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Author Topic: A Pride of Lions  (Read 23146 times)

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taurisker

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Re: A Pride of Lions
« Reply #25 on: January 13, 2013, 02:50:58 pm »
Here in Austria it´s snowing now, dogs and ... cats:

Kassandros 316-297 BC Macedonia
Obverse: Herakles with lionskin right
Reverse: lion to left, below monogram, BAΣIΛEΩΣ KAΣΣANΔPOY
16.2mm 3.14g
SNG Cop. 1154 AMNG 176,5 (var.)

Offline Enodia

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Re: A Pride of Lions
« Reply #26 on: January 13, 2013, 04:02:15 pm »
Here in Austria it´s snowing now, dogs and ... cats:

lol!
it's really cold here in Oregon, but no snow yet.

there is a cockiness to this lion, almost as if he's saying to the viewer "What the hell are you looking at?"
lol.

~ Peter

Offline quadrans

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All the Best :), Joe
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Offline quadrans

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Re: A Pride of Lions
« Reply #28 on: January 15, 2013, 01:40:44 pm »
All the Best :), Joe
My Gallery

Offline benito

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Re: A Pride of Lions
« Reply #29 on: January 15, 2013, 01:59:12 pm »
RIP for a lion.
AE 34. Antioquia (Pisidia) 238-244 AD. 21,57 grs. Laureate,draped and cuirassed bust right seen from behind. IMP CAES M ANT GORDIANVS
AVG / Gordian right on horseback, hurling spear at speared lion below, advancing left. CAES ANTIOCH COL. SR to left.
SNG France 1234.
 
 

taurisker

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Re: A Pride of Lions
« Reply #30 on: January 15, 2013, 02:38:45 pm »
One more Panti ...  ;D

20.1mm 6.87g
SNG Cop. 35 SNG BlackSea 883ff

Offline Enodia

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Re: A Pride of Lions
« Reply #31 on: January 15, 2013, 02:46:53 pm »
nice.
i think this is probably a Forvm first... the first time anyone has posted a pair of Pantis!   8)


Offline Warren

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Re: A Pride of Lions
« Reply #32 on: January 20, 2013, 06:20:49 pm »
Most of your lions are fearsome. Here is one in repose, just watching the world go by:
It is an AE19, from Thrace, Lysimacheia. SNG Danish II, plate 18.911, c. 309-220 BC.
Turreted female head right/lion, seated on haunches right, cornucopiae in upper left field.

taurisker

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Re: A Pride of Lions
« Reply #33 on: January 23, 2013, 02:28:45 pm »
No more lions left?
Sure, here is another "huge cat":

Lysimachos, AE uncertain mint 323-281 BC
Obverse: helmeted head of Athena right
Reverse: Lion running right, spear head below ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΛΥΣΙΜΑΧΟΥ
20mm 5.86g
SNG Copenhagen 1149 Müller 61

Offline quadrans

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Re: A Pride of Lions
« Reply #34 on: January 29, 2013, 02:03:16 am »
All the Best :), Joe
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Auer

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Re: A Pride of Lions
« Reply #35 on: February 04, 2013, 08:06:12 pm »
My two humble additions to the ancient zoo. Both are staters from Velia.

Offline quadrans

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Re: A Pride of Lions
« Reply #36 on: February 07, 2013, 04:48:50 pm »
Hmm ...
Another small but nice greek lion...

regards

 quadrans
All the Best :), Joe
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Offline benito

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Re: A Pride of Lions
« Reply #37 on: February 07, 2013, 05:24:52 pm »
I love lions.
1. Miletos lion.
AR trihemiobol. Miletos (Ionia) late 6th-early 5th century BC. 1,18 grs. Forepart of lion left, head right / Stellate floral design within square incuse.
Klein 426.
2.A lion et al.mix.
AR Hemidrachm. Sikyon ( Peloponessos ). c. 330-320 BC. 2,86 grs. 8h. Chimaera advancing left, right paw raised. ΣI below / Dove flying left.
BMC 119.
3. Hercules and his lion. From Lyon.
Antoninianus. 287-289 AD. Lugdunum. 3 off. 5 ems. Radiate, helmeted, and cuirassed bust right . IMP MAXIMIANVS AVG. / Hercules standing right, strangling lion; club thrown behind him at feet. VIRTVTI AVGG. RIC V 456 .Lyon 227.

Offline Reid Goldsborough

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Re: A Pride of Lions
« Reply #38 on: February 24, 2013, 04:28:00 pm »
This is a fun thread, and some attractive coins. I've focused on seven (good luck <g>) different Greek-era lion types, Lydian Lion, Kroisos Lion and Bull, Miletos Lion, Cherronesos Lion, Baal and Lion, Alexander Lion Skin, and Lysimachos Lion. Pics and background on these types, and forgeries, here:

http://oldestcoins.reidgold.com/lions.html
oldestcoins.reidgold.com
athenianowlcoins.reidgold.com
alexanderthegreatcoins.reidgold.com
medusacoins.reidgold.com
thracecoins.reidgold.com

Offline quadrans

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Re: A Pride of Lions
« Reply #39 on: February 24, 2013, 05:43:03 pm »
Nice site  +++

regards
 quadrans
All the Best :), Joe
My Gallery

Offline Salaethus

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Re: A Pride of Lions
« Reply #40 on: April 23, 2013, 03:17:54 pm »
Bump for this thread!  Here is my hungry lion
Lucania, Velia. AR didrachm. 334-300 BC.

Offline Molinari

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Re: A Pride of Lions
« Reply #41 on: April 24, 2013, 09:38:20 am »
The reverse of mine is similar to the one Taras posted above:

IONIA, Miletus, Apollo right/ Unclear inscription, Lion, head reverted, star above. BMC 78, Lind. I, 514.


Offline Molinari

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Re: A Pride of Lions
« Reply #42 on: April 24, 2013, 09:39:50 am »
Here is my only other coin with a lion.  Unfortunately, the lion's been partially scratched off!

IONIA, Miletos. Circa 313-290 BC. Æ 15. Laureate head of Apollo right / Lion standing right, head reverted; star above, magistrate APIΣTOΓOPAΣ below. Similar to Deppert-Lippitz 401-404; SNG Copenhagen 977; BMC Ionia pg. 193, 102 var. (magistrate); SNG von Aulock 2088 var.; but larger than the 11mm listed.

Offline gallienus1

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Re: A Pride of Lions
« Reply #43 on: April 24, 2013, 09:54:41 am »
Great thread this, I love all the depictions of lions!

I think the lions shown on ancient Greek and Roman coins represent the European lion. To quote from Herodotus-

These places (northern Greece) abound with lions and wild bulls, the large horns of which are carried into Greece. On the one side of the Nestos, which flows through Abdera, and the other the Achelous passing through Acarnania are the limits beyond which no lions are found. In the intermediate region between these two places lions are produced, but no one has ever seen them in Europe beyond the Nestos in the east or the Achelous in the west.

The European lion was almost certainly used by the Romans in gladiator combat up until the late first century at which point I believe it was driven to extinction, and replaced in the arena by lions from North Africa. It is generally thought that the European Lion probably descended from the same ancestor as the Asiatic Lion. Compared to the fuller maned African lion, the male Asiatic lion has a relatively short, sparse mane and so I believe that the European lion also had a smaller mane.

The lion sculpture from the 4th century BC, in Koropi, Greece clearly shows a smaller mane, as does the lion on my silver didrachm from Lucania, Velia. They are certainly European lions.

So as I’ve mentioned before images of extinct species on coins, sculptures and other ancient artifacts are a kind of fossil. What I like to think of as techno-fossils because the images are created by human technology.

Regards,
Steve

Offline gallienus1

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Re: A Pride of Lions
« Reply #44 on: April 24, 2013, 10:23:08 am »

Following Herodotus, I have drawn up a map for the possible range of the European lion in his time.

Steve

Offline Lee S

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Re: A Pride of Lions
« Reply #45 on: May 01, 2013, 04:10:57 am »
Here is my contribution to the Pride... They are not as beautiful as most of the coins in this thread , however I did clean them myself, and they are MY lions, so that makes them far superior, in my opinion of course!!  ;D

First... 

Lysimachos. 297 - 281 BC. AE14...
Obv. Young male head ( Ares?) right in crested helmet.
Rev. BAΣIΛEΩΣ / ΛYΣIMAXOY above and beneath forepart of Lion leaping right.

and secondly, a Seleucid lion

Antiochos VII 138-129 BC. AE15..
Obv: Bust of a lion roaring right
Rev: Club "BASILEWS ANTIOXOU EUEPGETOU"
Ref. SG 7100

Offline gallienus1

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Re: A Pride of Lions
« Reply #46 on: May 01, 2013, 11:54:09 pm »
Nice examples Lee S and Taras. I particularly like the lion head on the AE 15 of Antiochos VII and the doomed lion struggling against Herakles on the Taras diobol.

Favorite lions on ancient coins for me are the ones on the Satrapal staters in the 4th century B.C. I was going to just post the reverse of my Mazaios stater (S. 5650) when I remembered that I do have another interesting lion. Not Greek and on a coin but on a page from a Renaissance copy of the Cosmographica. (The page has a quote from Herodotus so that is my slender excuse for posting it!) In an interesting take on the subject long after lions had disappeared from the arenas of empire in Europe, it shows what an artist of the time thought a lion might look like.


Regards,
Steve

Offline Enodia

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Re: A Pride of Lions
« Reply #47 on: June 15, 2013, 11:12:52 pm »
presenting my new coin from Velia, in Lucania.

i found this lion quite intriguing.
typically underfed, he is excited over his prize, but at the same time is fully aware of you, the watcher, and the threat you represent to his dinner.
i don't know about you, but this is as close as i get!

https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pos=-98023

~ Peter

Taras

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Re: A Pride of Lions
« Reply #48 on: June 18, 2013, 04:53:58 pm »
presenting my new coin from Velia, in Lucania.

i found this lion quite intriguing.
typically underfed, he is excited over his prize, but at the same time is fully aware of you, the watcher, and the threat you represent to his dinner.
i don't know about you, but this is as close as i get!

https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pos=-98023

~ Peter

Great coin Peter!! 8)
And very interesting too, for the headaches that these types gave to Williams, who listed them in the Philistion group, but stating that the engraver was another one.
For a correct reference, your coin is classifiable Williams 415 (O.205-R.293).

Bye my friend.
Nico

Offline Enodia

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Re: A Pride of Lions
« Reply #49 on: June 24, 2013, 01:35:42 am »
thank you once again Taras.
whoever he was, i like the way the artist created a scene rather than just capture a static moment. it put me very much in mind of the way vase painters could capture an extended verse in just a single scene.
but the light relief did confuse me, especially since my other Velia coin from only 30 years earlier is almost sculptural.

thanks for the reference. i managed to find a copy of Williams for $5+ postage and it should be here within the week, so i will check that out.

~ Peter

 

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