Numismatica Ars Classica
Auction 124 23 Jun 2021
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The Cyclades, Melos.
Stater circa 425-415, AR 14.09 g. Apple with stem. Rev. M – A – Λ – I – C – N Triskeles around a large central pellet, all within a dotted circle within a shallow incuse circle. Babelon, Traité pl. CCXLII, 5 (this reverse die). Jameson 1287 (this reverse die). McClean 7264, pl. 246.8 (this reverse die). SNG Lockett 2613. C.M. Kraay, 'The Melos Hoard of 1907 re-examined', NC 1964, p. 7, 29d (this coin).
Extremely rare and in unusually fine condition for this difficult issue. Light
iridescent tone, minor areas of porosity, otherwise good very fine
Ex Hirsch XXIX, 1910, Lambros 605; Leu 15, 1976, 255; and M&M 76, 1991, 741 sales. From the Melos Hoard, 1907 (IGCH 27).
As with many Archaic and Classical Greek coins, this extremely rare and exceptionally beautiful silver stater of Melos features a canting or punning type representing the name of the issuing city. Here the obverse type is an apple, which in Greek is melon (also the origin of the word melon in English). Although the coin is very attractive and desirable, it memorializes an extremely dark period in the history of both Melos and Athens.
Melos was originally founded by Dorian Greek colonists from Lacedaemon (Sparta) and therefore, when the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BC) broke out between the Athenian-dominated Delian League and the Spartan-led Peloponnesian League, the Melians contributed to the Peloponnesian War chest. In 426/5 BC the Athenians ravaged the countryside around Melos and demanded that the city become a tributary member of the Delian League. The Melians, however, claimed neutrality and refused to submit to Athens. To this day historians still dispute whether the Melians were in fact staying out of the conflict or if they were supporting the Peloponnesian war effort. If the latter, coins like the present piece may have been used in whatever contributions were made to Sparta.
Whether Melian neutrality was real or feigned, the city managed to get away with defying Athens for a decade, until the summer of 416 BC. In this summer, the Athenians returned to Melos in force and reiterated their previous demand. When the Melians again refused to submit, the Athenians besieged the city. The siege dragged on for months with the Melians making several sorties and even managing to capture part of the Athenian circumvallation walls at one point. At last, in the winter of 416/15 BC, the city fell and the Athenians exacted a horrific revenge to send a message to all cities who might consider rebellion in future. They ordered the execution of all adult male Melians and sold the women and children into slavery. The terrible pragmatism involved in the total destruction of the Melians was later immortalized by Thucydides in the so-called "Melian Dialogue," an imagined dialogue between a Melian and an Athenian envoy at the beginning of the siege.
Stater circa 425-415, AR 14.09 g. Apple with stem. Rev. M – A – Λ – I – C – N Triskeles around a large central pellet, all within a dotted circle within a shallow incuse circle. Babelon, Traité pl. CCXLII, 5 (this reverse die). Jameson 1287 (this reverse die). McClean 7264, pl. 246.8 (this reverse die). SNG Lockett 2613. C.M. Kraay, 'The Melos Hoard of 1907 re-examined', NC 1964, p. 7, 29d (this coin).
Extremely rare and in unusually fine condition for this difficult issue. Light
iridescent tone, minor areas of porosity, otherwise good very fine
Ex Hirsch XXIX, 1910, Lambros 605; Leu 15, 1976, 255; and M&M 76, 1991, 741 sales. From the Melos Hoard, 1907 (IGCH 27).
As with many Archaic and Classical Greek coins, this extremely rare and exceptionally beautiful silver stater of Melos features a canting or punning type representing the name of the issuing city. Here the obverse type is an apple, which in Greek is melon (also the origin of the word melon in English). Although the coin is very attractive and desirable, it memorializes an extremely dark period in the history of both Melos and Athens.
Melos was originally founded by Dorian Greek colonists from Lacedaemon (Sparta) and therefore, when the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BC) broke out between the Athenian-dominated Delian League and the Spartan-led Peloponnesian League, the Melians contributed to the Peloponnesian War chest. In 426/5 BC the Athenians ravaged the countryside around Melos and demanded that the city become a tributary member of the Delian League. The Melians, however, claimed neutrality and refused to submit to Athens. To this day historians still dispute whether the Melians were in fact staying out of the conflict or if they were supporting the Peloponnesian war effort. If the latter, coins like the present piece may have been used in whatever contributions were made to Sparta.
Whether Melian neutrality was real or feigned, the city managed to get away with defying Athens for a decade, until the summer of 416 BC. In this summer, the Athenians returned to Melos in force and reiterated their previous demand. When the Melians again refused to submit, the Athenians besieged the city. The siege dragged on for months with the Melians making several sorties and even managing to capture part of the Athenian circumvallation walls at one point. At last, in the winter of 416/15 BC, the city fell and the Athenians exacted a horrific revenge to send a message to all cities who might consider rebellion in future. They ordered the execution of all adult male Melians and sold the women and children into slavery. The terrible pragmatism involved in the total destruction of the Melians was later immortalized by Thucydides in the so-called "Melian Dialogue," an imagined dialogue between a Melian and an Athenian envoy at the beginning of the siege.