Here's a coin I recently added to my
collection:
Pseudo-autonomous AE27, 3. Century AD,
Apameia,
Phrygia.
Obv: KЄΛAINOC,
bust of Kelainos wearing diadem right, drapery on left shoulder.
Rev: AΠAMЄΩN, Aphrodite, naked, standing front,
head right.
27 mm, 12.71 g
BMC Phrygia p. 89, no. 117, and plate XI/4
Apparently a
rare piece as I could not find any specimen apart from the
BMC coin, which is in
poor condition, but apparently from the same
obverse and possibly from the same
reverse die as well.
Apameia in
Phrygia was founded by the
Seleucid king Antiochos I.
Soter (281-261 BC) at the river Maendros. It was named after the
king's mother Apama, a Persian princess and wife of
Alexander's general Seleukos. The city was settled by people transplanted from the nearby old Phrygian town of Kelainai. According to Strabon
XII, 579, the name of Kelainai was connected to Kelainos, son of Poseidon, because of the frequent earthquakes in that
area. It is quite fascinating that even 500 years after their relocation, the inhabitants of
Apameia still commemorated their original roots by issueing coins showing the
Heros Kelainos.
For people interested in
mythology, I refer to Jochen's
thread on
mythology:
https://www.forumancientcoins.com/board/index.php?topic=25089.msg165423#msg165423 Kelainai was the town the competition between
Marsyas and
Apollo was said to have taken place. In addition, the city's epithet "Kibotos" (the chest) lead to the assumption that the Ark of Noah (also named Kibotos) first landed on the
hill of Kelainai, which lead to the minting of coins showing the Ark on the
reverse in
Roman times (see
Head, HN, p. 666+667:
http://snible.org/coins/hn/phrygia.html).
For
Apameia, see RE, I,2,2664f
For Kelainai, RE, XI,1,133
For Kelainos, RE, XI,1,136
Click on the picture to zoom in.
Lars
