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Greek city of
Neonteichos in
Aeolis
Bronze 10mm (0.81 grams) Struck circa 200-100 B.C.
Reference: Sear 4223; B.M.C. 17.141,1
Head of
Athena right, in crested helmet.
Owl standing right, head facing; NE monogram below.
Situated a short distance
south-east of Larissa Phriconis.
You are bidding on the exact
item pictured, provided with a Certificate of Authenticity and Lifetime
Guarantee of Authenticity.
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.
In
Greek mythology
, a
Little Owl
baby (Athene noctua)
traditionally represents or accompanies
Athena
, the virgin goddess of wisdom, or
Minerva
, her
syncretic
incarnation in
Roman mythology
. Because of such association,
the bird — often referred to as the “owl
of Athena” or the “owl of Minerva” — has been used as a symbol of
knowledge, wisdom, perspicacity and erudition throughout the
Western world
.
Some authors believe that, in early times, Athena was either an
owl
herself or a
bird goddess
in general: In the third Book of
the Odyssey
, she takes the form of a
sea-eagle
. These authors argue that she dropped
her prophylactic owl-mask before she lost her wings. “Athena, by the time she
appears in art,” Jane Ellen Harrison had remarked, “has completely shed her
animal form, has reduced the shapes she once wore of snake and bird to
attributes, but occasionally in
black-figure vase-paintings
she still appears
with wings.
The
modern West
generally associates owls with
wisdom
. This link goes back at least as far as
Ancient Greece
, where
Athens
, noted for art and scholarship, and
Athena
, Athens’ patron goddess and the goddess
of wisdom, had
the owl
as a symbol.
Marija Gimbutas
traces veneration of the owl as
a goddess, among other birds, to the culture of
Old Europe
, long pre-dating
Indo-European
cultures.
Owls, birds
of the
order
Strigiformes, include about 200
species
of mostly
solitary
and
nocturnal
birds of prey
typified by an upright stance, a
large, broad head, binocular vision and binaural hearing, and feathers adapted
for silent flight. Exceptions include the diurnal
northern hawk-owl
and the gregarious
burrowing owl
. Owls hunt mostly small
mammals
,
insects
, and other birds, although a few
species specialize in hunting
fish. They are found in all regions of the Earth except
Antarctica
and some remote islands. Owls are
divided into two
families
: the
true owls
, Strigidae; and the
barn-owls
, Tytonidae.
Greek settlements in western Asia Minor, Aeolian area in
dark red.
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Aeolis (Ancient
Greek: Αἰολίς, Aiolís)
or Aeolia (//;
Αἰολία, Aiolía) was an area that
comprised the west and northwestern region of
Asia Minor
, mostly along the coast, and also
several offshore islands (particularly
Lesbos
), where the
Aeolian
Greek
city-states were located. Aeolis
incorporated the southern parts of
Mysia
which bounded it to the north,
Ionia
to the south, and
Lydia
to the east.
Geography
Aeolis was an ancient district on the western coast of
Asia Minor
. It extended along the
Aegean Sea
from the entrance of the
Hellespont
(now the
Dardanelles
) south to the
Hermus River
(now the Gediz River). It was
named for the Aeolians, some of whom migrated there from
Greece
before 1000 BC. Aeolis was, however, an
ethnological and linguistic enclave rather than a geographical unit. The
district often was considered part of the larger northwest region of Mysia.
History
According to Homer’s
description,
Odysseus
, after his stay with the
Cyclopes
, reached the island of
Aeolia
, who provided him with the west wind
Zephyr
.
In early times, by the 8th century BC, the Aeolians’ twelve most important
cities were independent, and formed a league (Dodecapolis):
Cyme
,
Larissa
(also called
Phriconis
),
Neonteichos
,
Temnus
,
Cilla
,
Notion
,
Aegiroessa
,
Pitane
,
Aegae
,
Myrina
,
Gryneion
, and
Smyrna
.
The most celebrated of the cities was
Smyrna
(modern
Izmir, Turkey
), but in 699 BC, Smyrna became
part of an Ionian confederacy. The remaining cities were conquered by
Croesus
, king of
Lydia
(reigned 560-546 BC). Later they were
held successively by the
Persians
,
Macedonians
,
Seleucids
, and Pergamenes.
Attalus III
, the last king of
Pergamum
, bequeathed Aeolis to Rome in 133 BC.
Shortly afterward, it was made part of the Roman
province of Asia
. At the partition of the
Roman Empire
(395 AD), Aeolis was assigned to
the East Roman (Byzantine) empire and remained under Byzantine rule until the
early 15th century, when the
Ottoman Turks
occupied the area.
Natives of Aeolis
-
Autolycus of Pitane
- Andriscus
-
Elias Venezis
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