LARISSA in THESSSALY under THESSALIAN LEAGUE 200BC Zeus Athena Greek Coin i50854

Item: i50854

 Authentic Ancient Coin of:

Greek city of

Thesssalian League

Bronze 15mm (3.10 grams) Struck
circa 200-100 B.C.
Reference: HGC 4, 229; Rogers 1932, nos. 52-54; BCD
Thessaly I, lot 1377.2; BCD Thessaly II, lot 910.2-6
Laureate head of Zeus right.
ΘΕΣΣΑ/ΛΩΝ to
left and right of Athena Itonia advancing right,
brandishing spear and shield; monogram in field to
right.

Following the great victory of the
Roman general Flamininus over Philip V of Macedon, in
197 B.C., the freedom of the Greeks was proclaimed at
Corinth and a number of new autonomous coinages were
initiated. Those in the name of the Thessali were struck
probably at Larissa. The Thessalian League was a
loose confederacy of feudal-like city-states and tribes
in the Thessalian valley in Northern
Greece
and was run by a
few aristocratic Thessalian families (Aleuadae
and Skopadae). The seat of the Thessalian diet was
Larissa
.

 You

Authenticity.  

In the

ancient Greek

religion,
Zeus
was the “Father of Gods and men” (πατὴρ
ἀνδρῶν τε θεῶν τε)
who ruled the Olympians of

Mount Olympus

as a father ruled the family. He was the

god of sky

and

thunder

in

Greek mythology
.
His

Roman

counterpart is

Jupiter

and

Etruscan

counterpart is

Tinia
.

Zeus was the child of

Cronus

and

Rhea
,
and the youngest of his siblings. In most traditions he
was married to

Hera
,
although, at the oracle of

Dodona
,
his consort was

Dione
:
according to the

Iliad
,
he is the father of

Aphrodite

by Dione. He is known for his erotic escapades. These
resulted in many godly and heroic offspring, including

Athena
,

Apollo

and

Artemis
,

Hermes
,

Persephone

(by

Demeter
),

Dionysus
,

Perseus
,

Heracles
,

Helen of Troy
,

Minos
,
and the

Muses

(by

Mnemosyne
);
by Hera, he is usually said to have fathered

Ares
,

Hebe

and

Hephaestus
.

As

Walter Burkert

points out in his book, Greek Religion, “Even the
gods who are not his natural children address him as
Father, and all the gods rise in his presence.” For the
Greeks, he was the

King of the Gods
,
who oversaw the universe. As

Pausanias

observed, “That Zeus is king in heaven is a saying
common to all men”. In Hesiod’s

Theogony

Zeus assigns the various gods their roles. In the
Homeric Hymns he is referred to as the chieftain of
the gods.

His symbols are the

thunderbolt
,

eagle
,

bull
,
and

oak
.
In addition to his Indo-European inheritance, the
classical “cloud-gatherer” also derives certain
iconographic traits from the cultures of the

Ancient Near East
,
such as the

scepter
.
Zeus is frequently depicted by Greek artists in one of
two poses: standing, striding forward, with a
thunderbolt leveled in his raised right hand, or seated
in majesty.

Athena
or Athene (Latin:


Minerva
),
also referred to as Pallas Athena, is the goddess
of war, civilization, wisdom, strength, strategy,
crafts, justice and skill in

Greek mythology
.

Minerva
,
Athena’s Roman incarnation, embodies similar attributes.
Athena is also a shrewd companion of

heroes

and the

goddess

of

heroic

endeavour. She is the

virgin

patron of

Athens
.
The Athenians built the

Parthenon

on the Acropolis of her namesake city, Athens, in her
honour (Athena Parthenos). Athena’s cult 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 (“Athena of the city”).

Athens

and Athena bear etymologically connected names.

Larissa, sometimes written Larisa on

ancient coins and inscriptions, is near the site of the

Homeric Argissa. It appears in early times, when

Thessaly

was mainly governed by a few aristocratic

families, as an important city under the rule of the

Aleuadae

, whose authority extended over the whole

district of

Pelasgiotis

. This powerful family possessed for many

generations before 369 BC the privilege of furnishing

the tagus, the local term for the

of the combined Thessalian forces. The

principal rivals of the Aleuadae were the

Scopadac

of

Crannon

, the remains of which (called by the Turks

Old Larissa) are about 14 miles south west. The

inhabitants sided with

Athens

during the Peloponnesian War.

As the chief city of ancient

Thessaly, Larissa was directly annexed by Philip II of

Macedon in 344, and from then on Larissa was under

Macedonian control; in 196 B.C. Larissa became an ally

of Rome and was the headquarters of the

Thessalian League

.

Coordinates

39°38.5′N

22°25′E