The voting pebble of AthenaMy
Christmas gift for the Forum's
members!
The coin:Pamphylia,
Side,
Valerian II,
Caesar Ad 256-258, son of
GallienusAE 30, 18.04g
obv. POV LIK KOR OVALERIANON KAI
CEBBust, draped and
cuirassed, bare-headed, r.; beneath
eagle, standing r., with opened wings and
head r.
c/m E in circular
incus (
Howgego 805)
rev. CIDHTWN - NEWKORWN
Athena (Sidetes), helmeted and wearing narrow
peplos, stg. facing,
head l., holding palmbranch over l. shoulder and dropping voting pebble with r. hand into
amphora with two handles l. beside her; r. beside her a branch with a pomegranate.
ref.:
cf. SNG Pfälzer Privatsammlungen 882 (
Gallienus); probably unpublished
F/about VF, rough
obv.,
rev. with slight strike weakness and distinct circular traces of the ancient
smoothing process.
The E of the c/m should probably devaluate the coin from 10 units to 5 units.
Coins from
Side often show pomegranates because 'side' in Pamphylian means 'pomegranate'.
Mythology:When you
search for information for the motive 'Athena with voting pebble' you unevitably come across the myth of Orestes who became the slayer of
his mother Klytaimnestra. To understand the problems I have to give a short review of the cursed House of the Atrides.
The story starts with Tantalos who - to test the wisdom of the gods - slaughters
his son Pelops and served him as meal for the gods. No one touched it except Demeter who was deep in thoughts about her daughter
Persephone. She ate a piece of
his shoulder which was replaced by ebony when Pelops was brought to life again by
Zeus. Tantalos was banished to the Tartaros to
his eternal penalty.
Pelops himself was a bad boy too. When he went to Elis as suitor of Hippodameia, daughter of King Oinomaos, he convinced Myrtilos, a son of
Hermes, who was the stablemaster of Oinomaos, to manipulate Oinomaos'
chariot so that it broke in the racing and Pelops won Hippodameia. But instead to give Myrtilos the arranged pay he pushed him from a rock into the sea and killed him.
Hermes swore to take revenge on
his family. Pelops married Hippodameia and named
his new
home country Peleponnesos (Pelop's island).
Atreus was the son of Pelops. Together with
his brother Thyestes he killed
his second brother Chrysippos. Because of this murder both are banished by Pelops and they went to Argos. There Atreus deceived the goddess
Artemis of a golden
lamb. But because
his wife Aerope has a love affair with
his brother Thyestes this golden
lamb secretly got to Thyestes. When the Mykenians wanted to choose one of them to their king Atreus proposed as candidate who could show a golden
lamb. But this was surprisingly for him Thyestes. But
Zeus in anger about this
fraud gave the throne of Mykene to Atreus. After that he gains knowledge of the adultery of
his wife and he decided to take revenge on
his brother Thyestes. Under the pretext to make
his peace with him he invited Thyestes, slaughtered
his sons (this seems to be a popular practice at the Atrides!) and served them to him. Having eaten the meat Atreus showed the cut heads of
his sons to Thyestes and chased him away. Later Atreus married Pelopeia, daughter of Thyestes. She at this time was pregnant by her father and gave birth to Aigisthos. When Aigistos grew up Atreus send off him to kill
his hateful brother Thyestes. But Thyestes recognized
his son Aigisthos and he took revenge on Atreus.
Agamemnon was the son of Atreus and Aerope and brother of Menelaos. After the murder of Atreus Thyestes became king of Mykenai. Agamemnon and Menelaos were saved from Thyestes by their nurse. When they grew up Tyndareos helped them to recover the throne of Mykenai. Agamemnon married Klytaimnestra, the daughter of Tyndareos after having killed her first husband, a son of Thyestes, and her newborne babe. Menelaos married
Helena, the other daughter of Tyndareos. Agamemnon
had three children with Klytaimnestra: Elektra, Orestes and Iphigenia. When Agamemnon was elected leader of the Greek for the war against
Troy the Greek armada couldn't dcross over to
Asia Minor because of a dead calm. The seer Kalchas announced that first
Artemis has to be appeased by sacrificing Iphigenia. Using a cunning - the supposed engagement with
Herakles - Iphigenia was attracted to the camp of the
Greeks with intent to be sacrificed on the
altar. In the last moment she was saved by
Artemis who abducted her and swapped her with a
hind.
After the conquest of
Troy Agamemnon returned to Mykenai with
his lover Kassandra. There Klytaimnestra has lived all the years together with Aigisthos. When Agamemnon took a bath - dirty from
his long
his long voyage - he was slayed by Aigisthos and Klytaimnestra because as well what he has done to her and Iphigenia. After this deed Aigisthos was in great fear at Orestes because he was afraid of
his blood vengeance. But this was just what
Apollo has urged Orestes to. He should take revenge for the murder of
his father Agamemnon. Using a stealth Orestes and
his companion Pylades reached the castle of Aigisthos. They were disguised and brought an
urn with Orestes' ashes to Aigisthos. In the same night they slayed Aigisthos and Orestes - with great concerns - killed
his mother Klytaimnestra.
After the murder of
his mother mother Orestes was chased by the Erinyes, the goddesses of revenge, who didn't leave him in
peace day and night. Today we would call them 'pricks of conscience'. Orestes fled to
Delphi to the temple of
Apollo who has commanded the matricide. He was expiated by
Apollo but this external expiation was not enough. Furthermore he was pressed hard by the Erinyes.
Now
Athena came into play. She challenged Orestes to go to
Athens and to deliver himself up to a court. The Athenians claimed that
Athena should pass the sentence. But
Athena denied that and transferred this task to the Athenians themselfs. She installed a court of jury
members from the citizens of
Athens. This court - named Areopag after the place of assembly - should exist for all times. It consisted of an even number of
men. The judgement was passed by throwing white and black pebbles into an
urn. In the case of a tie
Athena would throw a white pebble - so she announced before the voting - into the
urn. That means in the case of a tie the accused person was free. The
reverse motive of the above coin originates from the time when Orestes has delivered himself up to the jury
men of
Athens.
Athena dropped her voting pebble into the
urn. With it Orestes was absolved. After that
Athena succeeded in convincing the Erinyes of the blessing of this new legal order. So the Erinyes, the goddesses of revenge, changed to Eumenides, the well meaning goddesses.
In Euripides' Iphigenia a
part of the Erinyes could be satisfied not until Orestes brought the
palladion, the wooden statue of
Artemis, from the Taurian country to
Attica freeing
his sister Ipgigenia too. According to the myth Orestes has ruled over Mykenai a long time until he died high aged by the bite of a
snake.
Background:The Atrides became the theme of dramatists from ancient times until today. The
fate of Orestes first was mentioned by
Homer in
his 'Odyssee'. The most famous plays are the tragedies from Aischylos, Sophokles and Euripides. But even Jean Paul Sartre has written 1942
his drame 'Les Mouches' about Orestes. The interpretation and the perception of the bloody deeds differ from author to author. Here my view based mostly on Aischylos. He has arranged the mythological stuff in
his trilogy 'Oresteia', consisting of the plays 'Agamemnon', 'The Choephores' and 'The Eumenides', which have been first performed in 458 BC.
Which superior meaning has the scene in
Athens and why
Athena drops a white pebble in the voting
urn?
Apollo has urged Orestes to perform the matricide to revenge the murder of
his father. We see
Apollo here
still as typical exponent of the archaic blood vengeance.
Athena in contrast at Aischylos is the goddess who introduces an official rational and secular jurisdiction. With the myth of Orestes and the Erinyes we are at the beginning of a cultural turning point, as Aischylos is seeing it. Its not only the
fate of Orestes which matters Aischylos, but he raises the problem to a general level of the
history of mankind. It is a question of
his right of self-determination,
his freedom and
his independence from the control of the gods. An archaic
barbaric era is removed by a new human one. It appears curious that the Erinyes pursued mercilessly the matricide Orestes but didn't care about Klytaimnestra the slayer of her husband. This can be understand only from
chthonic ideas. The son is connected with
his mother by
his blood. But this is not true for Klytaimnestra and
his husband.
Apollo has a very different view on human relationships which go far beyond blood bond because they base on the free will like the marriage. While the Erinyes are pre-hellenic goddesses
Apollo is an olympic god. So already with
Apollo begins the removal of archaic morals but first
Athena introduces the new human social order. And only this saves the
peace of the polis. Therefore we see
Athena on the coin without her spear and
shield but with a palmbranch over her shoulder.
So the
reverse of this coin points to an inportant fundament of each state and human community. Without organized law a human society is not possible. That matches the depiction of several other coins where
Athena is shown as
Boule (Council of the City).
Athena is identified as
Boule. No surprise that we find these depictions mainly in
Asia Minor. Hereby the connection with the Greek motherland becomes particularly clear. And to ascribe the political structures to the mythological greek prehistory gives each city an exceptional significance.
I have found another interesting suggestion for the voting pebble of
Athena by Kirchhoff 1874. He writes that in ancient times at a trial on the Areopag the king too was present but he was not allowed to vote. He
had to drop
his wreath, sign of
his majesty, and became a normal citizen, if he want to drop
his pebble in the
urn. The myth of the voting pebble of
Athena - where even a goddess was voting - gave him the voting right, so to speak mythological justified.
I have added a pic of the Areopag. It is a rocky
hill beneath the Acropolis. Its name means '
hill of Ares'. Here - according to the myth - has been judged over Ares after he has killed Halirrhotios. Halirrhotios has raped a daughter of Ares. Poseidon, father of the killed Halirrhotios, accused Ares for murder. It is said that on one rock the accuser was sitting and on the other rock the defender. But Ares got a non guilty because there couldn't not be found a witness. This was the first trial on the Areopag. The second was the case against Orestes. We see that this description differs from that by Aischylos. The pic is from
http://www.aeria.phil.uni-erlangen.de/ Sourcess:
Hamburger, Käthe, Von Sophokles zu Sartre, Griechische Dramenfiguren antik und modern, 1962
Kirchhoff, Johann Wilhelm Adolf, Zur Frage vom Stimmstein der
Athena,
Berlin 1875
in: Monatsberichte der Königl. Preuss. Akademie der Wissenschaften zu
Berlin, 1874, S.105-115
Kerenyi, Karl,
Prometheus, Die menschliche Existenz in griechischer Deutung, 1959
Karl Kerenyi, Griechische Mythologie
Der Kleine
Pauly Best regards