Greek City of Abydos in Troas 300BC Artemis Lyre Ancient Greek Coin i34326

Item: i34326

Authentic Ancient

Coin of:

Greek city of Abydos (A Milesian colony on the shores
of the

Hellespont, opposite Sestos) in Troas

Bronze 17mm (4.63 grams) Struck circa 300-100 B.C.
Reference: Sear 4019; B.M.C. 17.5,48

Head of Artemis three-quarter face to left.
Lyre; A – B – Y / Δ – H in field.

You are bidding on the exact item pictured,

Authenticity.

The lyre (Greek:
λύρα) is a
stringed musical instrument
known for its use
in Greek

classical antiquity
and later. The word comes
from the
Greek
“λύρα” (lyra)
and the earliest reference to the word is the
Mycenaean Greek
ru-ra-ta-e, meaning
“lyrists”, written in
Linear B
syllabic script.
The earliest picture of a lyre with seven strings appears in the famous
sarcophagus
of
Hagia Triada
(a
Minoan
settlement in
Crete
). The sarcophagus was used during the
Mycenaean
occupation of Crete (1400 BC).
The recitations of the
Ancient Greeks
were accompanied
by lyre playing. The lyre of classical antiquity was ordinarily played by being
strummed with a plectrum
, like a
guitar
or a
zither
, rather than being plucked, like a

harp. The fingers of the free hand silenced the unwanted strings in
the chord. The lyre is similar in appearance to a small harp but with distinct
differences.

The word lyre can either refer specifically to a common
folk-instrument, which is a smaller version of the professional
kithara
and eastern-Aegean
barbiton
, or lyre can refer generally to
all three instruments as a family.

The term is also used
metaphorically
to refer to the work or skill of
a poet
, as in
Shelley’s
“Make me thy lyre, even as the forest
is”
or Byron’s
“I wish to tune my quivering lyre,/To
deeds of fame, and notes of fire”

Artemis was one of
the most widely venerated of the Ancient Greek deities. Some scholars believe
that the name, and indeed the goddess herself, was originally pre-Greek. Homer
refers to her as Artemis Agrotera,
Potnia Theron
< Artemis of the wildland,
Mistress of Animals”. In the classical period of
Greek mythology
, Artemis (Greek:
(nominative)
Ἄρτεμις, (genitive)
Ἀρτέμιδος) was often
described as the daughter of

Zeus and Leto
, and the twin sister of
Apollo
. She was the Hellenic goddess of the
hunt, wild animals, wilderness, childbirth, virginity and young girls, bringing
and relieving disease in women; she often was depicted as a huntress carrying a
bow and arrows. The deer
and the
cypress
were sacred to her. In later
Hellenistic times, she even assumed the ancient role of
Eileithyia
in aiding childbirth.

Artemis later became identified with
Selene
, a
Titaness
who was a Greek moon goddess,
sometimes depicted with a crescent moon above her head. She was also identified
with the Roman goddess
Diana
, with the
Etruscan
goddess
Artume
, and with the Greek or
Carian
goddess
Hecate
.

Abydos (Greek: Άβυδος), an ancient city of

Mysia
, in

Asia Minor

, situated at Nara Burnu or

Nagara Point

on the best harbor on the Asiatic shore of the

Hellespont
.

Across Abydos lies

Sestus

on the European side marking the shortest point in the

Dardanelles

, scarcely a mile broad. The strategic site has been a prohibited

zone in the twentieth century.

Hero and Leander

‘s story was been near Abydos.

Abydos was first mentioned in the catalogue of Trojan allies (Iliad

ii.836). It probably was a

Thracian
town,

as Strabo
has

it, but was afterwards colonized by

Milesians
,

with the consent of

Gyges, king of Lydia

, around 700 BC. It was occupied by the Persians in

514 BC

, and Darius

burnt it in

512

. Here

Xerxes

built two bridges of boats and crossed the strait in

480 BC
when he

invaded Greece

.

Abydos thereafter became a member of the

Delian League

, until it revolted from Athenian rule in

411 BC
.^[2]

It allied itself to

History of Sparta

, until

394 BC
; King

Agesilaus

of Sparta crossed here while returning to Greece. Abydos then passed under

Achaemenid

rule, until

334 BC
.

Alexander the Great

threw a spear to Abydos while crossing the strait and

claimed Asia as his own.

Abydos is celebrated for the vigorous resistance it made against

Philip V of Macedon

in

200 BC
,^[3]

and is famed in myth as the home of

Leander

. It minted coins from the early fifth century BC to the mid-third

century AD.

The town remained until late Byzantine times an important toll and customs

station of the Hellespont, its importance thereafter being transferred to the

Dardanelles

, after the building of the “Old Castles” by Sultan

Mehmet II

(c. 1456).