Numismatica Ars Classica
Auction 126 17 Nov 2021
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Colophon
Tetradrachm circa 155-145, AR 16.56 g. Laureate head of Apollo r. Rev. ΚΟΛΟΦΩΝΙΩΝ Apollo Clarius standing r. with filleted branch and r. hand placed on lyre, all within laurel wreath. SNG von Aulock 7916. Waddington 1489. Milne, Colophon 164.
Exceedingly rare, only very few specimens known. Struck on a full flan and extremely fine
Ex NAC sale 59, 2011, 618.
Though separate from the prodigious issues of stephanophoroi of Myrina, located some fifty miles to the north, this example from Colophon must have been produced with dies engraved by an artist responsible for producing dies at Myrina. The stylistic affinities are undoubted, both for obverse and reverse, and the fabric suggests the Colophon coin was struck at the same facility that was striking for Myrina. The nature of such a cooperative effort is a matter of conjecture. However, both coinages celebrate an oracle of Apollo and we might suspect that this alone was sufficient. The familiar issue of Myrina depicts Apollo Grynius holding a phiale and a filleted branch, with an omphalus and an amphora at his feet, whereas that of Colophon shows Apollo Clarius in the same advancing pose, also holding a filleted branch and placing his right hand on a lyre. The inscriptions to the left of the figures, of course, differ, as each identifies its minting authority. Apollo Clarius, whose shrine was in the oracular sanctuary in the vicinity of Colophon, was famous in both Greek and Roman times. Its shrine existed far back into Greek history, and is mentioned in one of the Homeric Hymns to Artemis. Its popularity persisted, and may have reached its peak in the 2nd Century A.D. Inscriptions originating from or relating to the oracle have been found as far away as Dalmatia, Olbia, Rome, Sardinia, Algeria and Britain. The sanctuary was located less than ten miles from Colophon, and was much closer to Notion, the port of Colophon that sometimes was called "Colophon-on-Sea" or "New Colophon". The original city had been magnificent in the late Archaic period, but it was greatly reduced by Lysimachus, who forced its people to relocate to Notion or to Ephesus. Thereafter, Colophon was of no importance, and the Ephesians apparently made an effort to assure it did not recover. The ill-fortune of the old city, however, did not prevent Notion from thriving as a port, and did not prevent the activities of the oracle at Clarius. Archaeological work has revealed much about the structure and inner-workings of the precinct, which today is partly submerged. The temple of Apollo had beneath its cella the innermost shrine, the adyton, accessed by passageways lined with blue marble. The adyton was comprised of two vaulted chambers, one of which had benches, a statue of the seated Apollo and the sacred omphalus of blue stone. In this chamber the prophet, the thespoidos and scribes awaited the appropriate hour of the evening, when the prophet entered a second chamber in complete darkness. In that most sacred chamber he drank from a rectangular well that contained water from the subterranean fountain at the core of the shrine. He recited poetry prepared by the thespiodos and performed sacred customs, after which he answered in verse questions posed by those seeking predictions of the future. The sanctuary, built upon a narrow tract in a valley, had important buildings other than the temple of Apollo, including a smaller, Ionic temple devoted to Apollo's sister Artemis, a stone sundial, and a square, Doric-style propylon at the edge of the precinct's sacred woods, through which delegations that had arrived by sea would approach.
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Tetradrachm circa 155-145, AR 16.56 g. Laureate head of Apollo r. Rev. ΚΟΛΟΦΩΝΙΩΝ Apollo Clarius standing r. with filleted branch and r. hand placed on lyre, all within laurel wreath. SNG von Aulock 7916. Waddington 1489. Milne, Colophon 164.
Exceedingly rare, only very few specimens known. Struck on a full flan and extremely fine
Ex NAC sale 59, 2011, 618.
Though separate from the prodigious issues of stephanophoroi of Myrina, located some fifty miles to the north, this example from Colophon must have been produced with dies engraved by an artist responsible for producing dies at Myrina. The stylistic affinities are undoubted, both for obverse and reverse, and the fabric suggests the Colophon coin was struck at the same facility that was striking for Myrina. The nature of such a cooperative effort is a matter of conjecture. However, both coinages celebrate an oracle of Apollo and we might suspect that this alone was sufficient. The familiar issue of Myrina depicts Apollo Grynius holding a phiale and a filleted branch, with an omphalus and an amphora at his feet, whereas that of Colophon shows Apollo Clarius in the same advancing pose, also holding a filleted branch and placing his right hand on a lyre. The inscriptions to the left of the figures, of course, differ, as each identifies its minting authority. Apollo Clarius, whose shrine was in the oracular sanctuary in the vicinity of Colophon, was famous in both Greek and Roman times. Its shrine existed far back into Greek history, and is mentioned in one of the Homeric Hymns to Artemis. Its popularity persisted, and may have reached its peak in the 2nd Century A.D. Inscriptions originating from or relating to the oracle have been found as far away as Dalmatia, Olbia, Rome, Sardinia, Algeria and Britain. The sanctuary was located less than ten miles from Colophon, and was much closer to Notion, the port of Colophon that sometimes was called "Colophon-on-Sea" or "New Colophon". The original city had been magnificent in the late Archaic period, but it was greatly reduced by Lysimachus, who forced its people to relocate to Notion or to Ephesus. Thereafter, Colophon was of no importance, and the Ephesians apparently made an effort to assure it did not recover. The ill-fortune of the old city, however, did not prevent Notion from thriving as a port, and did not prevent the activities of the oracle at Clarius. Archaeological work has revealed much about the structure and inner-workings of the precinct, which today is partly submerged. The temple of Apollo had beneath its cella the innermost shrine, the adyton, accessed by passageways lined with blue marble. The adyton was comprised of two vaulted chambers, one of which had benches, a statue of the seated Apollo and the sacred omphalus of blue stone. In this chamber the prophet, the thespoidos and scribes awaited the appropriate hour of the evening, when the prophet entered a second chamber in complete darkness. In that most sacred chamber he drank from a rectangular well that contained water from the subterranean fountain at the core of the shrine. He recited poetry prepared by the thespiodos and performed sacred customs, after which he answered in verse questions posed by those seeking predictions of the future. The sanctuary, built upon a narrow tract in a valley, had important buildings other than the temple of Apollo, including a smaller, Ionic temple devoted to Apollo's sister Artemis, a stone sundial, and a square, Doric-style propylon at the edge of the precinct's sacred woods, through which delegations that had arrived by sea would approach.
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