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Thrace, Apollonia Pontika
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Sear 1655 var., SNG BM Black Sea 160-61; SNG Cop. 457, Topanov p. 347-8
AR drachm, 13-15 mm. Mid-late 4th century B.C.
Obv: Facing gorgoneion, spiral ornament [snakes?] below
Rev: Upright anchor; A and crawfish to left and right.
Around 610 B.C., Ionian Greeks from Miletos established an outpost on the western Black Sea coast called Antheia. The city prospered, and in the late 5th century B.C. it commissioned the Greek sculptor Kalamis of Boeotia to cast a 13 ton, 10 meter high, bronze statue of Apollo for its new temple of Apollo. The temple was so popular that the city was renamed Apollonia in its honor.
The gorgoneion (severed head of the gorgon Medusa) was a popular apotropaic device, seen as warding off evil. The anchor and the crayfish attest to the city’s reliance on maritime commerce for its economy.
In 342/1 BC, Philip II attacked and conquered Apollonia as well as other towns in Thrace, incorporating them into the Macedonian realm. The Gorgoneion/Anchor silver drachms were struck in the period preceding this event, when the city needed to produce coinage to finance its defense against the impending Macedonian invasion. Philip’s conquest ended the city’s autonomous silver coinage.
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![Thrace, Apollonia Pontika
Sear 1655 var., SNG BM Black Sea 160-61; SNG Cop. 457, Topanov p. 347-8
AR drachm, 13-15 mm. Mid-late 4th century B.C.
Obv: Facing gorgoneion, spiral ornament [snakes?] below
Rev: Upright anchor; A and crawfish to left and right.
Around 610 B.C., Ionian Greeks from Miletos established an outpost on the western Black Sea coast called Antheia. The city prospered, and in the late 5th century B.C. it commissioned the Greek sculptor Kalamis of Boeotia to cast a 13 ton, 10 meter high, bronze statue of Apollo for its new temple of Apollo. The temple was so popular that the city was renamed Apollonia in its honor.
The gorgoneion (severed head of the gorgon Medusa) was a popular apotropaic device, seen as warding off evil. The anchor and the crayfish attest to the city’s reliance on maritime commerce for its economy.
In 342/1 BC, Philip II attacked and conquered Apollonia as well as other towns in Thrace, incorporating them into the Macedonian realm. The Gorgoneion/Anchor silver drachms were struck in the period preceding this event, when the city needed to produce coinage to finance its defense against the impending Macedonian invasion. Philip’s conquest ended the city’s autonomous silver coinage.](albums/userpics/22787/normal_GRK_Apollonia_Pontika.JPG "Click to view full size image
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Thrace, Apollonia Pontika
Sear 1655 var., SNG BM Black Sea 160-61; SNG Cop. 457, Topanov p. 347-8
AR drachm, 13-15 mm. Mid-late 4th century B.C.
Obv: Facing gorgoneion, spiral ornament [snakes?] below
Rev: Upright anchor; A and crawfish to left and right.
Around 610 B.C., Ionian Greeks from Miletos established an outpost on the western Black Sea coast called Antheia. The city prospered, and in the late 5th century B.C. it commissioned the Greek sculptor Kalamis of Boeotia to cast a 13 ton, 10 meter high, bronze statue of Apollo for its new temple of Apollo. The temple was so popular that the city was renamed Apollonia in its honor.
The gorgoneion (severed head of the gorgon Medusa) was a popular apotropaic device, seen as warding off evil. The anchor and the crayfish attest to the city’s reliance on maritime commerce for its economy.
In 342/1 BC, Philip II attacked and conquered Apollonia as well as other towns in Thrace, incorporating them into the Macedonian realm. The Gorgoneion/Anchor silver drachms were struck in the period preceding this event, when the city needed to produce coinage to finance its defense against the impending Macedonian invasion. Philip’s conquest ended the city’s autonomous silver coinage.")
