Elaia in Asia Minor 4th-3rdCentBC Ancient Greek Coin Athena Corn-grain i49052

$125.00 $112.50

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Item: i49052

 

Authentic Ancient Coin of:

Greek city of

Elaia in  
Aiolis

 Bronze 10mm (1.16 grams) Struck circa 340-300 B.C.
Reference: Sear 4204; B.M.C. 17.125,4; SNG München 386-8; SNG Copenhagen 169-70
Head of

Athena
left, wearing crested Athenian helmet.
Corn-grain between two olive-branches.

A coastal town situated south-west of Pergamon, Elaia served 

as a port for its more important
neighbor during the time of the Pergamene 

Kingdom.

You are bidding on the exact item pictured, 

provided with a Certificate of Authenticity and Lifetime Guarantee of 

Authenticity.

Mattei Athena Louvre Ma530 n2.jpg
Athena 
or Athene (Latin:

Minerva
), 
also referred to as Pallas Athena, is the goddess of war, civilization, 
wisdom, strength, strategy, crafts, justice and skill in
Greek mythology
.
Minerva

Athena’s Roman incarnation, embodies similar attributes. Athena is also a shrewd 
companion of heroes
 
and the goddess
 
of heroic
 
endeavour. She is the
virgin
 
patron of Athens

The Athenians built the
Parthenon
 
on the Acropolis of her namesake city, Athens, in her honour (Athena Parthenos). 
Athena’s cult as the patron of Athens seems to have existed from the earliest 
times and was so persistent that archaic myths about her were recast to adapt to 
cultural changes. In her role as a protector of the city (polis), 
many people throughout the Greek world worshiped Athena as Athena Polias 
(“Athena of the city”).
Athens
 
and Athena bear etymologically connected names.


Elaea or Elaia (Greek:

Έλαία) was an ancient city of

Aeolis
,

Asia

, the port of

Pergamum

; the site is not precisely determined but is near

Zeytindağ

,

İzmir Province

, Turkey

.

According to the present text of

Stephanus of Byzantium

, it was also called Cidaenis (Greek: Κιδαινίς), 

and was founded by

Menestheus

but it seems likely that there is some error in the reading Cidaenis.

Strabo
places 

Elaea south of the river

Caicus

, 12 stadia from the river, and 120 stadia from Pergamum. The Caicus 

enters a bay, which was called

Elaiticus Sinus

, or the bay of Elaea. Strabo calls the bay of Elaea part of 

the bay of

Adramyttium

, but incorrectly. He has the story, which Stephanus has taken 

from him, that Elaea was a settlement made by Menestheus and the

Athenians
with 

him, who joined the war against Troy; but Strabo does not explain how it could 

be an Aeolian
 

city, if this story was true. Elaea minted coins, which bear the head and name 

of Menestheus. Some argue that these are some evidence of its Athenian origin; 

but others, including

William Smith

discount the connection.

Herodotus
 

(i. 149) does not name Elaea among the Aeolian cities. Strabo makes the bay of 

Elaea terminate on one side in a point called Hydra, and on the other in a 

promontory Harmatus; and he estimates the width between these points at 80 

stadia. Thucydides

(viii. 101) places Harmatus opposite to Methymna, from which, and 

the rest of the narrative, it is clear that he fixes Harmatus in a different 

place from Strabo. The exact site of Elaea seems to be uncertain.

William Martin Leake

, in his map, fixes it at a place marked Kliseli, on the 

road from the south to Pergamum.

Scylax

(p. 35),

Pomponius Mela

(i. 18),

Pliny

(v. 32), and

Ptolemy
(v. 

2), all of whom mention Elaea, do not help us to the precise place; all we learn 

from them is, that the Caicus flowed between

Pitane
and 

Elaea.

Elaea was located near the modern town of Zeytindağ, according to the

Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World

.

The name of Elaea occurs in the history of the kings of Pergamum. According 

to Strabo, from Livy
 

(xxxv. 13), travellers who would reach Pergamum from the sea, would land at 

Elaea. 

One of the passages of Livy shows that there was a small hill (tumulus) near 

Elaea, and that the town was in a plain and walled. Elaea was damaged by an 

earthquake in the reign of

Trajan
, at the 

same time that Pitane suffered.


Location of Aeolis within Anatolia
Aeolis or Aeolia or Aiolis was an area that comprised the west 
and northwestern region of
Asia Minorr
, mostly along the coast, and also several offshore islands 
(particularly Lesbos
), where the
Aeolian

Greek
city-states were located. Aeolis incorporated the southern parts of
Mysia
which 
bounded it to the north,
Ionia
to the 
south, and Lydia
 
to the east.

Geography

Aeolis was an ancient district on the western coast of
Asia Minor
. It extended along the
Aegean Sea
 
from the entrance of the
Hellespont
(now the
Dardanelles
) south to the
Hermus River
(now the Gediz River). It was named for the Aeolians, some of 
whom migrated there from
Greece
before 
1000 BC. Aeolis was, however, an ethnological and linguistic enclave rather than 
a geographical unit. The district often was considered part of the larger 
northwest region of Mysia.




Greek settlements in western Asia Minor, Aeolian area in dark red..

According to Homer’s
description,
Odysseus

after his stay with the
Cyclopes

reached the island of
Aeolia
, who provided him with the west wind
Zephyr
.

In early times, by the 8th century BC, the Aeolians’ twelve most important 
cities were independent, and formed a league (Dodecapolis):
Cyme
,
Larissa
(also called
Phriconis
),
Neonteichos
,
Temnus
, Cilla
,
Notion
,
Aegiroessa
,
Pitane
,
Aegae
,
Myrina
, Gryneion
, and Smyrna
.

The most celebrated of the cities was 
Smyrna
(modern
Izmir, Turkey
), but in 699 BC, Smyrna became part of an Ionian confederacy. 
The remaining cities were conquered by
Croesus
, king 
of Lydia
(reigned 
560-546 BC). Later they were held successively by the
Persians
,
Macedonians
,

Seleucids

Attalus III
, the last king of 
Pergamum
, bequeathed Aeolis to 
Aeolian city of Smyrna
Rome in 133 BC. Shortly afterward, it was 
made part of the Roman
province of Asia
. At the partition of the
Roman 
Empire

(395 AD), Aeolis was assigned to the East Roman (Byzantine) empire 
and remained under Byzantine rule until the early 15th century, when the
Ottoman Turks
occupied the area.

Natives of Aeolis

  • Autolycus of Pitane
  • Andriscus
  • Elias Venezis

   

    

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