Elaia in Asia Minor 4th-3rdCentBC Ancient Greek Coin Athena Corn-grain i46040

Item: i46040

Authentic Ancient Coin of:

Greek city of Elaia in Asia Minor

 Bronze 10mm (1.21 grams) Struck 4th-3rd Centuries B.C.
Reference: Sear 4204; B.M.C. 17.125,4
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,

Authenticity.

In
Greek religion
and
mythology
, Athena or Athene, also
referred to as Pallas Athena/Athene , is the goddess of wisdom, courage,
inspiration, civilization, law and justice, just warfare, mathematics, strength,
strategy, the arts, crafts, and skill.
Minerva
is the
Roman goddess

identified with
Athena.

Athena is also a shrewd companion of

heroes and is the
goddess
of heroic endeavour. She is the
virgin
patroness of
Athens
. The Athenians founded the
Parthenon
on the Acropolis of her namesake
city, Athens (Athena Parthenos), in her honour.

Athena’s veneration 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
(Ἀθηνᾶ Πολιάς “Athena of the city”). The city of
Athens
and the goddess Athena essentially bear
the same name, “Athenai” meaning “[many] Athenas”.

Patroness

Athenian
tetradrachm
representing the
goddess Athena

Athena
as the goddess of philosophy became an aspect of the cult in Classical Greece
during the late 5th century B.C. She is the patroness of various crafts,
especially of weaving
, as Athena Ergane, and was
honored as such at festivals such as
Chalceia
. The metalwork of weapons also fell
under her patronage. She led battles (Athena
Promachos or the warrior maiden Athena Parthenos) as the
disciplined, strategic side of war, in contrast to her brother

Ares, the patron of violence, bloodlust and slaughter—”the raw force
of war”. Athena’s wisdom includes the cunning intelligence (metis) of
such figures as Odysseus
. Not only was this version of Athena
the opposite of Ares in combat, it was also the polar opposite of the serene
earth goddess version of the deity, Athena Polias.

Athena appears in Greek mythology as the patron and helper of many heroes,
including Odysseus
,
Jason
, and
Heracles
. In
Classical Greek
myths, she never consorts with
a lover, nor does she ever marry,earning the title Athena Parthenos. A
remnant of archaic myth depicts her as the adoptive mother of
Erechtheus
/Erichthonius
through the foiled rape by
Hephaestus
. Other variants relate that
Erichthonius, the serpent that accompanied Athena, was born to
Gaia
: when the rape failed, the semen landed on
Gaia and impregnated her. After Erechthonius was born, Gaia gave him to Athena.

Though Athena is a goddess of war strategy, she disliked fighting without
purpose and preferred to use wisdom to settle predicaments.The goddess only
encouraged fighting for a reasonable cause or to resolve conflict. As patron of
Athens she fought in the Trojan war on the side of the Achaeans.

Mythology

Lady of Athens

Athena competed with
Poseidon
to be the patron deity of Athens,
which was yet unnamed, in a version of one
founding myth
. They agreed that each would give
the Athenians one gift and that the Athenians would choose the gift they
preferred. Poseidon struck the ground with his
trident
and a salt water spring sprang up; this
gave them a means of trade and water—Athens at its height was a significant sea
power, defeating the
Persian
fleet at the
Battle of Salamis
—but the water was salty and
not very good for drinking.

Athena, however, offered them the first domesticated
olive tree
. The Athenians (or their king,
Cecrops
) accepted the olive tree and with it
the patronage of Athena, for the olive tree brought wood, oil, and food.
Robert Graves
was of the opinion that
“Poseidon’s attempts to take possession of certain cities are political myths”
which reflect the conflict between matriarchal and patriarchal religions.

Other sites of cult

Athena also was the patron goddess of several other Greek cities, notably
Sparta, where the archaic cult of
Athena Alea
had its sanctuaries in the
surrounding villages of
Mantineia
and, notably,
Tegea
. In Sparta itself, the temple of Athena
Khalkíoikos (Athena “of the Brazen House”, often
latinized
as Chalcioecus) was the
grandest and located on the Spartan acropolis; presumably it had a roof of
bronze. The forecourt of the Brazen House was the place where the most solemn
religious functions in Sparta took place.

Tegea was an important religious center of ancient Greece, containing the
Temple of Athena Alea
. The temenos was founded by
Aleus
,
Pausanias
was informed. Votive bronzes at the
site from the Geometric and Archaic periods take the forms of horses and deer;
there are
sealstone
and
fibulae
. In the Archaic period the nine
villages that underlie Tegea banded together in a
synoecism
to form one city. Tegea was listed in
Homer
‘s
Catalogue of Ships
as one of the cities that
contributed ships and men for the
Achaean assault on Troy
.

Judgment of Paris

Aphrodite is being surveyed by Paris, while Athena (the leftmost
figure) and Hera stand nearby.
El Juicio de Paris
by
Enrique Simonet
, ca. 1904

All the gods and goddesses as well as various mortals were invited to the
marriage of Peleus
and
Thetis
(the eventual parents of
Achilles
). Only
Eris
, goddess of discord, was not invited. She
was annoyed at this, so she arrived with a golden apple inscribed with the word
καλλίστῃ (kallistēi, “for the fairest”), which she threw among the goddesses.
Aphrodite, Hera, and Athena all claimed to be the fairest, and thus the rightful
owner of the apple.

The goddesses chose to place the matter before Zeus, who, not wanting to
favor one of the goddesses, put the choice into the hands of Paris, a

Trojan prince. After bathing in the spring of
Mount Ida
(where Troy was situated), the
goddesses appeared before Paris. The goddesses undressed and presented
themselves to Paris naked, either at his request or for the sake of winning.

Paris is awarding the apple to Aphrodite, while Athena makes a face.
Urteil des Paris by
Anton Raphael Mengs
, ca. 1757

Still, Paris could not decide, as all three were ideally beautiful, so they
resorted to bribes. Hera tried to bribe Paris with control over all

Asia and Europe
, while Athena offered wisdom, fame and
glory in battle, but Aphrodite came forth and whispered to Paris that if he were
to choose her as the fairest he would have the most beautiful mortal woman in
the world as a wife, and he accordingly chose her. This woman was
Helen
, who was, unfortunately for Paris,
already married to King
Menelaus
of
Sparta
. The other two goddesses were enraged by
this and through Helen’s abduction by Paris they brought about the
Trojan War
.

The Parthenon
, Temple of Athena
Parthenos

Masculinity and
feminism

Athena had an “androgynous compromise” that allowed her traits and what she
stood for to be attributed to male and female rulers alike over the course of
history (such as Marie de’ Medici, Anne of Austria, Christina of Sweden, and
Catherine the Great)

J.J. Bachofen advocated that Athena was originally a maternal figure stable
in her security and poise but was caught up and perverted by a patriarchal
society; this was especially the case in Athens. The goddess adapted but could
very easily be seen as a god. He viewed it as “motherless paternity in the place
of fatherless maternity” where once altered, Athena’s character was to be
crystallized as that of a patriarch.

Whereas Bachofen saw the switch to paternity on Athena’s behalf as an
increase of power, Freud on the contrary perceived Athena as an “original mother
goddess divested of her power”. In this interpretation, Athena was demoted to be
only Zeus’s daughter, never allowed the expression of motherhood. Still more
different from Bachofen’s perspective is the lack of role permanency in Freud’s
view: Freud held that time and differing cultures would mold Athena to stand for
what was necessary to them.

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.