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Home ▸ Catalog ▸ |Greek Coins| ▸ |Geographic - All Periods| ▸ |Anatolia| ▸ |Ionia| ▸ |Miletos||View Options:   | | |
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| Miletos was an ancient Greek city on the western coast of Anatolia, near the mouth of the Maeander River. Miletos, along with most of Anatolia, was taken from Persia by Alexander the Great in 334 B.C. Miletos' greatest wealth and splendor was reached during the Hellenistic era and Roman times. Its ruins are located near the modern town of Balat in Aydin Province, Turkey. The symbols found on coins of Miletos include the lion, a star, and Apollo. The star may represent the Sun in association with Apollo. |  |
Miletos, Ionia, c. 250 - 190 B.C.
| Didyma, on the coast of Ionia, was the largest and most significant sanctuary in the territory of the great classical city Miletus. It contained a temple and oracle of Apollo, the Didymaion. Next to Delphi, Didyma was the most renowned oracle of the Hellenic world, first mentioned among the Greeks in the Homeric Hymn to Apollo, but an establishment preceding literacy and even the Hellenic colonization of Ionia. The 6th century Didymaion, enclosed its smaller predecessor. Its treasury was enriched by gifts from Croesus. To approach it, visitors would follow the Sacred Way to Didyma, about 17 km long. Along the way, were ritual way stations, and statues of members of the Branchidae family, male and female, as well as animal figures. Some of these statues, dating to the 6th century B.C. are now in the British Museum, taken by Charles Newton in the 19th century. The ruins of Didyma are located at a short distance to the northwest of modern Didim in Aydin Province, Turkey. |  |
Miletos, Ionia, 352 - 325 B.C.
| Miletos was an ancient Greek city on the western coast of Anatolia, near the mouth of the Maeander River. Miletos, along with most of Anatolia, was taken from Persia by Alexander the Great in 334 B.C. Miletos' greatest wealth and splendor was reached during the Hellenistic era and Roman times. Its ruins are located near the modern town of Balat in Aydin Province, Turkey. The symbols found on coins of Miletos include the lion, a star, and Apollo. The star may represent the Sun in association with Apollo. | |
(Miletos monogram) above; reverse stellate ornament, EONOMI∆HΣ (magistrate) around divided by rays; ex FORVM (2009); rare; Miletos, Ionia, c. 250 - 190 B.C.
Today most people think of the lion as strictly an African animal, but it is possible that, when this coin was struck, wild lions roamed near Miletos. An ancient source places them on the nearby island of Samos. The European lion survived in Bulgaria until the 4th or 3rd century B.C., in Macedonia until the 1st century A.D. In mainland Greece most were gone by about 100 A.D. but some survived in Thessaly until the 4th century A.D. It was then that Themistius wrote the lion had disappeared in Thessaly and regretted no more lions could be furnished for beast-shows. In Transcaucasia, the lion was present until the 10th century A.D.GB92025. Bronze AE 12, cf. BMC Ionia p. 191, 74 ff. (various magistrates), SNG Cop 985 (magistrate obscure), SNGvA -, VF, mottled blue-green patina, highlighting buff earthen deposits, nice style, edge crack, weight 0.911 g, maximum diameter 11.6 mm, die axis 0o, Miletos (near Balat, Turkey) mint, c. 250 - 190 B.C.; obverse laureate head of Apollo right; reverse lion standing right, looking back left at star of eight rays above, no exergue line, magistrate's name in exergue (mostly off flan); ex FORVM (2010);
Miletos, Ionia, c. 313 - 290 B.C.
| Didyma, on the coast of Ionia, was the largest and most significant sanctuary in the territory of the great classical city Miletus. It contained a temple and oracle of Apollo, the Didymaion. Next to Delphi, Didyma was the most renowned oracle of the Hellenic world, first mentioned among the Greeks in the Homeric Hymn to Apollo, but an establishment preceding literacy and even the Hellenic colonization of Ionia. The 6th century Didymaion, enclosed its smaller predecessor. Its treasury was enriched by gifts from Croesus. To approach it, visitors would follow the Sacred Way to Didyma, about 17 km long. Along the way, were ritual way stations, and statues of members of the Branchidae family, male and female, as well as animal figures. Some of these statues, dating to the 6th century B.C. are now in the British Museum, taken by Charles Newton in the 19th century. The ruins of Didyma are located at a short distance to the northwest of modern Didim in Aydin Province, Turkey. | |
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