Map on Ionian Coin Type

[Virgil H]

I am sure this is old news to many of you, but just in case. I am pasting in a link to a 1967 article, but you may not be able to read it unless you have access to JSTOR. I did not know there were coins with maps on them. Fascinating.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/627809

Virgil

[Altamura]

... I did not know there were coins with maps on them. Fascinating. ...

But highly speculative, today many scholars do not believe in this theory (and I follow them  ).

For example

Kai Brodersen, "The presentation of geographical knowledge for travel and transport in the Roman world: itineraria non tantum adnotata sed etiam picta", in: C. Adams and R. Laurence (eds), "Travel and Geography in the Roman Empire", London / New York 2001, pp. 7-21:
"However, the pattern changes significantly from die to die (which would be rather problematic if this really were a map to scale), and the details are indeed far too ‘rough’ to allow any interpretation of this kind."
https://vdocuments.site/travel-and-geography-in-the-roman-empire-5880c1125853e.html

Jarosław Artur Bodzek, "A New Achaemenid Coin. Several Comments on a Unique Tetradrachm of the Type “Great King/Prow” and Some Other Issues of the Satraps", Notae Numismaticae-Zapiski Numizmatyczne XII, 2017, pp. 33-50:
"In my opinion, the most plausible hypothesis would assume a conscious reference to the reverse of the silver sigloi, just as in the case of the obverse imagery."
https://www.academia.edu/36605397/_A_New_Achaemenid_Coin_Several_Comments_on_a_Unique_Tetradrachm_of_the_Type_Great_King_Prow_and_Some_Other_Issues_of_the_Satraps_Notae_Numismaticae_Zapiski_Numizmatyczne_XII_2017_pp_33_50

Axel Frejman, "Some thoughts on ancient maps, travel, and the location of Greek rural sanctuaries", in K. Höghammar, M. Livadiotti (edited by), Sacred and civic spaces in the Greek poleis world, Uppsala seminars, 15-16 February 2017, Thiasos 7.2, 2018, pp. 101-110:
"Whatever the image represents, I find it unlikely to be a representation of roughly 20,000 km2 of mountainous landscape."
http://www.thiasos.eu/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/04-2018-Frejman1.pdf

Regards

Altamura

[Virgil H]

Altamura,
Thanks for the articles, I will check them out. Whether or not it is a useful map can be open to conjecture. But the side by side comparison of a coin and a modern topo maps are uncannily similar. If not a map, I wonder what the design is. Like I said, I will read those references, they may have the answers, but just wanted to respond quickly.

Regards,
Virgil