Roma Numismatics Ltd
Auction XIX 26-27 Mar 2020
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Crete, Tylisos AR Stater. Circa 320-270 BC. Head of Hera to right, wearing pendant earring and stephanos decorated with palmettes / Apollo standing to left, right leg advanced, holding bow in left hand and goat's head in outstretched right hand; small laurel tree before, TYΛIΣON (retrograde) to right. Svoronos 1, pl. XXX, 29 (same dies); Le Rider, Crétoises pl. VI, 17; BMC 1; Jameson 2526; SNG Delepierre 2433. 11.16g, 26mm, 12h.
Extremely Fine; attractive old cabinet tone. Extremely Rare; one of only six coins of this city offered at auction in the past 20 years, and the finest of these by a considerable margin.
From the David Freedman Collection;
Privately purchased from London Coin Galleries Ltd., 20 March 2015;
Ex private European Collection.
So little is known in detail about ancient Cretan poleis and even less is known of Tylisos, to the extent that Svoronos declared that if it weren't for its coinage, it may never have been known that it was on Crete at all (Svronos, J., Numismatique de la Crete Ancienne, p.328). Although some advances in our knowledge have been made since Svoronos' day, even then his statement was an exaggeration, though not by much. The earliest certain reference to Tylisos as a polis occurs very late on, in an agreement with Miletos (Milet. I.3 140.1, 36) dated to C.259-250 BC, and its location today is only confirmed by good fortune since it is one of the few Cretan places that retains its ancient name, largely on account of its utter insignificance in the centuries that followed. Both Pliny and Solinus mention Tylisos in their works (the latter citing it as one of the four most important cities on Crete), but both under the erroneous corrupted name of Gylisson.
Excavated in stages between 1909 and 1971, the site of Tylissos was evidently in use from Early Minoan II to Late Minoan IIIA, but it seems likely that the Polis town of Tylisos was in the vicinity of the Minoan town but not necessarily occupying the same precise spot – all that remains of the later settlement are a monumental altar and temenos wall. Surviving agreements between Knossos, Tylisos and Argos demonstrate that Argos played the role of mediator and guarantor of treaties between the two Cretan cities; this part of Crete had been settled by Argive colonists, and Tylissos appears to have been a protectorate of Argos (See W. Merrill, Τὸ πλῆθος in a treaty confirming the affairs of Argos, Knossos and Tylisos, CQ 41, 1991). The Argive affiliation is corroborated and observable in the obverse type of this, the earliest known coinage type of the city – the depiction of the head of Hera is in form and style near-identical to that employed on the staters of Argos struck circa 370-350 BC (cf. BCD Peloponnesos 1062-66ff) where, at the Argive Heraion, the cult of Hera had its principal centre on the Greek mainland (though ironically it is argued that the cult of Hera originally arrived on the Greek mainland from Minoan Crete (see R.F. Willets, The Civilization of Ancient Crete, 1977).
The portrayal of Hera on the obverse of this stater moreover confirms its production in geographical and cultural proximity to Knossos, with whom Tylisos was in alliance in the Classical period, and at whose mint similar depcitions of Hera may be found (see lot 356). Influence from the Peloponnesos is further indicated in the reverse iconography: Apollo Karneios, a distinctly Dorian aspect of the god, was common to all Dorian Greeks who associated Apollo with shepherds, cultivation and the beginning of the harvest season both in a literal sense and in a spiritual one relating to the ultimate release of the cultivated soul at death.
Extremely Fine; attractive old cabinet tone. Extremely Rare; one of only six coins of this city offered at auction in the past 20 years, and the finest of these by a considerable margin.
From the David Freedman Collection;
Privately purchased from London Coin Galleries Ltd., 20 March 2015;
Ex private European Collection.
So little is known in detail about ancient Cretan poleis and even less is known of Tylisos, to the extent that Svoronos declared that if it weren't for its coinage, it may never have been known that it was on Crete at all (Svronos, J., Numismatique de la Crete Ancienne, p.328). Although some advances in our knowledge have been made since Svoronos' day, even then his statement was an exaggeration, though not by much. The earliest certain reference to Tylisos as a polis occurs very late on, in an agreement with Miletos (Milet. I.3 140.1, 36) dated to C.259-250 BC, and its location today is only confirmed by good fortune since it is one of the few Cretan places that retains its ancient name, largely on account of its utter insignificance in the centuries that followed. Both Pliny and Solinus mention Tylisos in their works (the latter citing it as one of the four most important cities on Crete), but both under the erroneous corrupted name of Gylisson.
Excavated in stages between 1909 and 1971, the site of Tylissos was evidently in use from Early Minoan II to Late Minoan IIIA, but it seems likely that the Polis town of Tylisos was in the vicinity of the Minoan town but not necessarily occupying the same precise spot – all that remains of the later settlement are a monumental altar and temenos wall. Surviving agreements between Knossos, Tylisos and Argos demonstrate that Argos played the role of mediator and guarantor of treaties between the two Cretan cities; this part of Crete had been settled by Argive colonists, and Tylissos appears to have been a protectorate of Argos (See W. Merrill, Τὸ πλῆθος in a treaty confirming the affairs of Argos, Knossos and Tylisos, CQ 41, 1991). The Argive affiliation is corroborated and observable in the obverse type of this, the earliest known coinage type of the city – the depiction of the head of Hera is in form and style near-identical to that employed on the staters of Argos struck circa 370-350 BC (cf. BCD Peloponnesos 1062-66ff) where, at the Argive Heraion, the cult of Hera had its principal centre on the Greek mainland (though ironically it is argued that the cult of Hera originally arrived on the Greek mainland from Minoan Crete (see R.F. Willets, The Civilization of Ancient Crete, 1977).
The portrayal of Hera on the obverse of this stater moreover confirms its production in geographical and cultural proximity to Knossos, with whom Tylisos was in alliance in the Classical period, and at whose mint similar depcitions of Hera may be found (see lot 356). Influence from the Peloponnesos is further indicated in the reverse iconography: Apollo Karneios, a distinctly Dorian aspect of the god, was common to all Dorian Greeks who associated Apollo with shepherds, cultivation and the beginning of the harvest season both in a literal sense and in a spiritual one relating to the ultimate release of the cultivated soul at death.