Dear Walter and Board,
A thoughtful friend alerted me to this
thread a few days ago, which I
had completely missed. Being Sunday, I will take some time out now to discuss these enigmatic bronzes.
I have been enthusiastically involved in their study since their first major appearance on the market in roughly August of last year. At first my friend and I tinkered with the idea of
Larissa Phriconis, but quickly discarded this possibility as more specimens appeared, which clearly read "[...]ΑΣΙ." As in your case, Nesus was entertained for a while. However, it finally became apparent that the full (abbreviated)
ethnic was "ΙΑΣΙ," while a certain variety read simply "ΙΑ."
The only known city that
had a similar
ethnic to the mystery bronze group was Iasus (Iasos) in
Caria, usually cited on coins as ΙΑΣΕΩΝ or an abbreviation thereof. So if the coins were to be identified with Iasus, it followed that they were using an earlier form of the city
ethnic, in which case they most likely predated all the usual Iasian coin
types.
The peculiar object to the right of the nymph is indeed a shrimp, which is present on 2-3 other completely different ΙΑΣΙ bronze
types that have subsequently come to light. Athenaeus gives a possible reason for the
choice of this civic badge where he writes:
"That artificer of fancy dishes, Archestratus, gives this advice: 'If ever you go to Iasus, city of the Carians, you will get a good-sized shrimp. But it is rare in the market, whereas in Macedonia and Ambracia there are plenty.' " (Athen. 3.105e)
Be certain to also read footnote no. 29 on page 108 of
Hellenistic Fortifications from the Aegean to the Euphrates (1997) by Anthony McNicoll & Nicholas Milner:
https://books.google.com/books?id=qmYEKxjV5bIC&lpg=PA108&ots=mhcjHbtTp1&dq=Iasos%20shrimp&pg=PA108#v=onepage&q=Iasos%20shrimp&f=falseSo much for the evidence in favor of Iasus. The main con against this
attribution is nearly everything else, from the coins' imagery and consistently small sizes (all
types), to their association with non-Carian bronzes on the market, especially from
Aeolis. My friend stressed this last point and has noted that the usual Iasian coin
types are rarely offered in comparison to the "new"
types.
I can only agree, which has led us both to wonder if we are actually looking at the local change of a newly recognized coin-issuing city in
Asia Minor. Doubts aside, I will continue to delay giving a firm opinion on the matter until I have read:
Ashton, R. 'The pre-imperial coinage of Iasos', NC 167, 2007, 47–78, pl. 7–15.
I suspect he must be aware of at least one of the possible "shrimpy"
types, since I found such a coin listed under Iasus in the online
BnF database. So I am anxious to read what he might have to say, once I get a few things off my lap...
This post certainly doesn't enumerate all my findings that will eventually be published if all goes well, but hopefully enough to give you a better footing to ponder these remarkable coins.
Best regards,
Mark Fox
Michigan
