AIGAI in AEOLIS 2-1stCenBC Apollo Goat Authentic Ancient Greek Coin i52576

Item: i52576

Authentic Ancient Coin of:

Greek city of

Aeolis
Bronze 16mm (4.51 grams) Struck 2nd-1st centuries B.C.
Reference: SNG von Aulock 1596
Laureate head of Apollo right.
AIΓAEΩN, Goat standing right.

An inland town on the river Pythikos, south-east of Myrina.

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In
Greek
and
Roman mythology
,
Apollo, is one of the most
important and diverse of the
Olympian deities
. The ideal of the
kouros
(a beardless youth), Apollo has been
variously recognized as a god of light and the sun; truth and prophecy;
archery
; medicine and healing; music, poetry,
and the arts; and more. Apollo is the son of

Zeus and Leto
, and has a
twin
sister, the chaste huntress
Artemis
. Apollo is known in Greek-influenced
Etruscan mythology
as Apulu. Apollo was
worshiped in both
ancient Greek
and
Roman religion
, as well as in the modern
Greco
–Roman
Neopaganism
.

As the patron of Delphi
(Pythian Apollo), Apollo was an
oracular
god — the prophetic deity of the
Delphic Oracle
. Medicine and healing were
associated with Apollo, whether through the god himself or mediated through his
son Asclepius
, yet Apollo was also seen as a god
who could bring ill-health and deadly
plague
as well as one who had the ability to
cure. Amongst the god’s custodial charges, Apollo became associated with
dominion over
colonists
, and as the patron defender of herds
and flocks. As the leader of the

Muses (Apollon Musagetes) and director of their choir, Apollo
functioned as the patron god of music and
poetry
.
Hermes
created the

lyre for him, and the instrument became a common
attribute
of Apollo. Hymns sung to Apollo were
called paeans
.

In Hellenistic times, especially during the third century BCE, as Apollo
Helios he became identified among Greeks with
Helios
,
god of the sun
, and his sister Artemis
similarly equated with
Selene
,
goddess of the moon
. In Latin texts, on the
other hand, Joseph Fontenrose declared himself unable to find any conflation of
Apollo with
Sol
among the
Augustan poets
of the first century, not even
in the conjurations of
Aeneas
and
Latinus
in
Aeneid
XII (161–215). Apollo and Helios/Sol
remained separate beings in literary and mythological texts until the third
century CE.

Aigai, also Aigaiai (Ancient Greek:
Αἰγαί or
Αἰγαῖαι;
Latin
: Aegae or
Aegaeae;
Turkish
: Nemrutkale or
Nemrut Kalesi) was an
ancient Greek
city in
Aeolis
. Aegae
is mentioned by both
Herodotus

and Strabo

as being a member of the Aeolian dodecapolis. It was also an important sanctuary
of Apollo
.
Aigai had its brightest period under the
Attalid dynasty
that ruled from nearby
Pergamon
in
the 3rd and 2nd century BC.

The remains of the city are located near the modern village of
Yuntdağı Köseler
in
Manisa Province
,
Turkey
. The
archaeological site is situated at a rather high altitude almost on top of
Mount Gün
(Dağı), part of the mountain chain of
Yunt
(Dağları).

History

 

Initially the city was a possession of the
Lydian Empire
and later the
Achaemenid Empire
when it conquered the former. In the early fourth century
BC it became part of the Kingdom of Pergamon. It changed hands from Pergamon to
the
Seleucid Empire
, but was recaptured by
Attalus I

of Pergamon in 218 BC. In the war between
Bithynia

and Pergamon it was destroyed by
Prusias II of Bithynia
in 156 BC. After a peace was brokered by the
Romans
the city was compensated with hundred
talents
. Under the rule of Pergamon a market building and a temple to Apollo
were constructed.

In 129 BC the Kingdom of Pergamon became part of the Roman Empire. The city
was destroyed by an earthquake in 17 AD and received aid for reconstruction from
emperor Tiberius
.

Layout

The city is situated on a plateau at the summit of the steep Gün Dağı
mountain, which can be climbed from the north. The plateau is surrounded by a
wall with a length of 1.5 kilometers. On the eastern side are the remains of the
three-story indoor market with a height of 11 meters and a length of 82 meters.
The upper floor of the Hellenistic building was renovated in Roman times. The
partially overgrown remains of many other buildings are scattered over the site.
These include the
acropolis

which is laid out in terraces, an
odeon
, a
gymnasium
, a
bouleuterion
and the foundations of three temples.

About five kilometers to the east the foundations of a sanctuary of Apollo
are found on the banks of the river which flows around the ruins. It was an
Ionic
order
peripteros
temple from the first century BC. A
cella
which is
six meters high and three
monoliths

Excavation historyy

The first western visitors of Aigai were
William Mitchell Ramsay
and
Salomon Reinach
in 1880. They reported about their visit in the
Journal of Hellenic Studies

and the Bulletin de Correspondance Hellénique. They were followed by
Richard
Bohn
and
Carl Schuchhardt
, who examined the site as a part of the excavations in
Pergamon.

Since 2004 the site is being excavated by Ersin Doğer of
Ege
University
in
Izmir
. By 2010 the access road, the bouleuterion, the odeon, shops, numerous
water pipes and large parts of the market hall were uncovered. For the coming
years it is planned to re-erect the market hall’s facade with the original
stones.