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Author Topic: Pamphylian 'L'  (Read 1319 times)

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Offline ZVdP

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Pamphylian 'L'
« on: February 01, 2021, 04:06:11 pm »
Some series of the Aspendos staters feature two letters between the wrestlers.
I've been intrigued by one combination in particular: :L::Greek_Phi: found on SNG v. Aulock 4565.
This is an example of one that was sold earlier here on ForumAncientCoins: https://www.forumancientcoins.com/catalog/roman-and-greek-coins.asp?param=85145q00.jpg&vpar=3140&zpg=91215

The dating is a bit too late for the 'L' to be an archaic form of lambda, so I was left wondering what letter it is.
I wasn't able to find much info on it. This paper (https://www.persee.fr/doc/anatv_1013-9559_2000_act_12_1_956) features a small discussion about the staters, but seems to gloss over this peculiar letter. (I haven't been able to trace the references though)


I recently acquired the attached coin from Selge (SNG Aulock 5243) which also contains this L in the ethnic: :E::GreeK_Sigma::Greek_Tau::Greek_Lambda::E::L::Greek_Iota::Greek_Iota::Greek_Upsilon_2::GreeK_Sigma:

Initially I was a bit puzzled how to read this (mainly since it was listed as an Aspendos coin), but once I found out it was actually from Selge, I found the other ethnic variants are:  :GreeK_Sigma::Greek_Tau::Greek_Lambda::E::L::Greek_Iota::Greek_Iota::Greek_Upsilon_2::GreeK_Sigma: and :GreeK_Sigma::Greek_Tau::Greek_Lambda::E::Greek_Gamma::E::Greek_Upsilon::GreeK_Sigma: (and later of course the classical  :GreeK_Sigma::E::Greek_Lambda::Greek_Gamma::E::Greek_Omega::Greek_Nu:)

From this it seems clear like the 'L' is in fact a gamma on these coins. And since Selge is quite close to Aspendos, it doesn't sound too far-fetched to ascribe the same value to the letter on the Aspendos stater.

I tried to find if this maybe was a particular feature of Pamphylian Greek. Perhaps a different allophone such as the two digammas F and :reversedN:, but information on Pamphylian is not particularly plentiful.

Or am I looking too much into this and is it just a mirrored letter without any special meaning? There's also a couple of Syracuse tetradrachms with a upside down R for example.

Not quite sure what to make of it. Any ideas?

Offline Altamura

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Re: Pamphylian 'L'
« Reply #1 on: February 02, 2021, 10:59:12 am »
There is an article by Friedrich Imhoof-Blumer, “Münzen von Selge und Aspendos”, ZfN 5, 1878, pp. 133-142:
https://catalogarchive.org/data/sources/s/Imhoof-Blumer_-_Die_Muenzen_von_Selge_und_Aspendos_1878.pdf
where he discusses the legends on these coins from Selge.

His conclusion about this L is: "L ist als Γ aufzufassen" (meaning "L has to be taken as Γ"). He mentions that this flipping of the Γ also occurs on coins from Segesta.

... Or am I looking too much into this and is it just a mirrored letter without any special meaning? ...
Probably  :).

Regards

Altamura


Offline ZVdP

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Re: Pamphylian 'L'
« Reply #2 on: February 03, 2021, 05:43:47 pm »
Wow, thanks! I was having a hard time tracking down articles like that. That's a great resource.

Regards,
ZVdP

Offline ZVdP

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Re: Pamphylian 'L'
« Reply #3 on: November 09, 2021, 02:22:56 pm »
I'm posting this in case anyone else in the future might have a similar interest and finds this topic.

I recently discovered that on page 242 of the 'Journal of Hellenistic studies volume 1' (1880) W.M. Ramsay has written the article 'On some Pamphylian inscriptions'.
In particular, it mentions a long inscription from Sillyon of which not a lot of context is provided besides that it was found "on a stone built into a church".
Also mentioned is this: "Kirchhoff (Gesch. d. Gr. Alph.) is the only person who has published any detailed account of the inscription, and he has not advanced very far".

Luckily the journal includes a copy of the inscription between pages 248 and 249 and the author also has conveniently listed the alphabet used in the text on p249:
Α Β L Δ Ε F Η Θ Ι Κ Λ Μ 𐊪 𐋀 Ο Π Ρ Σ Τ Υ Φ + and Ͷ

From this it seems clear that 'L' is the Pamphylian epichoric variant of gamma.

Offline Altamura

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Re: Pamphylian 'L'
« Reply #4 on: November 09, 2021, 02:41:25 pm »
... on page 242 of the 'Journal of Hellenistic studies volume 1' (1880) W.M. Ramsay has written the article 'On some Pamphylian inscriptions'.
In particular, it mentions a long inscription from Sillyon ...
This article can be found here: https://archive.org/details/Ramsay18801929SelectedWritings/page/n3/mode/2up

A photograph of this stone can be seen here: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sillyon

Regards

Altamura

 

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