Aigai in AIOLIS 300BC APOLLO GOAT Authentic Original Ancient Greek Coin i49107

Item: i49107

Authentic Ancient Coin of:

Greek city of

Bronze 10mm (1.08 grams) Struck circa 300-200 B.C.
Reference: Sear 4166; B.M.C. 17.95,6-8
Laureate head of 
Apollo
right.
AIΓΑΕ, behind head of

goat 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.

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

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