Roma Numismatics Ltd
Auction XXI 24-25 Mar 2021
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Macedon, Chalkidian League AR Tetradrachm. Olynthos, circa 382-379 BC. Laureate head of Apollo to left / Kithara of seven strings, Α-Μ in tiny letters on left and right uprights, XAΛKIΔEΩN around; all within incuse square. Robinson & Clement Group H, 18 bis (A17/P16); Boston MFA 576; SNG ANS -; HGC 3.1, 498. 14.02g, 25mm, 12h.
Extremely Fine; attractive old cabinet tone.
Ex Gorny & Mosch Giessener Münzhandlung, Auction 195, 7 March 2011, lot 123.
The extensive 'Group H' coinage appears to have been produced in order to finance the Olynthian war effort against a Spartan campaign to subdue the city and dissolve the Chalkidian League in 382-379 BC.
Amid continuous Illyrian invasions along the northern border of Macedon, in around 385 BC Amyntas III once more mortgaged certain territories, this time formally to the Chalkidian League. By 382 the League had absorbed most of the Greek cities west of the river Strymon, and unlike in 392, it was reluctant to return control of the Macedonian territories that Amyntas had transferred to its control, which included the capital at Pella.
Amyntas now sought the aid of Sparta against the growing threat of the Chalkidian League; his disposition was shared by the cities of Akanthos and Apollonia, who anticipated imminent conquest by the League. Sparta, keen to reassert its presence in northern Greece, consented and a force of 10,000 was mobilised and dispatched against the League. An advance force of 2,000 under Eudamidas succeeded in separating Potidaea from the League; meanwhile the main force under Teleutias, brother of the Spartan king Agesilaos II, proceeded slowly, being augmented by allied contingents as it went. Teleutias thus arrived in Olynthian territory at the head of a substantial army and won an initial victory outside the city walls of Olynthos. In the spring of 381 however, Teleutias allowed himself to be drawn in too close to the walls, whereupon his forces came under missile fire and were routed with heavy losses by an Olynthian sortie, Teleutias himself being killed in the engagement.
With the death of Teleutias, command passed to king Agesipolis I, who in 380 recommenced operations against the League, taking the city of Toroni in an assault. Agesipolis' success was short-lived however, as he was seized with fever and died within seven days. After three years of protracted but indecisive warfare, Olynthos consented to dissolve the Chalkidian League, though this dissolution appears to have been little more than a token formality, since in the following year the League appears among the members of the Athenian naval confederacy, and twenty years later Demosthenes reported the power of the League as being much greater than before the Spartan expedition. Olynthos itself is at this time spoken of as a city of the first rank, and the Chalkidian League then comprised thirty-two cities.
Extremely Fine; attractive old cabinet tone.
Ex Gorny & Mosch Giessener Münzhandlung, Auction 195, 7 March 2011, lot 123.
The extensive 'Group H' coinage appears to have been produced in order to finance the Olynthian war effort against a Spartan campaign to subdue the city and dissolve the Chalkidian League in 382-379 BC.
Amid continuous Illyrian invasions along the northern border of Macedon, in around 385 BC Amyntas III once more mortgaged certain territories, this time formally to the Chalkidian League. By 382 the League had absorbed most of the Greek cities west of the river Strymon, and unlike in 392, it was reluctant to return control of the Macedonian territories that Amyntas had transferred to its control, which included the capital at Pella.
Amyntas now sought the aid of Sparta against the growing threat of the Chalkidian League; his disposition was shared by the cities of Akanthos and Apollonia, who anticipated imminent conquest by the League. Sparta, keen to reassert its presence in northern Greece, consented and a force of 10,000 was mobilised and dispatched against the League. An advance force of 2,000 under Eudamidas succeeded in separating Potidaea from the League; meanwhile the main force under Teleutias, brother of the Spartan king Agesilaos II, proceeded slowly, being augmented by allied contingents as it went. Teleutias thus arrived in Olynthian territory at the head of a substantial army and won an initial victory outside the city walls of Olynthos. In the spring of 381 however, Teleutias allowed himself to be drawn in too close to the walls, whereupon his forces came under missile fire and were routed with heavy losses by an Olynthian sortie, Teleutias himself being killed in the engagement.
With the death of Teleutias, command passed to king Agesipolis I, who in 380 recommenced operations against the League, taking the city of Toroni in an assault. Agesipolis' success was short-lived however, as he was seized with fever and died within seven days. After three years of protracted but indecisive warfare, Olynthos consented to dissolve the Chalkidian League, though this dissolution appears to have been little more than a token formality, since in the following year the League appears among the members of the Athenian naval confederacy, and twenty years later Demosthenes reported the power of the League as being much greater than before the Spartan expedition. Olynthos itself is at this time spoken of as a city of the first rank, and the Chalkidian League then comprised thirty-two cities.