Greek city of Tisna in Aeolis Bronze 16mm (4.31 grams) Struck circa 350-300 B.C. Reference: Sear 4233; Babelon (Traite) pl. 157,24; SNG Copenhagen 283; SNG von Aulock -; SNG München 641; BMC -. Beardless head of horned river-god Tisnaios left. TIΣ / NAION either side of one-handled vase.
Exact site uncertain, but probably on the river Pythikos, east of Kyme and in the vicinity of Aigai.
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River-gods were represented often on Greek, Greek Imperial (Roman Provincial) and Roman Imperial coins, as a personification of a river that flowed through that area, as it was an important feature of a city. The coins of the Roman Republic do not have any representations of river gods. Some river gods represented on ancient coins were that of the Tiber, Nile, Danube and many more. River gods on ancient Roman coins are most often depicted on Roman provincial issues (another term for Greek Imperial). There are also Greek coins that depicted personifications of river-gods usually as the head of that god. On Greek Imperial coins, the river-god is usually depicted reclining, holding reeds, and leaning on over-turned jug from which water flows.
Aeolis or Aeolia 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.
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