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Greek city of Kallatis in Moesia
Silver Octobol 17mm (4.87 grams) Struck circa 281-200 B.C.
Reference: Sear 1659; B.M.C. 3.1
Certification: NGC Ancients Ch F 4681623-002
Head of young Hercules right, in lion’s skin.
KAΛΛATIA between monogram, ear of corn and club (above), and bow in case (below).
Kallatis (Callatis), a town of Moesia, on the Black Sea, originally a colony of Miletos, and afterwards Heraklea Pontika.
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  Heracles, born Alcaeus (Alkaios) or Alcides, was a divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of Zeus and Alcmene, foster son of Amphitryon and great-grandson and half-brother (as they are both sired by the god Zeus) of Perseus. He was the greatest of the Greek heroes, a paragon of masculinity, the ancestor of royal clans who claimed to be Heracleidae and a champion of the Olympian order against chthonic monsters. In Rome and the modern West, he is known as Hercules, with whom the later Roman emperors, in particular Commodus and Maximian, often identified themselves. The Romans adopted the Greek version of his life and works essentially unchanged, but added anecdotal detail of their own, some of it linking the hero with the geography of the Central Mediterranean. Details of his cult were adapted to Rome as well.
Extraordinary strength, courage, ingenuity, and sexual prowess with both males and females were among the characteristics commonly attributed to him. Heracles used his wits on several occasions when his strength did not suffice, such as when laboring for the king Augeas of Elis, wrestling the giant Antaeus, or tricking Atlas into taking the sky back onto his shoulders. Together with Hermes he was the patron and protector of gymnasia and palaestrae. His iconographic attributes are the lion skin and the club. These qualities did not prevent him from being regarded as a playful figure who used games to relax from his labors and played a great deal with children. By conquering dangerous archaic forces he is said to have “made the world safe for mankind” and to be its benefactor. Heracles was an extremely passionate and emotional individual, capable of doing both great deeds for his friends (such as wrestling with Thanatos on behalf of Prince Admetus, who had regaled Heracles with his hospitality, or restoring his friend Tyndareus to the throne of Sparta after he was overthrown) and being a terrible enemy who would wreak horrible vengeance on those who crossed him, as Augeas, Neleus and Laomedon all found out to their cost.
Mangalia (Romanian pronunciation: Greek: Callatis, Panglicara, other historical names: Pangalia, Tomisovara) is a city and a port on the Romanian coast of the Black Sea in the south-east of Constanţa County.
A Greek colony named Callatis (Kallatis) was founded in 6th century BC by the city of Heraclea Pontica. Its first silver coinage was minted approximately 350 BC. In 72 BC, Callatis was conquered by the Roman general Lucullus and was assigned to the Roman province of Moesia Inferior. Throughout the 2nd century AD, the city built defensive fortifications and the minting of coinage under the Roman emperors Septimius Severus and Caracalla continued. Callatis suffered multiple invasions in the third century AD but recovered in the 4th century AD to retain its status as an important trade hub and port city.
Since the 9th century it was known by the Turks as Pangalia, by the Romanians as Tomisovara and by the Greeks as Panglicara and it was one of the most important ports on the west coast of the Black Sea. Mangalia (former Callatis) is the oldest city, continuously inhabited, on the present territory of Romania.
Geography and climate
Mangalia is positioned at 43°49′ latitude and 28°35′ longitude, with an approximate elevation of 10 meters, 44 km south of the municipality of Constanţa, on the same latitude as the French resort of Nice. Mangalia is one of the southernmost resorts on the Romanian coast of the Black Sea.
Mangalia is characterized by a moderate maritime climate (annual average temperature 11°C – one of the highest in Romania) with hot summers (July average over 21°C) and mild winters (January average 1°C), Mangalia being the country’s second place, after Băile Herculane, with positive average temperatures in wintertime. Spring comes early but is cool and autumn is long and warm. In summer, cloudiness is reduced (about 25 sunny days in a month) and the duration of sunshine is of 10-12 hours a day. Annual precipitation is low (about 400 mm).
The sea breeze is stronger in summer. The natural cure factors are the water of the Black Sea, which is chlorided, sulphated, sodic, magnesian, hypotonic (mineralization 15.5g), the sulphurous, chlorided, bicarbonated, sodic, calcic, mesothermal (21-28°C) mineral waters of the springs in the northern part of the city, in the area of the beach between Saturn and Venus, the sulphurous peat mud, rich in minerals, which is extracted from the peat bog north of the city (expected to last another 250 years) and the marine climate, rich in saline aerosols and solar radiation that have a bracing effect on the organism.
The resort has a large, fine-sand beach developed for purposes of aeroheliotherapy and wave therapy, as well as high seawalls with a specific microclimate where one may benefit from inhalations of saline aerosols having therapeutic effects.
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