The Facing Head Drachms of Larissa

Herrmann to Martin to Lorber

by Tracy Aiello

While researching some facing head drachms of the Thessalian city of Larissa in my possession I focused on the groundbreaking work by Fritz Herrmann (1925), Thomas R. Martin 's revisitation of the facing head drachm portion of Herrmann 's work some 58 years later (1983) and, of course, the outstanding work subsequently done by Catharine Lorber (1992 - 2015). I created a spreadsheet in order to assist myself with visualizing Herrmann 's original chronology (his Group VII composed of 19 series), Martin 's revision of that chronology, Lorber 's further revisions, and the dates of minting put forth (no matter how hesitatingly) by each author. Although it is not the most user friendly resource I thought that I would share it with others in the hopes that some may find it of value. I break no new ground here. I also do not provide the rich descriptive details contained in the articles that I consulted. Those are best digested by studying the articles themselves.

Within the breakdown of the facing head drachms into early, middle, and late I have assumed that Lorber 's chronology of Herrmann 's series is relative and not absolute (at times she explicitly states this), although in three of her articles she does make a claim of absolute chronology when she states that the type with the trident head below the horse on the reverse is the final issue of the Larissian mint.

The greatest shortcoming of my project is the fact that I was never able to consult the Lorber - Shahar website The Silver Facing Head Coins of Larissa (2005). When I first found the website in early September of 2018 only the catalogs in PDF format were accessible. Per email communication with Catharine Lorber on September 7, 2018 it appears that the site will not be revived. Since then the entire website was taken down and accessing the URL results in a 404 error.

Square brackets denote my additions. Please excuse and feel free to correct any errors that I have made in my reading and interpretation of the six articles that I have consulted for this project. Those articles are:

Herrmann, Fritz. "Die Silberm�nzen von Larissa in Thessalien." Zeitschrift f�r Numismatik 35 (1925): 1 - 69.

Martin, Thomas R. "The Chronology of the Fourth-Century B.C. Facing-Head Silver Coinage of Larissa." Museum Notes (American Numismatic Society) vol. 28 (1983): 1 - 34.

Lorber, Catharine C. "The Early Facing Head Drachms of Thessalian Larissa" in Florilegium Numismaticum: Studia in Honorem U. Westermark Edita. Edited by H. Nilsson. Stockholm: Svenska Numismatiska F�reningen, 1992: 259 - 282.

Lorber, Catharine C. "A Hoard of Facing Head Larissa Drachms" in Schweizerische Numismatische Rundschau, vol. 79 (2000): 7 - 15.

Lorber, Catharine C. "Thessalian Hoards and the Coinage of Larissa" in American Journal of Numismatics, second series 20 (2008): 119 - 142.

Lorber, Catharine C. "The Beginning of the Late Facing Head Drachm Coinage of Larissa" in ΚΑΙΡΟΣ: Contributions to Numismatics in Honor of Basil Demetriadi. Edited by Ute Wartenberg and Michel Amandry. New York: The American Numismatic Society, 2015: 117 - 146 (seven plates).

Herrmann 's Chronology of Facing-Head Drachms of Larissa

Martin 's Revision of Herrmann 's Chronology

Group VII with 19 series: A through R; J omitted; M supplemented by M1; N supplemented by N1. A is the oldest and R is the youngest.

No distinction between A and M, so renamed A-M. New series called A-M 168.

A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I: c. 395 - 370 BC.

Q: First of the Early Series; the type with dolphins on the obv. is the very first in this series.

1st Qtr of 4th Century, with allowance to extend further down into the century.

K, L, M, M1: c. 370 - 363 BC.

K - R do not represent a well established relative chronology.

M1, N, N1, O, P (unknown order, but evidence for P coming after Q), R (last of the series because of an obv. die link to K): Rest of early Series after Q.

N, N1, O, P, Q: c. 361 - 353 BC.

K and I: Middle Series.

R: c. 353 - 344/3 BC.

B, C, D, E, F, G, H, L (unknown order): Rest of middle Series after I.

A-M: End Series.

c. 375 - 320 BC.

A-M 168: Last Series.

Absolute end of facing-head drachms is not long after 321 BC.

Lorber 's Revision of Chronology and the Late Facing Head Phases

Lorber Westermark/FlorNum 1992

I, K, M1, N, N1, O, P, Q, and R: Early Facing Head Series.

First decades of the 4th Century.

B, C, D, E, F, G, H and probably L: Middle Facing Head Series.

A and M: Late Facing Head Series; already in production in the late 350s BC; the type with the trident beneath the horse on the rev. is the final issue of the mint.

Lorber SNR 79, 2000

Lorber 2008

L, D, C, E, F, B?, G?, H?: Middle Facing Head Series. [Note: I think that Lorber intends this list to be chronological. I have listed B, G, and H at the end with question marks because Lorber mentions that examples of these varieties were missing from the groups of hoards under her examination. Therefore no examples of these varieties were listed in the article 's catalog.]

I, K, M, M1, N, N1, O, P, Q, and R: Early Facing Head Series.

Provisionally dated c. 405/400 - c. 370 BC.

A: Late Facing Head Series.

B, C, D, E, F, G, H, and L: Middle Facing Head Series. 360s BC (?).

Phase L[ate]-I: completed before c. 348 BC.

A: Late Facing Head Series. Possibly beginning in the 350s BC.

Phase L[ate]-II: [commenced before c. 348 BC? completed before c. 348 BC?].

Phase L[ate]-I.

Phase L[ate]-III: Mass coinage: Commenced before c. 348 BC, perhaps occasioned by the Third Sacred War (356 - 346 BC), possibly continuing down to Phillip II 's reorganization of the tetrarchic government of Thessaly and his garrison of Pherae (c. 344 - 342 BC).

Phase L[ate]-II.

Phase L[ate]-IV: trident head beneath horse on rev. is the final issue of the mint. Perhaps occasioned by the Third Sacred War or Phillip II 's reorganization, but more likely occasioned by the Last Sacred War (339 - 338 BC) or Thessaly 's membership in the League of Corinth (from 338/7 BC).

Phase L[ate]-III.

Phase L[ate]-IV: trident beneath horse on rev. is the final issue of the mint. Perhaps some time passed between L[ate]-III and L[ate]-IV. Tempting to associate L[ate]-IV with the Lamian War (323 - 322 BC).

Lorber 2015

Larissian Facing Head Drachms: c. 400 - c. 345 BC (?).

Phase L[ate]-I: very tentative suggestion that this "...was struck over a period of several years, either preceding the Third Sacred War [356 - 346 BC], or overlapping the early years of the war before c. 353 B.C." (p. 124).

Phase L[ate]-II and L[ate]-III: together these "...may represent the coinage of the Third Sacred War (356 - 346 B.C.), and perhaps specifically the coinage struck after Phillip II of Macedon was selected leader of the Thessalian koinon (c. 354/3 or 352)." (p. 124).