Roma Numismatics Ltd
Auction X 27 September 2015
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Ionia, Magnesia ad Maeandrum AR Tetradrachm. Circa 350-325 BC. Rhodian standard. Lykomedes, magistrate. Helmeted and cuirassed cavalryman on horseback, galloping right, holding lance in right hand, cloak flowing behind / Bull charging left; ΜΑΓΝ above, ΛΥΚΟΜΗΔ below; all within circular maeander pattern. Imhoof-Blumer (1901) p. 76, 3; SNG Kayhan 409 (but magistrate's name differently arranged). 15.10g, 25mm, 11h.
Good Extremely Fine. Beautifully vivid iridescent toning. Very Rare.
From the Ambrose Collection;
Ex A. Tkalec, 18 February 2002, lot 62.
A city of ancient founding, Magnesia was originally settled sometime in the second milennium BC by Magnetes from Thessaly, from whom the city took its name, along with some Cretans. According to myth, the settlers were soldiers from Agamemnon's army, disbanded after the Trojan War. It occupied a commercially and strategically important position in the triangle of Priene, Ephesus and Tralleis. The city evidently grew in wealth and power relatively quickly, as in the 7th century it was already strong enough to challenge Ephesus and go to war with that city. According to Strabo, citing Archilochos, at some point around 650 BC the city was taken and destroyed by Kimmerians. Strabo also relates that the site was annexed by Miletos, who may have been responsible for its reconstruction (though Athenaeus gives a conflicting account, attributing the reconstruction to Ephesos). Regardless, the city was evidently rebuilt by 547/6, when it was plundered by Mazares and subjected to Persian dominion.
The earliest coinage currently attributed to Magnesia appears to have been that issued by the exiled Athenian statesman and general Themistokles, who, having been cast out of his homeland, offered his services to his former enemy Artaxerxes. The Persian king was so elated at the offer of service from such a dangerous and illustrious foe, that he made Themistokles the governor of the district of Magnesia, and assigned him the revenue of not only that city, but also Myos and Lampksakos. Following the death of Themistokles, no further coinage appears to have been issued by Magnesia for possibly as much as a century, before the present issue of tetradrachms, didrachms and drachms.
In 398 BC the city was moved from its original location at the confluence of the Meander and the Lethaeus, one of its tributaries, to its present location by Thibron who, at Pergamon, had succeeded Xenophon as commander of the Ten Thousand.
Good Extremely Fine. Beautifully vivid iridescent toning. Very Rare.
From the Ambrose Collection;
Ex A. Tkalec, 18 February 2002, lot 62.
A city of ancient founding, Magnesia was originally settled sometime in the second milennium BC by Magnetes from Thessaly, from whom the city took its name, along with some Cretans. According to myth, the settlers were soldiers from Agamemnon's army, disbanded after the Trojan War. It occupied a commercially and strategically important position in the triangle of Priene, Ephesus and Tralleis. The city evidently grew in wealth and power relatively quickly, as in the 7th century it was already strong enough to challenge Ephesus and go to war with that city. According to Strabo, citing Archilochos, at some point around 650 BC the city was taken and destroyed by Kimmerians. Strabo also relates that the site was annexed by Miletos, who may have been responsible for its reconstruction (though Athenaeus gives a conflicting account, attributing the reconstruction to Ephesos). Regardless, the city was evidently rebuilt by 547/6, when it was plundered by Mazares and subjected to Persian dominion.
The earliest coinage currently attributed to Magnesia appears to have been that issued by the exiled Athenian statesman and general Themistokles, who, having been cast out of his homeland, offered his services to his former enemy Artaxerxes. The Persian king was so elated at the offer of service from such a dangerous and illustrious foe, that he made Themistokles the governor of the district of Magnesia, and assigned him the revenue of not only that city, but also Myos and Lampksakos. Following the death of Themistokles, no further coinage appears to have been issued by Magnesia for possibly as much as a century, before the present issue of tetradrachms, didrachms and drachms.
In 398 BC the city was moved from its original location at the confluence of the Meander and the Lethaeus, one of its tributaries, to its present location by Thibron who, at Pergamon, had succeeded Xenophon as commander of the Ten Thousand.