THESSALIAN LEAGUE Larissa 196BC Greek Coin ATHENA Cult Horse i41116

Item: i41116

Authentic Ancient

Coin of:

Greek city of

Larissa
 in Thessaly  under Thessalian League

Thessalian League Bronze 17mm (4.27 grams) Struck 196-146 B.C.

Reference: Sear 2238; B.M.C. 7.62
Head of Athena right, in crested Corinthian helmet.
ΘΕΣΣΑ / ΛΩΝ above and below horse trotting right, corn ear 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 are bidding on the exact item pictured,

Authenticity.  

In
Greek religion
and
mythology
, Athena or Athene, also
referred to as Pallas Athena/Athene , is the goddess of wisdom, courage,
inspiration, civilization, law and justice, just warfare, mathematics, strength,
strategy, the arts, crafts, and skill.
Minerva
is the
Roman goddess

identified with
Athena.
 

Athena is also a shrewd companion of

heroes and is the
goddess
of heroic endeavour. She is the
virgin
patroness of
Athens
. The Athenians founded the
Parthenon
on the Acropolis of her namesake
city, Athens (Athena Parthenos), in her honour.

Athena’s veneration 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
(Ἀθηνᾶ Πολιάς “Athena of the city”). The city of
Athens
and the goddess Athena essentially bear
the same name, “Athenai” meaning “[many] Athenas”.

Patroness

Athenian
tetradrachm
representing the
goddess Athena

Athena as the goddess of philosophy became an aspect of the cult in Classical
Greece during the late 5th century B.C. She is the patroness of various crafts,
especially of weaving
, as Athena Ergane, and was
honored as such at festivals such as
Chalceia
. The metalwork of weapons also fell
under her patronage. She led battles (Athena
Promachos or the warrior maiden Athena Parthenos) as the
disciplined, strategic side of war, in contrast to her brother

Ares, the patron of violence, bloodlust and slaughter—”the raw force
of war”. Athena’s wisdom includes the cunning intelligence (metis) of
such figures as Odysseus
. Not only was this version of Athena
the opposite of Ares in combat, it was also the polar opposite of the serene
earth goddess version of the deity, Athena Polias.

Athena appears in Greek mythology as the patron and helper of many heroes,
including Odysseus
,
Jason
, and
Heracles
. In
Classical Greek
myths, she never consorts with
a lover, nor does she ever marry,earning the title Athena Parthenos. A
remnant of archaic myth depicts her as the adoptive mother of
Erechtheus
/Erichthonius
through the foiled rape by
Hephaestus
. Other variants relate that
Erichthonius, the serpent that accompanied Athena, was born to
Gaia
: when the rape failed, the semen landed on
Gaia and impregnated her. After Erechthonius was born, Gaia gave him to Athena.

Though Athena is a goddess of war strategy, she disliked fighting without
purpose and preferred to use wisdom to settle predicaments.The goddess only
encouraged fighting for a reasonable cause or to resolve conflict. As patron of
Athens she fought in the Trojan war on the side of the Achaeans.

Lady of Athens

Athena competed with
Poseidon
to be the patron deity of Athens,
which was yet unnamed, in a version of one
founding myth
. They agreed that each would give
the Athenians one gift and that the Athenians would choose the gift they
preferred. Poseidon struck the ground with his
trident
and a salt water spring sprang up; this
gave them a means of trade and water—Athens at its height was a significant sea
power, defeating the
Persian
fleet at the
Battle of Salamis
—but the water was salty and
not very good for drinking.

Athena, however, offered them the first domesticated
olive tree
. The Athenians (or their king,
Cecrops
) accepted the olive tree and with it
the patronage of Athena, for the olive tree brought wood, oil, and food.
Robert Graves
was of the opinion that
“Poseidon’s attempts to take possession of certain cities are political myths”
which reflect the conflict between matriarchal and patriarchal religions.

Judgment of Paris

Aphrodite is being surveyed by Paris, while Athena (the leftmost
figure) and Hera stand nearby.
El Juicio de Paris
by
Enrique Simonet
, ca. 1904

All the gods and goddesses as well as various mortals were invited to the
marriage of Peleus
and
Thetis
(the eventual parents of
Achilles
). Only
Eris
, goddess of discord, was not invited. She
was annoyed at this, so she arrived with a golden apple inscribed with the word
καλλίστῃ (kallistēi, “for the fairest”), which she threw among the goddesses.
Aphrodite, Hera, and Athena all claimed to be the fairest, and thus the rightful
owner of the apple.

The goddesses chose to place the matter before Zeus, who, not wanting to
favor one of the goddesses, put the choice into the hands of Paris, a

Trojan prince. After bathing in the spring of
Mount Ida
(where Troy was situated), the
goddesses appeared before Paris. The goddesses undressed and presented
themselves to Paris naked, either at his request or for the sake of winning.

Paris is awarding the apple to Aphrodite, while Athena makes a face.
Urteil des Paris by
Anton Raphael Mengs
, ca. 1757

Still, Paris could not decide, as all three were ideally beautiful, so they
resorted to bribes. Hera tried to bribe Paris with control over all

Asia and Europe
, while Athena offered wisdom, fame and
glory in battle, but Aphrodite came forth and whispered to Paris that if he were
to choose her as the fairest he would have the most beautiful mortal woman in
the world as a wife, and he accordingly chose her. This woman was
Helen
, who was, unfortunately for Paris,
already married to King
Menelaus
of
Sparta
. The other two goddesses were enraged by
this and through Helen’s abduction by Paris they brought about the
Trojan War
.

Other epithets were
Ageleia
and
Itonia
.

The Parthenon
, Temple of Athena
Parthenos

Masculinity and
feminism

Athena had an “androgynous compromise” that allowed her traits and what she
stood for to be attributed to male and female rulers alike over the course of
history (such as Marie de’ Medici, Anne of Austria, Christina of Sweden, and
Catherine the Great)

J.J. Bachofen advocated that Athena was originally a maternal figure stable
in her security and poise but was caught up and perverted by a patriarchal
society; this was especially the case in Athens. The goddess adapted but could
very easily be seen as a god. He viewed it as “motherless paternity in the place
of fatherless maternity” where once altered, Athena’s character was to be
crystallized as that of a patriarch.

Whereas Bachofen saw the switch to paternity on Athena’s behalf as an
increase of power, Freud on the contrary perceived Athena as an “original mother
goddess divested of her power”. In this interpretation, Athena was demoted to be
only Zeus’s daughter, never allowed the expression of motherhood. Still more
different from Bachofen’s perspective is the lack of role permanency in Freud’s
view: Freud held that time and differing cultures would mold Athena to stand for
what was necessary to them.

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

.

Thessaly was home to an extensive

Neolithic

culture around

2500 BC

.

Mycenaean

settlements have also been discovered, for example at the sites of

Iolcos
,

Dimini
and

Sesklo
(near

Volos
). Later, in

ancient Greek

times, the lowlands of Thessaly became the home of baronial

families, such as the

Aleuadae
of

Larissa
or

the Scopads of Crannon. These baronial families organized a federation across

the Thessaly region, later went on to control the

Amphictyonic League

in northern Greece. The

Thessalians

were renowned for their cavalry.

In the summer of

480 BC
, the

Persians invaded Thessaly. The Greek army that guarded the

Vale

of Tempe
, evacuated the road before the enemy arrived. Not much later,

Thessaly surrendered. The Thessalian family of

Aleuadae

joined the Persians. In the

Peloponnesian War

the Thessalians tended to side with Athens and usually

prevented Spartan troops from crossing through their territory with the

exception of the army of Brasidas.

Jason of Pherae

briefly transformed the country into a significant military

power, though he was assassinated before any lasting achievements were made. In

the 4th century BC

Thessaly became dependent on

Macedon

and many served as vassals. In

148 BC
the

Romans formally incorporated Thessaly into the province of

Macedonia

, though in 300 AD Thessaly was made a separate province with its

capital at Larissa

.

It was part of the Byzantine Empire and suffered many

invasions. In 977 it was occupied by the Bulgarians, who remained there until

1014. In 1204 he was assigned to

Boniface of Montferrat

and in 1225 to

Theodore Komnenos Doukas

, despot of

Epirus
. From

1271 to 1318 he was an independent despotate that extended to

Acarnania

and Aetolia
,

run by John III Angelos Komneno. In 1309 settled there the

Almogavars

or

Catalan Company

of the East (Societas Catalanorum Magna), which in 1310,

after lifting the siege of Thessalonica, withdrew as mercenaries in the pay of

the sebastocrátor

John II, and took over the country organized in a democracy.

From there went to the

Duchy of Athens

called by the duke Walter I. In 1318, with the extinction of

the dynasty of Angelos, the Almogavars occupied Siderocastron and southern

Thessaly (1319) and formed the

duchy of Neopatria

.

Later it was occupied by the

Serbs
until 1393,

after being dominated by the

Ottomans

. In 1821 participated in the

Greek War of Independence

, but was not recognized as part of

Greece
until

1881.