Kyme in Aeolis 350BC EAGLE & VASE on Authentic Ancient Greek Coin i49490

Item: i49490

Authentic Ancient 

Coin of:

Greek city of

Aeolis
Bronze 10mm (0.91 grams) Struck circa 350 B.C.
Reference: Sear 4186; B.M.C. 17.106,20
Eagle standing right, wings closed.
K – Y on either side of one-handled vase.

By far the most important of the Aiolian coastal cities, Kyme was situated 
southwest of Myrina. For much of its history it was dominated by great powers –  Athens, the Hellenistic Kingdoms and, finally, Rome.

You are bidding on the exact item pictured, 

Authenticity.

Cyme (or Kymi, also: Phriconis, modern

Namurt) was an

ancient Greek

city in

Aeolis
(Asia 

Minor) close to the kingdom of

Lydia
. The

Aeolians
 

regarded Cyme as the largest and most important of their twelve cities, which 

were located on the coastline of

Asia Minor

(modern day

Turkey
). As a 

result of their direct access to the sea, unlike most non-landlocked settlements 

of the ancient world, trade is believed to have prospered. In his Histories,

Herodotus
 

makes reference to Cyme (or Phriconis) as being one of the cities in which the 

rebel Lydian governor Pactyes sought refuge, following his attempted rebellion 

against the Persian King

Cyrus the Great

:

Pactyes, when he learnt that an army was already on his tracks and near, 

took fright and fled to Cyme, and

Mazares
 

the Mede marched to

Sardis
with 

a detachment of Cyrus’ troops. Finding Pactyes and his supporters and his 

supporters gone, the first thing he did was to compel the Lydians to carry 

out Cyrus’ orders — as a result of which they altered from that moment their 

whole way of life; he then sent a demand to Cyme that Pactyes should be 

surrendered, and the men of the town decided to consult the oracle at

Branchidae

as to whether they should obey…The messengers returned home 

to report, and the citizens of Cyme were prepared in consequence to give up 

the wanted man.

//

 Location

Both the author of the ‘life of

Homer
‘ and

Strabo
the 

ancient geographer, locate Cyme north of the Hermus river on the Asia Minor 

coastline, modern day Namurt Limani

After crossing the

Hyllus
, the 

distance from Larissa to Cyme was 70 stadia, and from Cyme to Myrina was 40 

stadia. (Strabo: 622)

Archaeological finds such as coins give reference also to a river, believed 

to be that of the Hyllus

.

 Early 

history

Little is known about the foundation of the city to supplement the 

traditional founding legend. Settlers from mainland Greece (most likely

Euboea
) 

migrated across the

Aegean Sea
 

during the Late Bronze Age as waves of Dorian-speaking invaders brought an end 

to the once mighty

Mycenaean

civilisation some time around 1050 BC. During the Late Bronze Age 

and early Greek Dark Ages the dialect of Cyme and the surrounding region of 

Aeolis, like that of neighboring island Lesbos closely resembled the local 

dialect of Thessalia and Boetia.

Culturally however the citizens of Cyme considered themselves of Ionian 

descent. An

Ionic dialect

is believed to have been the local language and would have 

given rise to the famous

Cumae alphabet

that is believed to have originated in or near Cyme. 

Archaeologists believe Kyme was already inhabited by

Pelasgians
 

prior to the Euboean arrival:

Around 950 every tribe had settled down in its own territory. They 

co-existed beside each other, but never formed a nation… they even almost 

never felt as one nation. There would always be a strong contrast between 

the different groups, especially between the

Ionians
 

and the Dorians. The

Ionians
 

arrived in Hellas around 1600 and mixed with the original inhabitants while 

the Dorians
 

arrived 500 years later and enslaved them, without learning anything from 

their culture. The

Dorians
 

valued their system of tribes and remained isolated as Sparta would show 

later on, while the

Ionians
 

valued art, science and individualism which were the cornerstones of

Athens
.

The colony was founded during the Greek Dark Ages by settlers from Locris in 

central Greece who began by reducing the Pelasgian citadel of Larisa near the 

river Hermus

Cyme developed into a regional metropolis to some thirty other towns and 

settlements in Aeolis. The Cymeans were later ridiculed as a people who had for 

three hundred years lived on the coast and not once exacted harbor taxes on 

ships making port. Hesiod’s father is said to have started his journey across 

the Aegean from Cyme. The cities of southern Aeolis in the region surrounding 

Cyme occupied a good belt of land with rough mountains in the background yet 

Cyme like other colonies along the coast did not trade with the native 

Anatolians further inland who had occupied Asia Minor for thousands of years. 

Cyme consequently played no significant role in the history of western Asia 

Minor prompting the historian Ephorus, himself a native of the city, to comment 

repeatedly in his narrative of Greek history that while the events he wrote 

about were taking place his fellow Cymeans had for centuries sat idly by and 

kept the peace.

Politically, Cyme is assumed to have started as a settler democracy following 

in the tradition of other established colonies in the region although Aristotle 

concluded that by the 7th and 6th centuries BC the once great democracies in the 

Greek world (including Cyme) evolved not from democracies to oligarchies as was 

the natural custom but from democracies to tyrannies.

Cyme was an important settlement long before the prominent events of the 

Greco-Persian wars. Evidence has pointed to Cyme establishing itself not as a 

democracy but rather a monarchy under King Agamemnon of Cyme who supposedly 

married his daughter to King Midas of Lydia

 5th 

Century BC

By the 5th century BC, Cyme was one of the 12 established Ionian colonies in 

Aeolis. 

Herodotus (4.138) mentions that one of the esteemed voters deciding whether or 

not to support Militiades the Athenian in his plan to liberate the Ionian Coast 

from Persian rule in (year BC) was Aristagoras of Cyme. Aristagorus campaigned 

on the side of Histiaeus the Milesian with the tyrants Strattis of Chios, Aeaces 

of Samos and Laodamas of Phocaea in opposing such an initiative arguing instead 

that each tyrant along the Ionian Coast owed their position to Darius King of 

Persia and that liberating their own cities would encourage democracy over 

tyranny. Cyme eventually came under the control of the

Persian Empire

following the collapse of the

Lydian Kingdom

at the hands of Cyrus the Great.

Herodotus
 

is the principal source for this period in Greek history and has paid a great 

deal of attention to events taking place in Ionia and Aeolis.

When Pactyes, the Lydian general sought refuge in Cyme from the

Persians

the citizens were between a rock and a hard place. As

Herodotus
 

records, they consulted the Greek god

Apollo
 

(supporting the claim that they were of Ionic not eastern culture), who said 

after much confusion through an oracle that he should be handed over. However a 

native of Cyme questioned Apollo’s word and went back to the oracle himself to 

confirm if indeed Apollo

wanted the Cymians to surrender Pactyes. Not wanting to come to grief 

over the surrender of Pactyes, nor wanting the ill-effects of a Persian siege 

(confirms Cyme was a fortified city capable of self defence) they avoided 

dealing with the Persians by simply sending him off to

Mytilene
on 

the island of Lesbos

, not far from their city.

After the Persian naval defeat at Salamis, Xerxes moored the surviving ships 

at Cyme. Before 480 BC, Cyme had been the principle naval base for the Royal 

Fleet. 

Later accounts of Cyme’s involvement in the

Ionian Revolt

which triggered the Persian Wars confirm their allegiance to 

the Ionian Greek cause. During this time, Herodotus states that due to the size 

of the Persian army,

Darius the Great

was able to launch a devastating three-pronged attack on 

the Ionian cities. The third army which he sent north to take

Sardis
was 

under the command of his son-in-law

Otanes
who 

promptly captured Cyme and

Clazomenae

in the process. However later accounts reveal how Sandoces, the 

supposed Ionian governor of Cyme helped draft a fleet of fifteen ships for

Xerxes I

great expedition against mainland Greece c. 480 BC. Cyme is also 

believed to have been the port in which the Persian survivors of the

Battle of Salamis

wintered and lends considerable weight to the argument 

that Cyme was not only well served by defensive walls, but enjoyed the benefits 

of a large port capable of wintering and supplying a large wartime fleet. As a 

result, Cyme, like most Ionian cities at the time was a maritime power and a 

valuable asset to the Persian Empire.

Once Aristagoras

of

Miletus
 

roused the Ionians to rebel against

Darius
, Cyme 

joined the insurrection. However, the revolts at Cyme were quelled once the city 

was recovered by the

Persians

. 

Sandoces, the governor of Cyme at the time of

Xerxes

, commanded fifteen ships in the Persian military expedition against 

Greece (480 BC). Herodotus believes that Sandoces may have been a Greek. 

After the

Battle of Salamis

, the remnants of Xerxes’s fleet wintered at Cyme. 

Thucydides does not provide any significant mention of place is hardly more than 

mentioned in the history of

Thucydides
.

 Roman 

and Byzantine eras

Polybius
 

records that Cyme obtained freedom from taxation following the defeat of

Antiochus III

, later being incorporated into

Roman
 

Asia province. 

During the reign of

Tiberius
, 

the city is believed to have suffered from a great earthquake, common in the 

Aegean. 

Other Roman sources such as

Pliny the Elder

mention Cyme as one of the cities of

Aeolia
 

which supports

Herodotus
‘ 

similar claim:

The above-mentioned, then, are the twelve towns of the Ionians. The 

Aeolic cities are the following:- Cyme, called also Phriconis,

Larissa
, 

Neonteichus,

Temnus

, Cilla
,

Notium

, Aegiroessa,

Pitane
, 

Aegaeae,

Myrina

, and Gryneia. These are the eleven ancient cities of the

Aeolians
. 

Originally, indeed, they had twelve cities upon the mainland, like the

Ionians
, 

but the Ionians

deprived them of

Smyrna
, one 

of the number. The soil of

Aeolis
is 

better than that of

Ionia
, but 

the climate is less agreeable.

Archaeological coinage exists from the Roman Imperial era from

Nero to

Gallienus
. 

The river god Hermos, horse with their forefoot raised and victorious athletes 

are typical symbols commonly found on period coinage minted at Cyme.

Later under the leadership of the

Eastern Roman Empire

, Cyme became a

bishop
‘s see.

 Archaeology

Archaeologists first started taking an interest in the site in the middle of 

the 19th century as the wealthy landowner D. Baltazzi and later S. Reinach began 

excavation on the southern necropolis. In 1925, A. Salaç, working out of the 

Bohemian Mission, uncovered many interesting finds, including a small temple to

Isis, a Roman

porticus and what is believed to be a ‘potter’s house’. Encouraged by their 

successes, Turkish archaeologist E. Akurgal 

began his own project in 1955 which uncovered an Orientalising ceramic on the 

southern hill. Between 1979-1984, the Izmir Museum carried out similar 

excavations at various locations around the site, uncovering further 

inscriptions and structures on the southern hill.

Geophysical studies at Cyme in more recent years, have given archaeologists a 

much greater knowledge of the site without being as intrusive. Geomagnetic 

surveys of the terrain reveal additional structures beneath the soil, as yet 

untouched by excavations.

The northwest side of the southern hill was utilized as a residential 

neighborhood during the entire existence of the city. Only a limited area of 

the hill has been investigated. It has been verified that there were at 

least five successive phases of building. 1. A long and straight wall going 

from north to southeast represented the most ancient building phase. In the 

wall there are visible traces of a threshold linking two rooms. There is 

uncertainty as to the chronology of the wall, but what is sure is that is 

was built before the end of the 5th century BC. 2. Two rooms (A and B), that 

were part of a building dating back to the end of the 5th century BC, belong 

to the second phase. The building appears to be complete on the northern 

side, but could have also had other rooms on the southern side, where the 

entrance to room A opened up. The western wall of room A, was constructed 

with squared limestone blocks, and also acted as a terracing wall connecting 

the strong natural difference on the side of the hill. At the foot of this 

wall there was a cistern excavated in the rock that gathered water coming 

from the roof of the house. The cistern was filled with debris and great 

amounts of black and plain pottery dating back to the late Hellenistic Age. 

3. Some walls that belonged to the Imperial Roman Period were constructed by 

means of white mortar and bricks. During this phase a service room east of 

room A, with a floor that was made of leveled rock, was built. In the area 

of the cistern, by now filled, a new room decorated by wall paintings was 

also built. 4. A large house occupied the area during the Late Roman Period. 

The rooms were constructed using reused materials, but without the use of 

mortar, and often enriched by polychrome mosaics. Access was gained by a 

ramp placed at the edge of the southwestern part of the excavation. Still, 

what needs to be clarified is the extent of the building, whose destruction 

is placed between the end of the 6th century to the beginning of the 7th 

century AD. 5. The final phase is represented by some superficial structures 

found at the northern part of the excavation. There is a long wall going 

from the northwest to the southeast and a ramp built with reused blocks, 

with the same orientation as the wall. The wall and the ramp could be proof 

that this area was utilized during the Byzantine Age.

 Trivia

Cyme was the birthplace of the historian

Ephorus
; and

Hesiod
‘s 

father, according to the poet (Op. et D. 636), sailed from Cyme to settle at 

Ascra in Boeotia
; 

which does not prove, as such compilers as

Stephanus

and

Suidas

suppose, that

Hesiod
was a 

native of Cyme.