Thessalonica in Macedonia 197BC Ancient Greek Coin Athena War Horse Rare i30511

Item: i30511

Authentic Ancient

Coin of:

Greek city of Thessalonica in Macedonia

Greek – Bronze 17mm (3.94 grams) from the ancient Greek city of Thessalonica

in the Province of Macedonia 197-31 B.C.
Reference: Moushmov 6605 –
Helmetted head of Athena right.
ΘEΣΣAΛONIKH- horse grazing right. –

 You are bidding on the exact item pictured,

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.

The city Thessalonica in Macedonia

was founded circa 315 BC by Cassander, the King of
Macedon (Μακεδών), on or near the site of the ancient town of Therma and twenty
six other local villages. He named it after his wife Thessalonica, the sister of
Alexander the Great. She gained her name from her father, Philip II of Macedon,
to commemorate her birth on the day of his gaining a victory (Gr. Nike) over the
Phocians, who were defeated with the help of Thessalian horsemen, the best in
Greece at that time. Thessaloniki means the “victory of Thessalians” (where
Thessalians derives from Thessaly which means thesi alos, i.e. “a land that was
sea”). Thessaloniki developed rapidly and as early as the 2nd century BC the
first walls were built, forming a large square. It was, as all the other
contemporary Greek cities, an autonomous part of the Kingdom of Macedon, with
its own parliament where the King was represented and could interfere in the
city’s domestic affairs.

 Roman

era

After the fall of the kingdom of Macedon in

168 BC
,

Thessalonica became a city of the

Roman Republic

. It grew to be an important trade-hub located on the

Via

Egnatia
, the

Roman road

connecting

Byzantium

(later

Constantinople

), with

Dyrrhachium

(now Durrës
in

Albania
), and

facilitating trade between Europe and Asia. The city became the capital of one

of the four Roman districts of Macedonia; it kept its privileges but was ruled

by a praetor

and had a Roman garrison, while for a short time in the

1st

century BC
, all the Greek provinces came under Thessalonica (the Latin form

of the name). Due to the city’s key commercial importance, a spacious harbour

was built by the Romans, the famous Burrowed Harbour (Σκαπτός Λιμήν) that

accommodated the town’s trade up to the eighteenth century; later, with the help

of silt deposits from the river

Axios
, it was

reclaimed as land and the port built beyond it. Remnants of the old harbour’s

docks can be found in the present day under Odos Frangon Street, near the

Catholic Church.

Thessaloniki’s

acropolis
,

located in the northern hills, was built in

55 BC
after

Thracian

raids in the city’s outskirts, for security reasons.

The city had a

Jewish

colony, established during the

first

century
, and was to be an early centre of

Christianity

. On his second missionary journey,

Paul

of Tarsus

, born a Hellenized Israelite, preached in the city’s synagogue,

the chief synagogue of the Jews in that part of Thessaloniki, and laid the

foundations of a church. Other Jews opposed to Paul drove him from the city, and

he fled to

Veroia

. Paul wrote two of his

epistles

to the Christian community at Thessalonica, the

First Epistle to the Thessalonians

and the

Second Epistle to the Thessalonians

.

Thessaloníki acquired a patron saint,

St. Demetrius

, in 306. He is credited with a number of miracles that saved

the city, and was the Roman

Proconsul

of Greece under the anti-Christian emperor

Maximian
,

later martyred at a Roman prison where today lies the

Church of St. Demetrius

, first built by the Roman sub-prefect of

Illyricum

Leontios in 463. Other important remains from this period include

the

Arch and Tomb of Galerius

, located near the centre of the modern city.