Kings of Paphlagonia Pylaimenes II or III Rare 133BC Rare R1 Greek Coin i53320

Item: i53320

Authentic Ancient

Greek coin of the Kings of

Pylaimenes II or III
Bronze 16mm (3.91 grams) Struck circa 133-103 B.C.
Reference: SNG Black Sea 1555–1556; HGC 7, 441

Rare R1; Sear 3715; B.M.C.13.103,2-3
Bull’s head facing.
Winged caduceus; ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ to right, ΠΥΛΑΙΜΕΝΟΥ/ΕΥΕΡΓΕΤΟΥ
to left.

 You are bidding on the exact item pictured,

Authenticity.

Paphlagonia
was an ancient area on the
Black Seaa
coast of north central
Anatolia
, situated between
Bithynia
to the west and
Pontus
to the east, and separated from
Phrygia
(later,
Galatia
) by a prolongation to the east of the
Bithynian Olympus. According to
Strabo
, the river
Parthenius
formed the western limit of the
region, and it was bounded on the east by the
Halys
river. The name Paphlagonia is
derived in the legends from Paphlagon, a son of
Phineus
. (Eustath. ad Horn. II. ii. 851, ad
Dion. Per. 787; Steph. B. t.v.; Const. Porph. de Them. i. 7.)

Geography

The greater part of Paphlagonia is a rugged mountainous country, but it
contains fertile valleys and produces a great abundance of hazelnuts and fruit –
particularly plums, cherries and pears. The mountains are clothed with dense
forests, conspicuous for the quantity of boxwood that they furnish. Hence, its
coasts were occupied by
Greeks
from an early period. Among these, the
flourishing city of
Sinope
, founded from
Miletus
about 630 BC, stood pre-eminent.
Amastris
, a few miles east of the Parthenius
river, became important under the rule of the Macedonian monarchs; while
Amisus
, a colony of Sinope situated a short
distance east of the Halys river (and therefore not strictly in Paphlagonia as
defined by Strabo), grew to become almost a rival of its parent city.

The most considerable towns of the interior were
Gangra
– in ancient times the capital of the
Paphlagonian kings, afterwards called
Germanicopolis
, situated near the frontier of
Galatia – and
Pompeiopolis
, in the valley of the
Amnias
river, near extensive mines of the
mineral called by Strabo
sandarake
(red arsenic or arsenic sulfide),
largely exported from Sinope.

History

The Paphlagonians were one of the most ancient nations of
Anatolia
and listed among the allies of the
Trojans in the
Trojan War
(ca. 1200 BC), where their king
Pylaemenes and his son Harpalion perished (Iliad, ii. 851—857). According
to Homer
and

Livy, a group of Paphlagonians called the
Enetoi
in Greek, were expelled from their
homeland during a revolution. With a group of defeated Trojans under the
leadership of the Trojan prince
Antenor
, they emigrated to the northern end of
the Adriatic coast and later merged with indigenous
Euganei
giving the name
Venetia
to the area they settled.

In the time of the
Hittites
, Paphlagonia was inhabited by the
Kashka
people, whose exact ethnic relation to
the Paphlagonians is uncertain. It seems perhaps that they were related to the
people of the adjoining country, Cappadocia, who were speakers of one of the
Anatolian
branch of the
Indo-European languages
. Their language would
appear, from Strabo’s testimony, to have been distinctive.

 

Paphlagonians were mentioned by
Herodotus
among the peoples conquered by
Croesus
, and they sent an important contingent
to the army of
Xerxes
in 480 BC.
Xenophon
speaks of them as being governed by a
prince of their own, without any reference to the neighboring
satraps
, a freedom perhaps due to the nature of
their country, with its lofty mountain ranges and difficult passes. All these
rulers appear to have borne the name Pylaimenes as a sign that they
claimed descent from the chieftain of that name who figures in the
Iliad
as leader of the Paphlagonians.

Under the Kingdom
of Pontus

At a later period, Paphlagonia passed under the control of the Macedonian
kings, and after the death of
Alexander the Great
, it was assigned, together
with Cappadocia
and
Mysia
, to
Eumenes
. However, it continued to be governed
by native princes until it was absorbed by the encroaching power of
Pontus
. The rulers of that dynasty became
masters of the greater part of Paphlagonia as early as the reign of
Mithridates Ctistes
(302–266 BC), but it was
not until 183 BC that
Pharnaces
reduced the
Greek
city of
Sinope
under their control. From that time, the
whole province was incorporated into the kingdom of
Pontus
until the fall of
Mithridates
(65 BC).

Roman and
Byzantine empires

Pompey
united the coastal districts of
Paphlagonia, along with the greater part of Pontus, with the Roman province of
Bithynia, but left the interior of the country under the native princes, until
the dynasty became extinct and the whole country was incorporated into the
Roman Empire
. The name was still retained by
geographers, though its boundaries are not distinctly defined by the geographer
Claudius Ptolemy
. Paphlagonia reappeared as a separate
province in the 5th century AD (Hierocles,
Synecdemus
c. 33). In the 7th century it
became part of the
theme
of
Opsikion
, and later of the
Bucellarian Theme
, before being split off c.
820 to form a
separate province
once again.

Episcopal sees

Ancient episcopal sees of Paphlagonia listed in the
Annuario Pontificio
as
titular sees
:

Notable people

• Artoxares
  (5th century BC) eunuch, envoy of
  Persian kings

  Artaxerxes I
  and
  Darius II

• Diogenes of Sinope
  (4th century BC) Greek
  philosopher, one of the founders of
  Cynic
  philosophy.
• Alexander of Abonoteichus
  (c. 105 – c. 170
  AD), also called Alexander the Paphlagonian, or the false prophet Alexander
• Saint Philaretos
  (8th century)
• Theodora
  (9th century) wife of the
  Byzantine emperor Theophilus
• John Mauropous
  (11th century) Greek poet
  and author
• Michael IV the Paphlagonian

See also

• List of rulers of Paphlagonia
• Adriatic Veneti