athens and disbelieved in the
genuineness of the few specimens which had been described by others.
Hence the following statement, startling as it now appears in the light
of our fuller knowledge, concerning the coinage of Cyzicus, Phocaea,
Corinth, and Athens, was by Eckhel's disciples accepted as the final
decision of the master : — 'At ne horum quidem populorum vel unus repertus



xiv PREFACE.



est aureus et Corinthiorum quidem nullum omnino habemus numum
certum ex quocunque metallo antequam romanam coloniam recepissent.'

Passing from Greece to the East, we find Eckhel's work all but
useless to the student. The Lycian, the Cypriote, the Arian and Indian
Pali alphabets and syllabaries were absolutely unknown in Eckhel's
time. All these and many other series of coins, some now thoroughly,
and others as yet but partially investigated, were, in the beginning of
the present century still silent witnesses to the history of a dead past,
lying undiscovered, though fortunately uninjured by the lapse of ages
in the safe keeping of that mother-earth to whom they had been com-
mitted more than two thousand years ago.

I have still to mention two very important subjects concerning which
the author of the Boctnna was very imperfectly acquainted : (i) The history
of the development of Greek art, and (ii) Metrology. With regard to the
first it is only indeed within quite recent years that archaeologists have
been aware of any strict scientific basis of criticism for determining the
exact age of works of ancient art. Archaeology as a science can hardly
be said to have existed in the last century. There was little or nothing
in the nature of things which precluded the possibility of assigning almost
any uninscribed coin, within certain limits, to almost any age. All this
is now changed, and we may approach the study of Greek Numismatics
armed with at least a 2:eneral knowledge of the laws which hold ijood in
the growth, the development, and the decay of Greek art. Numismatics
and Epigraphy have been of immense assistance in determining these
fixed laws of criticism, and it is now a matter of no great difiiculty for
the experienced Numismatist to place a coin within certain definite
temporal and local limits often surprisingly narrow. It is thus possible
with a tolerably complete series of the coins of any one city at our dis-
posal to arrange them in the order in which they were issued, and so to
reconstruct the numismatic history of the town. How much light may
be thrown upon the dark spaces of political history by a series of coins
classified and duly arranged in order of date can only be fully appreciated
by those who are familiar with the science of numismatics and accus-
tomed to handle and study minutely the money of the ancients.

One of the distinctive features of the present work is an attempt to set
forth clearly the chronological sequence of the various series, and thus to
build up in outline the history of the ancient world as it existed from the
seventh century before our era down to the closing years of the third
century a.d., a space of nearly a thousand years. If in some districts this
historical outline is ot" the barest and most fragmentary kind, it will
generally be found that this is due to the absence of numismatic evidence.
Wherever coins arc at hand in any (juantities, there we have authentic
documents on which to work. However rash therefore and tentative
some of my chronological hypotheses may be thought to lie b}' more
cautions numismatists, I have preferred to sid)mit such juduuients as T



PBEFACE. XV



may perhaps sometimes too hastily have formed, to the criticism of all
who are competent to give an opinion on these matters rather than to
shield "ovj ignorance under the convenient cloak of silence. I shall be
only too glad if any errors into which I may have fallen may serve to
call forth discussion and so to elicit the full truth.

Next, as regards Metrology, Eckhel was perfectly justified in refusing
to discuss the subject in detail in his great work. Much, it is true, had
been written about the weights of ancient coins before Eckhel's time, but
scarcely anything of solid and permanent value. ' Fatendum est etiam,' he
says {Trokcjomena, p. 34), ' multa esse adhuc in hac causa dubia atque
incerta, multa Cimmeriis adhuc noctibus involuta, quod satis ex erudi-
torum litibus atque dissidiis apparet.' The true reason why it was not
possible at that time to draw any inferences from the weights of Greek
coins was also duly appreciated by Eckhel, who however does not seem
to have anticipated that this then valid reason would not ahvays apply.
So long as it was impossible to assign definite dates to the various issues
of cities of the ancient world, so long were all metrological theories vague
and worthless, as he most justly remarks, ' arduam tamen is sibi provin-
ciam imponet qui volet monetae argenteae v. g. Syracusanorum, pondere
mirum difFerentis certam secum rationem reperire. Tempora, inquies,
esse distinguenda, atque aliis aliud pondus adsignandum. At enim quis
noverit haec apte tempora distinguere ? ' Not Eckhel himself, much less the
metrological writers of his own and the preceding century. Now however
this is happily no longer the case, and the metrologists of the nineteenth
century, Eoeckh 1838, Queipo 1859, Mommsen 1865, Brandis 1866,
Lenormant 1878, Bortolotti 1878, and Hultsch 1864 and 1882, have, in
the light of their fuller knowledge of the exact dates of the coins on which
their theories are based, placed the science of ancient numismatic metro-
logy at last on a firm footing. It can no longer be maintained that this
branch of our subject is shrouded in ' Cimmerian darkness â– " ; the night
has at last broken and we are beginning to see well enough to feel our way.
It is true that much still remains to be done, and all is not quite clear,
and it is doubtless possible that before many years have passed those
portions of the present work which deal with the origin and extension of
the various systems of weight will need careful revision or may have to
be entirely re-written. I am quite ready to admit that many of my
opinions are hypothetical, and that some of my inferences may be based
upon insufiicient data. Further discoveries may confirm or modify my
views on many points which are now obscure. My introductory chapters
on metrology will perhaps be accepted as they are intended merely as
plausible theories. This portion of my Manual may therefore be passed
over by those who look only for facts, of which I trust a sufficient abun-
dance will be found in the body of the work.

One word more with regard to the scope and intention of the present
Manual. In the first place it lays no claim to be a complete ' Corpus ' of



xvi PREFACE.



Greek coins. The time has not yet arrived for such a colossal undertak-
ing, nor will it, I fear, ever be possible for a single student, by his own
unaided efforts, to compile such a work. When the great Cnfalnr/ue of
(he Greek coins in the Brilish Museum is completed, and when the French
and German Museums have followed the example set by England and
have published full catalogues of all their coins, then and not till then
will the task be feasible, if competent scholars can be induced to under-
take it. Meanwhile Mionnet's voluminous work in fifteen volumes,
Description de Medailles antiques grecqnes et romaines, Paris, 1807-1837,
will, in spite of its many inaccuracies, continue to hold the field as, longo
intervallo, the nearest approach to a complete if not to a scientific Corpus.

In the second place this Manual is not a general treatise or series of
essays like Lenormant's valuable and suggestive, though alas ! unfinished,
work, La Monnaie dans P Antiqiiife, Paris, 1878-9, 3 vols.

My aim has been to produce a practical handbook in a single portable
volume containing in a condensed form a sketch of the numismatic history
of nearly every city, king, or dynast, known to have struck coins
throughout the length and breadth of the ancient world. I do not
attempt to provide a complete catalogue of all the known coins of any
city, nor even to describe in minute detail the specimens which I have
found space to mention. Either course would have involved the addition
of at least a second volume, and the scope and object of the work would
not have been the same. All that I have found it possible to accomplish
in a Manual of moderate size has been to draw attention to the leading
and most characteristic coin-types of each city and king, as far as possible
in chronological order, taking care to distinguish the dialectic forms of
the ethnic noun or adjective, to note the metrological standards in use in
the various periods, the local myths, and the names and epithets of the
deities chiefly revered in each locality, and to indicate remarkable palaeo-
graphical peculiarities, in so far as this could be done without having
special types cut for the purpose, which would have necessitated a large
addition to the price of the volume. In the Imperial period I have
endeavoured to give the titles, though not the names, of all the local
magistrates, and the names of the chief religious festivals and public
srames, and I have also been careful to note the local eras wherever the
coins bear dates.

In all those regions where I have thought it helpful to the student to
do so I have added a chronological conspectus of the coinage in a tabular
form, with the object of showing at a glance in what periods the several
cities struck money in gold, silver, or bronze. The four hundred engrav-
ings executed by one of the new mechanical photographic printing
processes will perhaps serve to give the reader a general idea of the
labric and style of many of the more remarkable specimens, but the
numismatist who would study them in greater detail must have recourse
to iny (juide lo lite go/d and si/cer coins of the Ancients, London, 1881, to



PREFACE.



XVII



Professor Gardner's valuable work T/ie Tijpes of Greek coins, Cambrido-e,
1882, to the Plates of the Numistnatic Chronicle, and to the volumes of the
British Museum Catalogue of Greek coins, where the autotype process (the
only thoroughly reliable method of reproducing ancient coins) will enable
him to ap23reciate delicacies of treatment which it is at present impossible
to indicate by means of cuts inserted in the text, which last however
^ possess the advantage of greater convenience than plates at the end of
Pt the volume. The vexed question of the best mode of spelling Greek
/ names I have not attempted to solve. Any system carried out with un-
deviating consistency can hardly fail to lead to unsatisfactory or pedantic
and sometimes even to absurd results. I have therefore preferred to be
a little inconsistent, but have adhered as much as possible to the following
rule. For all names of cities, kings, and dynasts, I have chosen the Latin
spelling, as the Greek would have involved an alphabetical arrangement
different from that which has been generally adopted in numismatic works
and in the coin-cabinets of all the great museums of Europe. The names
of the Greek divinities, heroes, and other mythological personages, on the
other hand, I have kept approximately in their original Greek forms, as
Zeus, Kybele, Odysseus, instead of Jupiter, Cybele, Ulysses, but I have
never ventured upon such ugly and unnecessary transliterations as
Odusseus or Akhilleus.

At the end of the volume after the necessary Indexes will be found
five plates of alphabetical forms, which will I trust prove to be of some
use to young students. These I have compiled partly from the coins and
partly from the following sources: — Lenormant's article 'Alphabet' in
Daremherg and Saglio's Dictionary/, Lenormant's Essai sur la Propagation de
V alphaljet j)1iSnicien, KirchhofF's Studien ziir GescJiichte des griecliischen Alplia-
hets, Isaac Taylor's Tlie Aljiliabet, S. Reinach's Traite d^ ilpigraj)Me grecqtie,
Part II, Savelsberg's Beitrcige zur Entziffcrung der Lyhisclien Sprachdenkmdler,
J. P. Six's Plate of the Cyprian syllabary in his Series Cypriotes, and
Gardner's Table of Arian and Indian Pali characters in his Catalogue
of the Coins of the Greek and Scythic kings of India.

In conclusion, I have to return my sincere thanks to my friends and
colleagues, Professor P. Gardner, Mr. H. A. Grueber, and Mr. Warwick
Wroth, for the great assistance they have rendered me in the correction
of the proof-sheets. I have also to acknowledge the many valuable hints
which Professor W. M. Ramsay has from time to time been kind enough
to give me in those portions of my work which deal with the Imperial
issues of Phrygia and the southern coast of Asia Minor.

My indebtedness to Dr. Imhoof-Blumer is, I fear, but inadequately
attested by the many references to his works, citations which, numerous
as they are, should have been still more frequent. MM. Rollin and
Feuardent have likewise rendered me an invaluable service by most liber-
ally placing at my disposal the volumes of the late Mr. M. Borrell's
carefully compiled MS. Catalogue of Greek coins.

b



xviii PREFACE.



For the rest, I commit my book to the kindly judgment of numisma-
tists, not without much misgiving and an inward consciousness of its many
shortcomings and of the countless errors which in spite of all my strivings
after accuracy of detail cannot fail to have crept into its pages.

I shall be only too grateful to those who may have occasion to make
use of it, if they will draw my attention to any mistakes which may come
under their observation. These will, I fear, be more in number than I
care to anticipate, but I console myself with the reflection that I have
done my best, and with the well-worn French proverb, Le viienx est Vennemi
du bien.

BARCLAY V. HEAD.
September, r886.



BIBLIOGRAPHY.

A COMPLETE bibliography of Greek Numismatics would doubtless be a most
interesting compilation, but from a practical standpoint fully three -fourths of it
would probably be useless. As space is valuable, I have only thought it necessary
to mention (a) those works which I have myself had most frequent occasion to
use or refer to in the course of my numismatic studies, and especially in the
preparation of the present work. To these I have added one or two, such as
Garucci's recent folio on the coinage of ancient Italy, which have apjjeared since
this Manual has been in the Press. With the object of being as concise as jDossible,
I have taken the liberty of abbi'eviating some of the more lengthy titles, and I
have omitted many of the shorter, and what I have deemed less important, articles.
These will, however, be found without much difficulty by the student who will de-
vote a short time to the perusal of the Indexes of the various numismatic period-
icals (/3), such as the JVumismatic Chronicle, the Revue numismatique, the Zeitschrift
fur Numismatik, and others of which I have appended a short list (y). I have also
added a select number of Geographical, Mythological, Historical, Archaeological,
Metrological, and Epigraphical books (5), which will be most useful and indeed
generally indispensable to the numismatist.

(a) Numismatic Wobks.
Babelon (E.).

Monnaies royales in^dites. Rev. Num., 1883.

Monnaies cr^toises. Bev. Num., 1885.

Monnaies de la Cyr^naique. Rev. Num., 1885.

Monnaies de la Republique romaine. Faris, 1885.
Balirfeldt (M.) and Samwer (C). Geschichte des alteren romiscben Miinzwesens. Vienna,

1883.
Behr, Catalogue. See Lenormant (P.).
Beul^ (E-)- 1^63 monnaies d'Athfenes. Paris, 1S58.
Birch (S.). Articles in the Num. Ghron., Ser. I.

Blau (O.). De Nummis Achaemenidarum aramaeo-persicis. Leipzig, 1S55.
Bompois (F.).

Medailles grecques autonomes frapp^es dans la Cyr^naique. Paris, 1869.