Abdera

Abdera, on the southern coast of Thrace, not far from the mouth of the river Nestus, was originally a Clazomenian colony founded in the seventh century B.C. This first venture did not prove a success, but in 544 B.C. the site was reoccupied by the larger portion of the population of Teos, who preferred to leave their native land rather than submit to the Persian conqueror (Herod. i. 168). Abdera rose to be a place of considerable importance and wealth. The griffin as a coin-type at Abdera is clearly copied from that on the coins of the mother-city Teos. It may be borrowed from the cultus of the Hyperborean Apollo. The magistrates whose names occur on the coins of this town were probably members of the governing body, commissioned to superintend the coinage of the state, and not mere monetary magistrates.

Coins from ancient Abdera in the Forum Ancient Coins shop.

References

Burnett, A., M. Amandry, et al. Roman Provincial Coinage. (1992 - ).
Lindgren, H. Ancient Greek Bronze Coins. (Quarryville, 1993).
Lindgren, H. Ancient Greek Bronze Coins: European Mints. (San Mateo, 1989).
May, J. M. F. The Coinage of Abdera (540-345 B.C.). Royal Numismatic Society Special Publication No. 3. (London, 1966).
Macdonald, G. Catalogue of Greek Coins in the Hunterian Collection, University of Glascow. (Glascow, 1899).
Münzer, F. and Max L. Strack. Die antiken Münzen von Thrakien, Die antiken Münzen Nord-Griechenlands Vol. II. (Berlin, 1912).
Poole, R.S. ed. A Catalog of the Greek Coins in the British Museum, Thrace, etc. (London, 1877).
Sear, D. Greek Coins and Their Values, Volume 1: Europe. (London, 1978).
Sylloge Nummorum Graecorum, Austria, Klagenfurt, Landesmuseum für Kärnten, Sammlung Dreer, Part 3: Thracien-Macedonien-Päonien. (Klagenfurt, 1990).
Sylloge Nummorum Graecorum, Denmark, The Royal Collection of Coins and Medals, Danish National Museum, Vol. 2: Macedonia and Thrace. (West Milford, NJ, 1982).
Varbanov, I. Greek Imperial Coins And Their Values, Volume II: Thrace (from Abdera to Pautalia), (English Edition). (Bourgas, Bulgaria, 2005).

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Andalusia, on the shores of the Mediterranean, near the gulf of Almeria. The coins of this place are Latin imperial, middle brass, and 1st brass. A second brass of

Abdera has the laureated head of Tiberius, and is inscribed TI CAESAR DIVI AVG F AVGVSTVS; and on its reverse a tetrastyle temple, of which two of the columns have the forms of fish, between which we read the letters A B D E R A. The characters inscribed in the pediment of the temple, form, according to competent interpreters, the Phoenician word for the city in question. An article, by the late M. Falbe, in a recent number of the Numismatic Chronicle, leaves scarcely a doubt of such being its signification. On this point reference may, with advantage, also be made to the authority of Mr Akerman, who in his scientific and accurate work on "Ancient Coins of Cities and Princes," has given a facsimile illustration of this remarkable coin, from the collection of the British Museum, whence the present wood-cut is faithfully copied. Referring to Athenaeus, lib. vii. c. 17, he observes, that the two singularly formed columns are supposed to represent the tunny fish, which abounded on the shores of the Mediterranean, and were sacred to Neptune, to whom it was the practice of the fishermen to offer one as a propitiation. Abdera Baeticae seems to have been one of the few colonies established by Tiberius, although it does not, as Vaillant remarks, appear to have been honored with the rank either of Colonia or of Municipium. Temples were erected (as Tacitus states, l. i.) after the apotheosis of Augustus, by imperial license, on the petition of the Spaniards, in honour of the deceased Emperor.

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