KORYKOS in CILICIA 1stCenBC Artemis Apollo Authentic Ancient Greek Coin i50329

Item: i50329

Authentic Ancient Coin of:

Greek city of

Bronze 18mm (3.80 grams) Struck 1st Century B.C.

Reference: Imhoof-Blumer, KM 1 var. (Rev. legend); SNG
France 1099 var. (same); BMC -; SNG von Aulock -; SNG
Copenhagen -.

Draped bust of Artemis right, bow and quiver over
shoulder; monogram below chin.
Apollo standing left, holding branch and leaning on
column, KΩΡΥΚΙΩΤΩΝ behind.

A coastal town midway between the

mouths of the rivers Lamos and Kalykadnos, Korykos was

chiefly known for the nearby mountain grotto, called the

Korykian Cave, which was celebrated by the poets.

 You

Authenticity.  

Artemis
was one of
the most widely venerated of the Ancient Greek deities.
Some scholars believe that the name, and indeed the
goddess herself, was originally pre-Greek. Homer refers
to her as Artemis Agrotera,
Potnia Theron
<
Artemis of the wildland, Mistress of Animals”. In the
classical period of
Greek mythology
,
Artemis (Greek:
(nominative)
Ἄρτεμις, (genitive)
Ἀρτέμιδος) was
often
described as the daughter of
Zeus
and
Leto
, and the twin
sister of
Apollo
. She was the
Hellenic goddess of the hunt, wild animals, wilderness,
childbirth, virginity and young girls, bringing and
relieving disease in women; she often was depicted as a
huntress carrying a bow and arrows. The
deer
and the
cypress
were sacred to
her. In later Hellenistic times, she even assumed the
ancient role of
Eileithyia
in aiding
childbirth.

Artemis later became identified with
Selene
, a
Titaness
who was a
Greek moon goddess, sometimes depicted with a crescent
moon above her head. She was also identified with the
Roman goddess
Diana
, with the
Etruscan
goddess
Artume
, and with the
Greek or
Carian
goddess

Hecate

In
Greek
and
Roman mythology
,
Apollo,
is one of the most important and diverse of the

Olympian deities
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.

Corycus (Greekkk:

Κώρυκος; also

transliterated

Corycos or Korykos;

Armenian

: Կոռիկոս)

was an ancient city in

Cilicia Trachaea

,

Anatolia

, located at the mouth of the Calycadnus

(now

Göksu

); the site is now occupied by the town of

Kızkalesi

(formerly Ghorgos),

Mersin Province

,

Turkey

.

 The

city

Strabo

does not mention a town of Corycus, but

reports a promontory so called at the location, but a

town Corycus is mentioned by

Livy

(xxxiii. 20), and by

Pliny

(v. 27), and

Pomponius Mela

(i. 13), and

Stephanus of Byzantium

(s. v. Κώρυκος). In antiquity

Corycus was an important harbor and commercial town. It

was the port of

Seleucia

, where, in 191 BCE, the fleet of

Antiochus the Great

was defeated by the

Romans

. In the Roman times it preserved its ancient

laws; the emperors usually kept a fleet there to watch

over the pirates. Corycus was also a mint in antiquity

and some of its coins survive.

Corycus was controlled by the

Byzantine Empire

.

Justinian I

restored the public baths and a

hospital.

Alexios I Komnenos

re-equipped the fortress, which

had been dismantled. At the beginning of the 12th

century the Byzantines built a supplementary castle on a

small island. This castle was later called “maidens

castle” (Turkish:

Kız kalesi),

because it was told that a king held his daughter here

in captivity until she was killed by a venomous snake.

It was prophesied she would die by a snake bite. So she

was taken to the sea castle to protect her, but a

serpent was taken by basket to the castle, she was

bitten and died. Soon after Corycus was conquered by the

Armenians

, who held it till the middle of the 14th

century, as part of the

Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia

. In the 14th century,

the city was occupied temporarily by the

Turks

, and for a time played an important part. The

city fell to the

Lusignans

of

Cyprus

. It was taken by the

Mamelukes

, and again by

Peter I of Cyprus

in 1361. In the late 14th century

it fell again to the Turks. From 1448 or 1454 it

belonged alternately to the

Karamanlis

, the Egyptians, the Karamanlis a second

time, and finally to the

Osmanlis

.

The ruins of the city are extensive. Among them are a

triumphal arch, a

necropolis

with a beautiful

Christian

tomb,

sarcophagi

, etc. The two medieval castles, one on

the shore, the other in an islet, connected by a ruined

pier, are partially preserved; the former was reputed

impregnable. The walls of the castle on the mainland

contain many pieces of columns; and a mole of great

unhewn rocks projects from one angle of the fortress

about a hundred yards across the bay. Three churches are

also found, one decorated with frescoes. The walls of

the ancient city may still be traced, and there appear

to be sufficient remains to invite a careful examination

of the spot.

The city figures in the

of

Hierocles

, and about 840 in

Gustav Parthey

‘s Notitia Prima.

Ecclesiastically, it was a

see

, suffragan of

Tarsus

.

Lequien

(II, 879) mentions five

Greek Orthodox

bishops from 381 to 680; another is

known from an inscription (Waddington, Inscriptions

… d’Asie mineure, 341). One

Latin

Bishop, Gerardus, was present at a

Council of Antioch

about 1136; four are known in the

fourteenth century (Lequien,

III, 1197;

Eubel

, I, 218). Corycus remains a

titular see

of the

Roman Catholic Church

, Coryciensis; the seat

is vacant since the death of the last bishop in 1967.

 Corycian

Cave

In the Corycian Cave (now Cennet ve Cehennem), 20

stadia inland, says Strabo, the best

crocus

(saffron)

grows. He describes this cave as a great hollow, of a

circular form, surrounded by a margin of rock, on all

sides of a considerable height; on descending into this

cavity, the ground is found to be uneven and generally

rocky, and it is filled with shrubs, both evergreen and

cultivated; in some parts the saffron is cultivated:

there is also a cave here which contains a large source,

which pours forth a river of pure, pellucid water, but

it immediately sinks into the earth, and flowing

underground enters the sea: they call it the Bitter

Water.

Pomponius Mela

(i.13) has a long description of the

same place apparently from the same authority that

Strabo followed, but more embellished. This place is

probably on the top of the mountain above Corycus.

This place is famed in

Greek mythology

. It is the

Cilician

cave of

Pindar

(Pythian Ode i. 31), and of

Aeschylus

(Prom. Vinct. 350), and as

Arima, couch of Typhoeus

, it is the lair of Zeus’

fiercest opponent, the giant

Typhon

or Typhoeus.