Numismatica Ars Classica
Auction 116 1 Oct 2019
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Thessalian League
Hemidrachm circa 470-460, AR 2.86 g. Forepart of horse l.; on body, NA in monogram and partly retrograde. Rev. Φ - Ε Wheat grain within incuse square. SNG Lockett 1609. SNG Ashmolean 3783. BCD Thessaly I, 1002 (this coin). BCD Thessaly II, 3.
Very rare and in exceptional condition for the issue. Lovely old
cabinet tone and about extremely fine
Ex Leu 33, 1983, 301 and Nomos 4, 2011, BCD, 1002 sales.
The Thessalian League was a loose confederacy of Thessalian cities and peoples believed to have been first organized by Aleuas the Red of Larissa in the late sixth century BC as a response to a threatened uprising of the penestai (a Thessalian serf class similar to the helots of Sparta). Leadership of the League remained firmly in the hands of his descendants (the Aleuadai clan) at Larissa until c. 478 BC, when Larissa was punished by the Spartans for its support of the Persians. Pharsalus became the leading city of the Thessalian League thereafter, until 375/4 BC, when Pherai and its tyrants seized leadership of the League. Dislike for the centralizing policies of the Pheraian tyrants led to a bloody conflict between the membership under Aleuadai influence and the tyrants of Pherai that was only brought to an end in 353/2 BC, when Philip II of Macedon crushed the Pheraians at the Battle of Crocus Field and assumed leadership of the Thessalian League. It subsequently became a tool for Philip's larger ambitions in Greece. This hemidrachm belongs to the early period of Pharsalian leadership of the Thessalian League. The horse forepart of the obverse probably represents Skyphios, the first horse, who was said to have sprung from a rock upon which the semen of the sleeping Poseidon fell. Other hemidrachms in the Thessalian League series clearly show the horse forepart emerging from a rock. The reverse features a sprouting grain of wheat and is notable for the use of epichoric (local) letter-forms in the abbreviated inscription. Here the initial theta abbreviating the name of the Thessalians uses a form that in many other parts of central and southern Greece would be used as phi. This illustrates the linguistic and cultural divide that existed between the peoples of Thessaly and their neighbors to the south.
Hemidrachm circa 470-460, AR 2.86 g. Forepart of horse l.; on body, NA in monogram and partly retrograde. Rev. Φ - Ε Wheat grain within incuse square. SNG Lockett 1609. SNG Ashmolean 3783. BCD Thessaly I, 1002 (this coin). BCD Thessaly II, 3.
Very rare and in exceptional condition for the issue. Lovely old
cabinet tone and about extremely fine
Ex Leu 33, 1983, 301 and Nomos 4, 2011, BCD, 1002 sales.
The Thessalian League was a loose confederacy of Thessalian cities and peoples believed to have been first organized by Aleuas the Red of Larissa in the late sixth century BC as a response to a threatened uprising of the penestai (a Thessalian serf class similar to the helots of Sparta). Leadership of the League remained firmly in the hands of his descendants (the Aleuadai clan) at Larissa until c. 478 BC, when Larissa was punished by the Spartans for its support of the Persians. Pharsalus became the leading city of the Thessalian League thereafter, until 375/4 BC, when Pherai and its tyrants seized leadership of the League. Dislike for the centralizing policies of the Pheraian tyrants led to a bloody conflict between the membership under Aleuadai influence and the tyrants of Pherai that was only brought to an end in 353/2 BC, when Philip II of Macedon crushed the Pheraians at the Battle of Crocus Field and assumed leadership of the Thessalian League. It subsequently became a tool for Philip's larger ambitions in Greece. This hemidrachm belongs to the early period of Pharsalian leadership of the Thessalian League. The horse forepart of the obverse probably represents Skyphios, the first horse, who was said to have sprung from a rock upon which the semen of the sleeping Poseidon fell. Other hemidrachms in the Thessalian League series clearly show the horse forepart emerging from a rock. The reverse features a sprouting grain of wheat and is notable for the use of epichoric (local) letter-forms in the abbreviated inscription. Here the initial theta abbreviating the name of the Thessalians uses a form that in many other parts of central and southern Greece would be used as phi. This illustrates the linguistic and cultural divide that existed between the peoples of Thessaly and their neighbors to the south.