Roma Numismatics Ltd
Auction XVIII 29 Sep 2019
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Aitolia, Aitolian League AR Tetradrachm. Circa 238-228 BC. Head of Herakles right, wearing lion-skin headdress / Aitolos seated to right on Macedonian shield which rests on pile of Gallic shields inscribed A and ΛY and carnyx, holding spear and sword; ΑΙΤΩΛΩΝ to left, monogram to right. Tsangari, D.I., Corpus des monnaies d'or, d'argent et de bronze de la Confederation Étolienne, Athens, 2007, 505; BCD Akarnania 433; BMC 4. 17.10g, 29mm, 10h.
Extremely Fine. Very Rare, and very well preserved for the type.
Acquired from Morton & Eden Ltd.
One of the earliest issues of the Aitolian League, the symbolism in the reverse type of this tetradrachm is specific and boastful: the Gallic arms on which Aitolos is seated reference the League's part in the defeat of the Celtic invasion of Greece in 279 BC, when the sanctuary at Delphi was threatened and after which sculptures were dedicated in the Temple of Apollo at Delphi, while the single Macedonian shield has been noted as an allusion to an Aitolian victory over the Macedonians in 314 BC and their continued general opposition to the expansionist tendencies of the kingdom.
Indeed, only a few years after this type was struck and by the end of the 220s, Greece was effectively split between two great alliances - the Aitolian League on the one hand formed by the Aitolian states, Athens, Elis and Sparta, and the Hellenic Symmachy on the other, which was principally controlled by Philip V of Macedon, and Epeiros, though it also included the Achaian League and Boiotia. The Social War (or the War of the Allies, as it was also known, but not to be confused with the Romano-Italic war of the same name), was fought from 220 BC to 217 BC between these two opposing powers.
Extremely Fine. Very Rare, and very well preserved for the type.
Acquired from Morton & Eden Ltd.
One of the earliest issues of the Aitolian League, the symbolism in the reverse type of this tetradrachm is specific and boastful: the Gallic arms on which Aitolos is seated reference the League's part in the defeat of the Celtic invasion of Greece in 279 BC, when the sanctuary at Delphi was threatened and after which sculptures were dedicated in the Temple of Apollo at Delphi, while the single Macedonian shield has been noted as an allusion to an Aitolian victory over the Macedonians in 314 BC and their continued general opposition to the expansionist tendencies of the kingdom.
Indeed, only a few years after this type was struck and by the end of the 220s, Greece was effectively split between two great alliances - the Aitolian League on the one hand formed by the Aitolian states, Athens, Elis and Sparta, and the Hellenic Symmachy on the other, which was principally controlled by Philip V of Macedon, and Epeiros, though it also included the Achaian League and Boiotia. The Social War (or the War of the Allies, as it was also known, but not to be confused with the Romano-Italic war of the same name), was fought from 220 BC to 217 BC between these two opposing powers.